• Geosystem Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.326-334
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• 2018

Underground water-sealed gas storage caverns have become the primary method for strategic storage of LPG. Previous studies of excavation blasting effects on large-scale underground water-sealed gas storage caverns are rare at home and abroad. In this paper, the blasting excavation for underground water-sealed propane storage caverns in Yantai was introduced and field tests of blasting vibration were carried out. Field test data showed that the horizontal radial velocity had a major controlling effect in the blasting vibration and frequencies would not cause the vibration velocity concentration effects. In terms of the influence of blasting vibration on adjacent caverns, the dynamic finite element model in LS-DYNA soft was established, whose reliability was verified by field test data. The numerical results indicated the near-blasting side was primary zone for the structural failure and tensile failure tended to occur in the middle of the curved wall on the near-blasting side. Meanwhile, the safety criterions for adjacent caverns based on stress wave theory and according to statistic relationship between peak effective tensile stress and peak particle velocities were obtained, respectively. Finally, with Safety Regulations for Blasting in China (GB6722-2014) taken into account, a final safety criterion was proposed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.201-211
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• 2014

In the present study, the thermal performance of multiple rock caverns for large-scale thermal energy storage (TES) was numerically investigated for different separation distances between the caverns through heat transfer analysis using a computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. The thermal performance of multiple caverns was assessed in terms of the thermal stratification within the caverns and the heat loss to the surroundings, and the heating characteristics of the rock around the caverns were investigated. The results of numerical simulation showed that there was little difference in thermal performance between multiple TES caverns with different separation distances when the surrounding rock was less heated and it reached thermal steady-state, which represent the thermal states of the surrounding rock at the early and long-term operational stages of the TES caverns, respectively. However, as the separation distance decreased, the rock between the caverns reached thermal steady-state more quickly, and thus the heat loss from the caverns tended to converge rapidly to the value of heat loss occurred under thermal steady-state conditions in the surrounding rock. This result implies that the operating cost of heating the surrounding rock (i.e., rock heating) can be reduced with a reduction in the separation distance between multiple caverns, and suggests that the separation distance should be determined by considering the operating cost of rock heating as well as the construction cost of the caverns.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1993.10b
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• pp.119-132
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• 1993

Modern construction of tunneis and large caverns in hard rock involves high technology design and construction methods. The use of sofisticated construction equipment is also an important part of a succesful completion. Since tunnels and caverns in hard rock often is situated in urban or sub-urban areas, the construction works have to be carried out under strict control as far as vibrations and other impacts on the environment is concerned. This paper will mainty discuss modern methods and equipment for the construction of large caverns.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.32-40
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• 1991

Damage to natural resources from inappropriate visitor behavior is a problem faced by National Park management. Based on the data gathered by personal interview and mail questionnaire, this study examines the effects of communication strategies to reduce depreciative behavior in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. One-quarter of Carlsbad Caverns visitors indicates that they have noticed damage to cave formation during their tour. Almost 38% of visitors say that they have witnessed someone touch a formation inside the Caverns. This is a relatively high percentage compared with other depreciative behavior research to refrain from "tattling" on fellow visitors. Two-thirds of the respondents recalls touching formation replicas before entering the Cavern, while almost all visitors (97.9%) say that they have heard the ranger's talk about not touching formation or leaving the trail. Visitors feel that the ranger's talk is more effective in reducing depreciative behavior than the formation replicas, although at least three-fourths of all respondents believes both techniques are effective.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.431-458
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• 2014

Construction of a new cavern close to an existing cavern will result in a modification of the state of stresses in a zone around the existing cavern as interaction between the twin caverns takes place. Extensive plane strain finite difference analyses were carried out to examine the deformations induced by excavation of underground twin caverns. From the numerical results, a fairly simple nonparametric regression algorithm known as multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) has been used to relate the maximum key point displacement and the percent strain to various parameters including the rock quality, the cavern geometry and the in situ stress. Probabilistic assessments on the serviceability limit state of twin caverns can be performed using the First-order reliability spreadsheet method (FORM) based on the built MARS model. Parametric studies indicate that the probability of failure $P_f$ increases as the coefficient of variation of Q increases, and $P_f$ decreases with the widening of the pillar.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.175-188
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• 2016

