• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.163-169
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• 2022

Background: It is estimated that about 13 million artisanal and small-scale miners carry out their activities under harsh, precarious, unfriendly, and risky conditions. Yet, our understanding of the extent to which these workers use personal protective equipment (PPE) and navigate through the various risks and hazards they face is still limited. This article has two main objectives. First, it explores the extent of usage of PPE among artisanal and small-scale miners for the prevention of hazards and risks. Second, it examines the coping strategies used by these miners as a response to experiences of occupational injuries and risks Methods: A cross-sectional survey of small-scale miners was conducted in six communities across three districts in Ghana, West Africa. The mixed methods approach was adopted. A total of 148 small-scale miners participated in the study. Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were held across the six communities. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Chi-square tests were used to analyse the relationship between some socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age, and educational background) and the usage of PPE. Open-ended questions and responses from FGDs were analysed based on the content and verbatim quotations from miners. Results: Findings suggest that 78% of the miners interviewed do not use the appropriate PPE citing reasons such as cost, and their personal discomfort associated with use of PPE. There was no significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., sex, age, education and major mining activity) and the usage of PPE. The study further revealed four main coping strategies used by miners to handle the risks. These are rest, taking unprescribed medication and hard drugs, registration with health insurance scheme and savings and investments. Conclusion: This study shows that very few artisanal miners use PPE despite the significant hazards and risks to which they are exposed. The study recommends to the government to put in place measures to ensure that miners adhere to health and safety regulations before undertaking mining activities. This means that health and safety plans and use of PPE should be linked to the license acquisition process for miners.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.147-161
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• 2022

This study examined changes in the ecological characteristics and design characteristics of Ban's exhibition space in three representative temporary exhibition halls and three permanent exhibition halls designed by Ban Shigeru since 2000. Through the investigation of the concepts and characteristics of ecological architecture, the design characteristics of exhibition space, the analysis framework of the design characteristics of exhibition space and the design elements of ecological architecture is obtained. The analysis results show that there are big changes between the temporary exhibition space and the permanent exhibition space in terms of building scale, space composition, function, materials and technology. On the one hand, the temporary exhibition space used recyclable materials, such as paper tubes, containers to be assembled on site into a single-layer space focused on display. The assembly method was simple and the construction period was short. After the exhibition, the exhibition space were dismantled. The materials were either transported to the next display site or recycled and reused. On the other hand, the permanent exhibition space used reinforced concrete as the main structure, and used a large amount of wood and glass materials to construct a multi-layered composite cultural space that separated the exhibition space and the leisure space. In terms of ecological characteristics, the building materials of the temporary exhibition space were recycled and no industrial wastes were generated after the demolition. The permanent exhibition hall uses eco-friendly wood for the roof and walls, so it is easy to replace and repair. Both types of exhibition halls are changing ecological architecture in a more sustainable direction by saving resources and energy through natural light and ventilation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2022

The mechanical and thermal properties of the rock masses can affect the performance associated with both the isolating and retarding capacities of radioactive materials within the deep geological disposal system for High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW). In this study, the essential parameters for the site descriptive model (SDM) related to the rock mechanics and thermal properties of the HLW disposal facilities site were reviewed, and the technical background was explored through the cases of the preceding site descriptive models developed by SKB (Swedish Nuclear and Fuel Management Company), Sweden and Posiva, Finland. SKB and Posiva studied parameters essential for the investigation and evaluation of mechanical and thermal properties, and derived a rock mechanics site descriptive model for safety evaluation and construction of the HLW disposal facilities. The rock mechanics SDM includes the results obtained from investigation and evaluation of the strength and deformability of intact rocks, fractures, and fractured rock masses, as well as the geometry of large-scaled deformation zones, the small-scaled fracture network system, thermal properties of rocks, and the in situ stress distribution of the disposal site. In addition, the site descriptive model should provide the sensitivity analysis results for the input parameters, and present the results obtained from evaluation of uncertainty.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2023

The brittleness of rocks plays an important role in determining the fragmentation and failure behavior of rock. However, there is still no standard method to evaluate the brittleness of rock, and previous studies have suggested the several definitions for estimation of brittleness of rock. Even in the process of mechanical rock excavation and drilling, the brittleness of rock is considered as an important property for evaluating the excavation efficiency of mechanical excavators or boreability of rock. The previous studies have been carried out to investigate the correlation between different brittleness of rock and cutting efficiency and boreability of rock. This study introduced a method for calculating the brittleness of rock from punch penetration test, and analyzed the correlation between the brittleness of rock calculated by the uniaxial compressive and Brazilian tensile strengths and that from punch penetration test. From the results of correlation analysis, the relationship between various brittleness was confirmed, and it was found that PSI and BI₃ showed a good correlation with the strength-based brittleness index. In addition, the results indicated that B₃ and B₄ are suitable to represent the brittleness of rock in the field of mechanical rock excavation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.57-69
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• 2023

In this study, we simulated induced seismicity in the Groningen natural gas reservoir using 2D hydro-mechanical coupled discrete element modelling (DEM). The code used is PFC2D (Particle Flow Code 2D), a commercial software developed by Itasca, and in order to apply to this study we further developed 1)initialization of inhomogeneous reservoir pressure distribution, 2)a non-linear pressure-time history boundary condition, 3)local stress field monitoring logic. We generated a 2D reservoir model with a size of 40 × 50 km² and a complex fault system, and simulated years of pressure depletion with a time range between 1960 and 2020. We simulated fault system failure induced by pressure depletion and reproduced the spatiotemporal distribution of induced seismicity and assessed its failure mechanism. Also, we estimated the ground subsidence distribution and confirmed its similarity to the field measurements in the Groningen region. Through this study, we confirm the feasibility of the presented 2D hydro-mechanical coupled DEM in simulating the deformation of a complex fault system by hydro-mechanical coupled processes.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.209-227
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• 2023

