• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.617-620
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• 1997

In this paper, the thermal stress analysis of spent nuclear fuel disposal canister in a deep repository at 500m underground is done for the underground pressure variation. Since the nuclear fuel disposal usually emits much heat and radiation, its careful treatment is required. And so a long term safe repository at a deep bedrock is used. Under this situation, the canister experiences some mechanical external loads such as hydrostatic pressure of underground water, swelling pressure of bentonite buffer, and the thermal load due to the heat generation of spent nuclear fuel in the basket etc.. Hence, the canister should be designed to designed to withstand these loads. In this paper, the thermal stress analysis is done using the finite element analysis code, NISA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.605-618
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• 2001

For the mechanical stability assessment of a deep underground high-level waste repository. computer simulations using FLAC3D were carried out and important parameters including stress ratio, depth, tunnel size, joint spacing, and joint properties were chosen from sensitivity analysis. The main effect as well as the interaction effect between the important parameters could be investigated effectively using fractional factorial design . In order to analyze the stability of the disposal tunnel and deposition hole in a discontinuous rock mass, different modelings were performed under different conditions using 3DEC and the influence of joint distribution and properties, rock properties and stress ratio could be determined. From the three dimensional modelings, it was concluded that the conceptual repository design was mechanically stable even in a discontinuous rock mass.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2020

It is extremely important to obtain rock strength parameters for geological engineering. In this paper, the evolution of sandstone cohesion and internal friction angle with plastic shear strain was obtained by simulating the cyclic loading and unloading tests under different confining pressures using Particle Flow Code software. By which and combined with the micro-crack propagation process, the mesoscopic mechanism of parameter evolution was studied. The results show that with the increase of plastic shear strain, the sandstone cohesion decreases first and then tends to be stable, while the internal friction angle increases first, then decreases, and finally maintains unchanged. The evolution of sandstone shear strength parameters is closely related to the whole process of crack formation, propagation and coalescence. When the internal micro-cracks are less and distributed randomly and dispersedly, and the rock shear strength parameters (cohesion, internal friction angle) are considered to have not been fully mobilized. As the directional development of the internal micro-fractures as well as the gradual formation of macroscopic shear plane, the rock cohesion reduces continuously and the internal friction angle is in the rise stage. As the formation of the macroscopic shear plane, both the rock cohesion and internal friction angle continuously decrease to a certain residual level.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2019

This paper presents the numerical simulation of membrane structure under impact load. Firstly, the numerical simulation model is validated by comparing with the test in Hao's research. Then, the effects of the shape of the projectile, the membrane prestress and the initial impact speed, are investigated for studying the dynamic response and failure mechanism, based on the membrane displacement, projectile acceleration and kinetic energy. Finally, the results show that the initial speed and the punch shape are related with the loss of kinetic energy of projectiles. Meanwhile, the membrane prestress is an important factor that affects the energy dissipation capacity and the impact resistance of membrane structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2019

Strain-rate and temperature have significant effects on the one-dimensional (1D) compression behavior of soils. This paper focuses on the bonding degradation effect of soil structure on the time and temperature dependent behavior of soft structured clay. The strain-rate and temperature dependency of preconsolidation pressure are investigated in double logarithm plane and a thermal viscoplastic model considering the combined effect of strain-rate and temperature is developed to describe the mechanical behavior of unstructured clay. By incorporating the bonding degradation, the model is extended that can be suitable for structured clay. The extended model is used to simulate CRS (Constant Rate of Strain) tests conducted on structural Berthierville clay with different strain-rates and temperatures. The comparisons between predicted and experimental results show that the extended model can reasonably describe the effect of bonding degradation on the stain-rate and temperature dependent behavior of soft structural clay under 1D condition. Although the model is proposed for 1D analysis, it can be a good base for developing a more general 3D model.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.71-83
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• 2019