The construction of a new cavern modifies the state of stresses and displacements in a zone around the existing cavern. For multiple caverns, the size of this influence zone depends on the ground type, the in situ stress, the cavern span and shape, the width of the pillar separating the caverns, and the excavation sequence. Performances of underground twin caverns can be unsatisfactory as a result of either instability (collapse) or excessive displacements. These two distinct failures should be prevented in design. This study simulated the ultimate and serviceability performances of underground twin rock caverns of various sizes and shapes. The global factor of safety is used as the criterion for determining the ultimate limit state and the calculated maximum displacement around the cavern opening is adopted as the serviceability limit state criterion. Based on the results of a series of numerical simulations, simple regression models were developed for estimating the global factor of safety and the maximum displacement, respectively. It was proposed that a proper pillar width can be determined based on the threshold influence factor value. In addition, design charts with regard to the selection of the pillar width for underground twin rock caverns under similar ground conditions were also developed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.308-318
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• 2013

Thermal stratification in heat stores is essential to improve the efficiency of energy storage systems and deliver more useful energy on demand. It is generally well known that the degree of thermal stratification in heat stores varies depending on the aspect ratio (the height-to-width ratio) and size of the stores. The present study aims to investigate the effect of the aspect ratio and storage volume of rock caverns for storing hot water on thermal stratification in the caverns and heat loss to the surroundings. Heat transfer simulations using a computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT were performed at different aspect ratios and storage volumes of rock caverns. The variation of thermal stratification with respect to time was examined using an index to quantify the degree of stratification, and the heat loss to the surroundings was evaluated. The results of the numerical simulations demonstrated that the thermal stratification in rock caverns was improved by increasing the aspect ratio, but this effect was not remarkable beyond an aspect ratio of 3-4. When the storage volume of rock caverns was large, a higher thermal stratification was maintained for a relatively longer time compared to caverns with a small storage volume, but the difference in thermal stratification between the two cases tended to decrease as the aspect ratio became larger. In addition, the numerical results showed that the heat loss to the surrounding rock tended to increase with an increase in aspect ratio because the surface area of rock caverns increased as the aspect ratio became larger. The total heat loss from multiple small caverns with a reduced storage volume per cavern was larger compared to a single cavern with the same total storage volume as that of the multiple caverns.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2004

As underground caverns have many advantages such as safety and operation, they can also be used for gas storage purpose. When liquefied gas is stored underground, the cryogenic temperature of the gas affects the stability of the storage cavern. In order to store the liquefied gas successfully, it is essential to estimate the exact temperature distribution of the rock mass around the caverns. The main purpose of this study is the development of theoretical solution to be able to estimate the temperature distribution around storage caverns and the assessment of the solution. In this study, a theoretical solution and a conceptual model for estimating two and three dimensional temperature distribution around the storage caverns are suggested. Based on the multi-dimensional transient heat transfer theory, the theoretical solution is successfully derived by assuming the caverns shape as simplified geometry. In order to assess the theoretical solution, by performing numerical experiments with this multi-dimensional model, the temperature distribution of the theoretical solution is compared with that of numerical analysis. Furthermore, the effects of the caverns size are investigated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2014

Multiple thermal energy storage (TES) caverns can be used for storing thermal energy on a large scale and for a high-aspect-ratio heat storage design to provide good thermal performance. It may also be necessary to consider the use of multiple caverns with a reduced length when a single, long tunnel-shaped cavern is not suitable for connection to aboveground heat production and injection equipments. When using multiple TES caverns, the separation distance between the caverns is one of the significant factors that should be considered in the design of storage space, and the optimal separation distance should be determined based on a quantitative stability criterion. In this paper, we described a numerical approach for determining the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns for large-scale TES utilization. For reliable stability evaluation of multiple caverns, we employed a probabilistic method which can quantitatively take into account the uncertainty of input parameters by probability distributions, unlike conventional deterministic approaches. The present approach was applied to the design of a conceptual TES model to store hot water for district heating. The probabilistic stability results of this application demonstrated that the approach in our work can be effectively used as a decision-making tool to determine the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns. In addition, the probabilistic results were compared to those obtained through a deterministic analysis, and the comparison results suggested that care should taken in selecting the acceptable level of stability when using deterministic approaches.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.193-205
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• 2008

The construction of underground structures such as oil and food storage caverns are recently increasing in our country. The stability of those underground caverns are greatly influenced by their shape and size. In this study therefore, the effect that the shape of an underground cavern have on its stability were analyzed in terms of safety factor. To this end, caverns with 5 different shapes were investigated and sensitivity analyses were performed based on rock class, overburden, and lateral earth pressure coefficient. The proper amount of shotcrete and rockbolt as supports of a cavern was also assumed based on the shape and site of the cavern and rock conditions. This study is expected to be helpful in designing and evaluating the stability of caverns in future.