• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.223-235
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• 2020

In this study, pulse tests were undertaken at an underground research facility, as part of in-situ hydraulic tests, to derive the hydrogeological characteristics of crystalline rock. The applicability of pulse tests for estimating the transmissivity of a fractured rock mass was evaluated by comparing the results to those from a slug test. Results from the pulse and slug tests were very similar for the test section, with both tests indicating low transmissivity. A slight difference between the results of pulse and slug tests, however, was observed in the section with the transmissivity larger than 1 × 10^-8 ㎡/s, which is likely due to the difference in the radii of influence of the tests. Furthermore, when the pulse test was conducted in permeable zones where transmissivity was larger than 1 × 10^-7 ㎡/s, it was difficult to produce accurate results. This lack of accuracy was due to the rapid recovery of the hydraulic head in these permeable test zones. When performing pulse tests, it was important to accurately measure the pressure when valves were opened and closed in order to apply the head change in the test section. Although it is difficult to derive the hydrogeological characteristics from pulse tests in areas with high permeability, these tests can be used as an economical test method for identifying hydrogeological characteristics in a relatively short time, especially when deriving the transmissivity of rocks with low permeability.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.115-131
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• 2013

The Mizunami Underground Laboratory (MIU) Project is a comprehensive research project investigating the deep underground environment within crystalline rock being conducted by Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The MIU Project has three overlapping phases: Surface-based Investigation phase (Phase I), Construction phase (Phase II), and Operation phase (Phase III), with a total duration of 20 years. The overall project goals of the MIU Project from Phase I through to Phase III are: 1) to establish techniques for investigation, analysis and assessment of the deep geological environment, and 2) to develop a range of engineering for deep underground application. For the overall project goals 1), the Phase I goals were set to construct models of the geological environment from all surface-based investigation results that describe the geological environment prior to excavation and predict excavation response. For the overall project goals 2), the Phase I goals were set to formulate detailed design concepts and a construction plan for the underground facilities. This paper introduces geosynthesis procedures for the investigation and assessment of the hydrochemistry of groundwater in crystalline rock.

• Carbon letters
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• v.1 no.3_4
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• pp.138-142
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• 2001

The effect of electrochemical surface treatments in KOH chemical solution on microstructures of carbon blacks was investigated in terms of surface functional values and XRD measurements. And their mechanical interfacial properties of the carbon blacks/rubber composites were studied by the composite tearing energy ($G_{IIIC}$). It was found that the development of basic-surface functional groups lead to the significant physical changes of carbon blacks, such as, decrease of the interlayer spacing ($d_{002}$), increase of the crystalline size along c-axis ($L_c$), and increase of degree of crystalline (${\chi}_c$). This treatment is possibly suitable for carbon blacks to be incorporated in a hydrocarbon rubber matrix, resulting in improving the hardness and tearing energy of the resulting composites.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.381-391
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• 2011

Weathering can reduce rock strength and eventually affect the structural stability of a rock mass, which is important in the field of engineering geology. Several methods have been developed to evaluate the degree of weathering, including the chemical weathering index. In this study, we analyzed the weathering degree and characteristics of microtextures and pores in crystalline rocks (gneiss and granites) based on petrographic observations, the chemical weathering index, mineralogy by XRD, microtextural analysis by SEM/EDS, measurements of pore size and surface area by the BET method, and microporosity by X-ray CT. The formation of secondary minerals and microtexture in gneiss and granitic rocks are assumed to be affected by complex processes such as dissolution, precipitation, and fracturing. Hence, it is clear that some chemical weathering indices that are based solely on whole-rock chemistry (e.g., CIA and CWI) are unable to provide reliable assessments of the degree of weathering. Great care is needed to evaluate the degree of chemical weathering, including an understanding of the mineralogy and microtexture of the rock mass, as well as the characteristics of micropores.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.309-332
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• 2021

Natural barrier systems surrounding the geological repository for the high-level radioactive waste should guarantee the hydraulic performance for preventing or delaying the leakage of radionuclide. In the case of the behavior of a crystalline rock, the hydraulic performance tends to be decided by the existence of discontinuities, so the coupled hydro-mechanical(HM) processes on the discontinuities should be characterized. The discontinuum modelling can describe the complicated behavior of discontinuities including creation, propagation, deformation and slip, so it is appropriate to model the behavior of a crystalline rock. This paper investigated the coupled HM processes in discontinuum modelling such as UDEC, 3DEC, PFC, DDA, FRACOD and TOUGH-UDEC. Block-based discontinuum methods tend to describe the HM processes based on the fluid flow through the discontinuities, and some methods are combined with another numerical tool specialized in hydraulic analysis. Particle-based discontinuum modelling describes the overall HM processes based on the fluid flow among the particles. The discontinuum methods that are currently available have limitations: exclusive simulations for two-dimension, low hydraulic simulation efficiency, fracture-dominated fluid flow and simplified hydraulic analysis, so it could be improper to the modelling the geological repository. Based on the concepts of various discontinuum modelling compiled in this paper, the advanced numerical tools for describing the accurate coupled HM processes of the deep geological repository should be developed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2020

