• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.6 s.53
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• pp.440-449
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• 2004

Rock mass includes natural discontinuities such as joints and faults during its formation. Discontinuities are also referred as planes of weakness because of their weak mechanical characteristics. In the design of underground structures, it is necessary to consider the properties of discontinuities to insure the stability. During the excavation of a tunnel, these discontinuities have to be identified as early as possible so that proper change in excavation method or support design can be made accordingly. The excavation of the tunnel in a stable rock mass causes a 3-dimensional arching effect around the excavation face. It was revealed by previous studies that the existence of a weak zone or a fault zone ahead of tunnel foe induces a typical displacement tendency of convergence. For better understanding of the meaning of influence/trend lines of various displacement components, three-dimensional numerical analyses were conducted while varying deformation moduli, thicknesses and orientations of discontinuities. Numerical results showed that the changes in influence/trend lines of various displacement components were very similar to those by measurements. The discrepancies from the expected values were dependent on the physical properties, thicknesses and orientations of discontinuities.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.476-485
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to present an analysis method for the prediction of the change of ground conditions. To this end, three-dimensional convergence displacements is analyzed in several ways to estimate the trend of displacement change. Three-dimensional arching effect is occurred around the unsupported excavation surface including tunnel face when a tunnel is excavated in a stable rock mass. If the ground condition ahead of tunnel face changes or a weak fracture zone exists a specific trend of displacement change is known to be occurred from the results of the existing researches. The existence of a discontinuity, whose change in front of the tunnel face, can be predicted from the ratio of L/C (longitudinal displacement at crown divided by settlement at crown) etc. Therefore, the change of ground condition and the existence of a fracture zone ahead of tunnel face can be predicted by monitoring three-dimensional absolute displacements during excavation, and applying the methodology presented in this study.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.3 s.56
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• pp.195-212
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• 2005

Surface subsidence which occurs with several reasons, such as collapse of gangway, discharge of groundwater, compaction of weak rock mass, and tunnel excavation in shallow depth, gives rise to a serious problem in national infra-structures. In this study, therefore, the mechanism of subsidence has been examined numerically to overcome the passive approach on subsidence occurrence area. With many kinds of numerical studies, the major geotechnical parameters have been selected and the weighted values have been defined for each parameters. Also the authors developed the numerical program which can estimate the possibility of subsidence occurrence, and proposed the decision method for objective and quantitative guideline. It is anticipated that this research will be helpful to establish the hazard map on subsidence region.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.3-22
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• 1990

The $\varphi{4.5}$ meters pilot tunneling work is almost done to the $\varphi{11.3}$ meters twin tunnel of NAM SAN No1. The south side pit of 400 meters is weak zone of Rock status, so client request us to allow the cautious blasting pattern for drilling on the condition of 0.2 kine vibration allowance limited for the safety of side running tunnel. The pattern of cautious blasting carried out by 6 time divided fiving on the round drilling depth of 1.20 meters(1.10) and also applied control blasting method with line drilling due to the reduction of vibration.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.171-178
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• 2020

Mountainous areas cover more than 70% of Korea. With the rapid increase in tunnel construction, tunnel-collapse incidents and excessive deformation are occurring more frequently. In addition, longer tunnel structures are being constructed, and geologically weaker ground conditions are increasingly being encountered during the construction process. Tunnels constructed under weak ground conditions exhibit long-term deformation behavior that leads to tunnel instability. This study analyzes the behavior of the bottom region of tunnels under geological conditions of long-term deformation. Long-term deformation causes various types of damage, such as cracks and ridges in the packing part of tunnels, as well as cracks and upheavals in the pavement of tunnels. We observed rapid tunnel over-displacement due to the squeezing of a fault rupture zone after the inflow of a large amount of groundwater. Excessive increments in the support member strength resulted in damage to the support and tunnel bottom. In addition, upward infiltration pressure on the tunnel road was found to cause severe pavement damage. Furthermore, smectite (a highly expandable mineral), chlorite, illite, and hematite, were also observed. Soil samples and rock samples containing clay minerals were found to have greater expansibility than general soil samples. Considering these findings, countermeasures against the deformation of tunnel bottoms are required.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.848-857
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• 2008

In September 2007, the collapses of slopes and landslides are happened at Jeonlanamdo due to heavy rains accompanied with Typoon "Nari". The study area is the tunnel portal slope in new road construction site. This slope consists of pyroclastic rocks and has lots of faults. Particularly, the residual soils of the slope is deteriorated with yellowish mudstone layer as a results of chemical and physical weathering. This has a variety of swelling clay minerals and might be moved easily down at the gentle terrain. The inner factor of $\bigcirc\bigcirc$tunnel portal slope's collapse is the geological weak zone, the convergent topography, the inferiority of drainage and the heavy rain act on the failure as direct trigger.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.487-497
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• 2023