This investigation presented conventional triaxial and creep-permeability tests on sandstones considering thermally-induced damage (TID). The TID had no visible effects on rock surface color, effective porosity and permeability below $300^{\circ}C$ TID level. The permeability enlarged approximately two orders of magnitude as TID increased to $1000^{\circ}C$ level. TID of $700^{\circ}C$ level was a threshold where the influence of TID on the normalized mass and volume of the specimen can be divided into two linear phases. Moreover, no prominent variations in the deformation moduli and peak strength and strain appeared as TID< $500^{\circ}C$ level. It is interesting that the peak strength increased by 24.3% at $700^{\circ}C$ level but decreased by 11.5% at $1000^{\circ}C$ level. The time-related deformation and steady-state creep rate had positive correlations with creep loading and the TID level, whereas the instantaneous modulus showed the opposite. The strain rates under creep failure stresses raised 1-4 orders of magnitude than those at low-stress levels. The permeability was not only dependent on the TID level but also dependent on creep deformation. The TID resulted in large deformation and complexity of failure pattern for the sandstone.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.21-24
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• 2021

In this study, the development and production of electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles are presented as a method for realizing carbon-neutral. Accordingly, the demand and need for development of underground metal mineral resources such as copper and nickel has increased. The research was carried out using MT survey, which is very useful for deep exploration such as mineral resources and oil exploration because of it's low cost and explorable depth. In Korea, there are very few cases of MT exploration in terms of mineral development, so the study was conducted based on the MT exploration conducted previously in AusLAMP, Australia. Through comparative analysis of the MT exploration data conducted to identify the ore body in the deep area of the Olympic Dam in Australia, with the data directly calculated in 2D inversion, it was confirmed that it can have a positive effect on the possibility of resource development and carbon neutrality using MT exploration in Korea.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.157-166
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• 2021

This paper aims at the temperature and slenderness ratio effects on physical and mechanical properties of Beishan granite. A series of uniaxial compression tests with various slenderness ratios and temperatures were carried out, and the acoustic emission signal was also collected. As the temperature increases, the fracture aperture of intercrystalline cracks gradually increases, and obvious transcrystalline cracks occurs when T > 600℃. The failure patterns change from tensile failure mode to ductile failure mode with the increasing temperature. The elastic modulus decreases with the temperature and increases with slenderness ratio, then tends to be a constant value when T = 1000℃. However, the peak strain has the opposite evolution as the elastic modulus under the effects of temperature and slenderness ratio. The uniaxial compression strength (UCS) changes a little for the low-temperature specimens of T < 400℃, but a significant decrease happens when T = 400℃ and 800℃ due to phase transitions of mineral. The evolution denotes that the critical brittle-ductile transition temperature increases with slenderness ratio, and the critical slenderness ratio corresponding to the characteristic mechanical behavior tends to be smaller with the increasing temperature. Additionally, the AE quantity also increases with temperature in an exponential function.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.489-502
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• 2023

This article presents the crucial role played by the French underground research laboratory (URL) in initiating the deep geological repository project Cigéo. In January 2023, Andra finalized the license application for the initial construction of Cigéo. Depending on Government's decision, the construction of Cigéo may be authorized around 2027. Cigéo is the result of a National program, launched in 1991, aiming to safely manage high-level and intermediate level long-lived radioactive wastes. This National program is based on four principles: 1) excellent science and technical knowledge, 2) safety and security as primary goals for waste management, 3) high requirements for environment protection, 4) transparent and open-public exchanges preceding the democratic decisions and orientations by the Parliament. The research and development (R&D) activities carried out in the URL supported the design and the safety demonstration of the Cigéo project. Moreover, running the URL has provided an opportunity to gain practical experience with regard to the security of underground operations, assessment of environmental impacts, and involvement of the public in the preparation of decisions. The practices implemented have helped gradually build confidence in the Cigéo project.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 2019

The mechanical behavior of rock is essential to estimate the capacity and long-term stability of $CO_2$ storage in deep saline aquifers. As the depth of reservoir increases, the pressure and temperature that applied on the rock increase. To answer the question of how the confining pressure and temperature influence the mechanical behavior of reservoir rock, triaxial compression experiments were carried out on brine-saturated sandstone at elevated temperature. The triaxial compressive strength of brine-saturated sandstone was observed to decrease with increasing testing temperature, and the temperature weakening effect in strength enhanced with the increase of confining pressure. Sandstone specimens showed single fracture failures under triaxial compression. Three typical regions around the main fracture were identified: fracture band, damaged zone and undamaged zone. A function was proposed to describe the evolution of acoustic emission count under loading. Finally, the mechanism of elevated temperature causing the reduction of strength of brine-saturated sandstone was discussed.