In this paper, the transmissivities obtained from the pulse test, the slug test and the constant head test were compared each other to assess an applicability and a reliability of the hydrogeological test method, which are commonly used to derive the hydrogeological properties of a crystalline rock at un underground research facility. When comparing the results of the pulse test and the slug test, the transmissivities were very similar in the entire test section of the medium. However, there was a little discrepancy in the results in the areas where the permeability is relatively high. The results of the constant head test on the same section showed the lower transmissivity than the results of the pulse test and the slug test on the highly permeable section. This difference in permeability was considered to be due to the difference in the radius of the hydraulic effect applied in each hydraulic test. When the heterogenetic distribution of fracture affects the hydrogeological properties on crystalline rock, it is believed that the hydrogeological characteristics can be explained through a constant head test or a constant flow rate test with a large hydraulic effective radius, as well as a pulse and a slug test that can identify hydrogeological properties in a relatively short time.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.253-257
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• 2013

Geology, hydrogeology, and geochemistry are the main technical siting factors of a geological repository for spent nuclear fuels. This paper evaluated the siting criteria of overseas geological repository with related to hydrogeologic properties, such as hydraulic conductivity, partitioning coefficient, dispersion coefficient, boundary condition, and water age. Each country establishes the siting criteria based on its important geological backgrounds and information, and social environment. For example, Sweden and Finland that have decided a crystalline rock as a host rock of a geological repository show different siting criteria for hydraulic conductivity. In Sweden, it is preferable to avoid area where the hydraulic conductivity on a deposition hole scale (~30m) exceeds $10^{-8}m/s$, whereas Finland does not decide any criterion for the hydraulic conductivity because of limited data for it. In addition, partitioning coefficients should be less than 10-1 of average value in Swedish crystalline bedrock. However, the area where shows 100 times less than average partitioning coefficients of radionuclides in crystalline rock should be avoided in Sweden. In German, the partitioning coefficients for the majority of the long-term-relevant radionuclides should be greater than or equal to $0.001m^3/kg$. Therefore, it is strongly required to collect much and exact information for the hydrogeologic properties in order to set up the siting criteria.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.1 s.66
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• pp.32-42
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• 2007

Severe damage can occur around deposition holes due to complex interaction of thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) loading during the long term operation of high level radioactive waste repository. Many candidate sites for repository are located in crystalline rock mass, therefore mechanism of damage follows the form of brittle fracture and failure. This paper briefly introduces major outcomes from 15 years international collaborative project, DECOVALEX, and presents major study results for current ongoing benchmark test study from DECOVALEX-THMC, to evaluate the effect of THM loading to rock mass in excavation damaged zone (EDZ) near deposition holes. Through benchmark test model by simplifying THM loading to boundary loading obtained numerical results are compared, and discrete fracture interaction after up to 1 million years operation is discussed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.249-263
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• 2022

The specially-shaped Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) cutter is widely used in drill bit design due to its advantages of high rock cutting efficiency, strong impact resistance and long service life in hard and abrasive formation drilling. A detailed understanding of rock cutting behavior of worn specially-shaped PDC cutter is essential to improve the drilling efficiency and decrease the drilling costs. In this paper, the theoretical models of two new principles (loading performance (LP) and cutting performance (CP)) are derived for evaluating the cutting process of worn specially-shaped cutter, the theoretical models consider the factors, such as cutter geometry, aggressiveness, stress state, working life, and rock cutting efficiency. Besides, the numerical model of heterogeneous granite is developed using finite element method combined with Voronoi tessellation, the LP and CP of 12 kinds of worn specially-shaped PDC (SPDC) cutters are analyzed. The results found that the mechanical specific energy (MSE) of worn cutters first increase and then decrease with increasing the cutting depth, and the MSE increase with the increase of back rake angle except for Conical cutter and Wedge-shaped cutter. From the perspective of CP, the worn PDC cutters are more suitable for the smaller cutting depths, and the back rake angle has little effect on the CP of the specially-shaped worn PDC cutters. Conical cutter, Saddle-shaped cutter and Ellipse-shaped cutter have the highest CP value, while Rhombus-shaped cutter, Convex cutter and Wedge-shaped cutter have the lowest value in selecting cutters. This research leads to an enhanced understanding of rock-breaking mechanisms of worn SPDC cutters, and provides the basis to select of specially-shaped PDC cutters for the specific target formation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.03a
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• pp.315-322
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• 1999

The probabilistic keyblock concept which was based upon block theory was applied to the example site by using the observed block moulds data. The more was the block failure likelihood (P(B)) which was defined by the product of the joint combination probability, the shape parameter and the instability parameter, the more were the frequencies of failures observed. If we can acquire these data during a tunnel construction stage, they will be used as a very useful data to construct another tunnel in the neighborhood. Furthermore, a sedimentary rock may have larger P(B) values than a crystalline rock, and for the given P(B) value, the percent block moulds are larger in the former than latter.