Penetration rate (PR) and penetration depth (Pe) are crucial parameters for estimating the cost and time required in tunnel construction using tunnel boring machines (TBMs). This study focuses on investigating the impact of rock strength on PR and Pe through full-scale experiments. By conducting controlled tests on rock-like specimens, the study aims to understand the contributions of various ground parameters and machine-operating conditions to TBM excavation performance. An earth pressure balanced (EPB) TBM with a sectional diameter of 3.54 m was utilized in the experiments. The TBM excavated rocklike specimens with varying uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), while the thrust and cutterhead rotational speed were controlled. The results highlight the significance of the interplay between thrust, cutterhead speed, and rock strength (UCS) in determining Pe. In high UCS conditions exceeding 70 MPa, thrust plays a vital role in enhancing Pe as hard rock requires a greater thrust force for excavation. Conversely, in medium-to-low UCS conditions less than 50 MPa, thrust has a weak relationship with Pe, and Pe becomes directly proportional to the cutterhead rotational speed. Furthermore, a strong correlation was observed between Pe and cutterhead torque with a determination coefficient of 0.84. Based on these findings, a predictive model for Pe is proposed, incorporating thrust, TBM diameter, number of disc cutters, and UCS. This model offers a practical tool for estimating Pe in different excavation scenarios. The study presents unprecedented full-scale TBM excavation results, with well-controlled experiments, shedding light on the interplay between rock strength, TBM operational variables, and excavation performance. These insights are valuable for optimizing TBM excavation in grounds with varying strengths and operational conditions.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.47-57
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• 2000

It is difficult to calculate factor of safety of a tunnel by applying any analytical method based upon limit equilibrium method since the shape of failure plane in tunnel analysis can not be easily assumed in advance. To cope with this shortcoming, a method is suggested to calculate safety factor of a tunnel by numerical analysis using strength reduction technique. A circular tunnel excavated in a homogeneous rock was selected as an example problem and factors of safety were calculated for no-supported, partly-supported, and completely-supported cases respectively. Meshes with 3 different sizes were examined for a sensitivity analysis. For the verification of the proposed method, a limit equilibrium analysis was conducted and compared with the numerical analysis. The proposed method herein can be used to calculate factor of safety of a tunnel regardless of tunnel shape or geological conditions, and thus can contribute for the improved design and stability assessment of tunnels.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.869-886
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• 2016

Non-Deformable Support System (NDSS) is one of the support system analysis methods. It is likely seen as numerical analysis. Obviously, numerical modeling is the key tool for this system but not unique. Although the name of the system makes you feel that there is no deformation on the support system, it is not true. The system contains some deformation but in certain tolerance determined by the numerical analyses. The important question is what is the deformation tolerance? Zero deformation in the excavation environment is not the case, actually. However, deformation occurred after supporting is important. This deformation amount will determine the performance of the applied support. NDSS is a stronghold analysis method applied in full to make this work. While doing this, NDSS uses the properties of rock mass and material, various rock mass failure criteria, various material models, different excavation geometries, like other methods. The thing that differ NDSS method from the others is that NDSS makes analysis using the time dependent deformation properties of rock mass and engineering judgement. During the evaluation process, NDSS gives the permission of questioning the field observations, measurements and timedependent support performance. These transactions are carried out with 3-dimensional numeric modeling analysis. The goal of NDSS is to design a support system which does not allow greater deformation of the support system than that calculated by numerical modeling. In this paper, NDSS applied to the problems of Tunnel 34 of the same Project (excavated with NATM method, has a length of 2218 meters), which is driven in graphite schist, was illustrated. Results of the system analysis and insitu measurements successfully coincide with each other.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 2015

Mechanical energy is accumulated in the object when stress is exerted on rock specimens, and the failure is occurred when the stress is larger than critical stress. The accumulated energy is emitted as various forms including physical deformation, light, heat and sound. Uniaxial compression strength test and point load strength test were carried out in low temperature environment, and thermal variation of rock specimens were observed and analyzed quantitatively using thermal infrared camera images. Temperature of failure plane was increased just before the failure because of concentration of stress, and was rapidly increased at the moment of the failure because of the emission of thermal energy. The variations of temperature were larger in diorite and basalt specimens which were strong and fresh than in tuff specimens which were weak and weathered. This study can be applied to prevent disasters in rock slope, tunnel and mine in cold regions and to analyze satellite image for predicting earthquake in cold regions.