The government continues to announce measures to revitalize smart construction technology based on BIM for productivity innovation in the construction industry. In the design phase, the goal is design automation and optimization by converging BIM Data and other advanced technologies. Accordingly, in the basic design of the Namhae Seomyeon-Yeosu Sindeok National Road Construction Project, a domestic undersea tunnel project, BIM-based design was carried out by developing tunnel design automation technology using 3D spatial information according to the tunnel design process. In order to derive the optimal alignment, more than 10,000 alignment cases were generated in 36hr using the generative design technique and a quantitative evaluation of the objective functions defined by the designer was performed. AI-based ground classification and 3D Geo Model were established to evaluate the economic feasibility and stability of the optimal alignment. AI-based ground classification has improved its precision by performing about 30 types of ground classification per borehole, and in the case of the 3D Geo Model, its utilization can be expected in that it can accumulate ground data added during construction. In the case of 3D blasting design, the optimal charge weight was derived in 5 minutes by reviewing all security objects on the project range on Dynamo, and the design result was visualized in 3D space for intuitive and convenient construction management so that it could be used directly during construction.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.227-241
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• 2022

Full waveform inversion (FWI) in the field of seismic data processing is an inversion technique that is used to estimate the velocity model of the subsurface for oil and gas exploration. Recently, deep learning (DL) technology has been increasingly used for seismic data processing, and its combination with FWI has attracted remarkable research efforts. For example, DL-based data processing techniques have been utilized for preprocessing input data for FWI, enabling the direct implementation of FWI through DL technology. DL-based FWI can be divided into the following methods: pure data-based, physics-based neural network, encoder-decoder, reparameterized FWI, and physics-informed neural network. In this review, we describe the theory and characteristics of the methods by systematizing them in the order of advancements. In the early days of DL-based FWI, the DL model predicted the velocity model by preparing a large training data set to adopt faithfully the basic principles of data science and apply a pure data-based prediction model. The current research trend is to supplement the shortcomings of the pure data-based approach using the loss function consisting of seismic data or physical information from the wave equation itself in deep neural networks. Based on these developments, DL-based FWI has evolved to not require a large amount of learning data, alleviating the cycle-skipping problem, which is an intrinsic limitation of FWI, and reducing computation times dramatically. The value of DL-based FWI is expected to increase continually in the processing of seismic data.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.13-26
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• 2022

Calcite twins were analyzed in six oriented samples of the Pungchon limestone, Joseon Supergroup, to reconstruct the paleostress field. The orientations of c-axis of calcite and e twin plane were measured along with the average thickness and numbers of twins, and the widths of calcite grains. Twin strain, mean width, and intensity of twinning, and the relative magnitude and orientations of principal stresses were calculated using Calcite Strain Gauge program. Twin strain, mean width, and intensity of twinning showed ranges of 1.09-15.36%, 0.53-3.72 ㎛ and 21.0-53.1 twim/mm, respectively. Metamorphic temperatures calculated from the twins were 170-200℃, indicating that the twins developed after the Pungchon limestone was uplifted to at least half of the maximum burial depth. Results for five of the samples indicate that the calcite twins formed during two events with principal stress axes of different orientations, while the remaining sample recorded only one event that produced calcite twins. The axis of maximum compressive stress was oriented mainly WNW-ESE to ENE-WSW, and to a lesser degree NW-SE and NE-SW. Comparison of paleostress orientations measured here and in other studies indicates that most twins were produced during the Songrim orogeny. However, the Daebo orogeny and the Bulguksa orogeny also produced calcite twins in the Punchon limestone.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2022

This study employed a 3-D numerical analysis based on the distinct element method to estimate the strength and deformability of a Cretaceous biotite granitic rock mass at Gijang, Busan, Korea. A workflow was proposed to evaluate the scale effect and the representative elementary volume (REV) of mechanical properties for fractured rock masses. Directional strength and deformability parameters such as block strength, deformation modulus, shear modulus, and bulk modulus were estimated for a discrete fracture network (DFN) in a cubic block the size of the REV. The size of the mechanical REV for fractured rock masses in the study area was determined to be a 15 m cube. The mean block strength and mean deformation modulus of the DFN cube block were found to be 52.8% and 57.7% of the intact rock's strength and Young's modulus, respectively. A constitutive model was derived for the study area that describes the linear-elastic and orthotropic mechanical behavior of the rock mass. The model is expected to help evaluate the stability of tunnels and underground spaces through equivalent continuum analysis.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.41-57
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• 2022

A workflow is presented to estimate the size of a representative elementary volume and 3-D hydraulic conductivity tensor based on fluid flow analysis for a discrete fracture network (DFN). A case study is considered for a Cretaceous granitic rock mass at Gijang in Busan, Korea. The intensity and size of joints were calibrated using the first invariant of the fracture tensor for the 2-D DFN of the study area. Effective hydraulic apertures were obtained by analyzing the results of field packer tests. The representative elementary volume of the 2-D DFN was determined to be 20 m square by investigating the variations in the directional hydraulic conductivity for blocks of different sizes. The directional hydraulic conductivities calculated from the 2-D DFN exhibited strong anisotropy related to the hydraulic behavior of the study area. The 3-D hydraulic conductivity tensor for the fractured rock mass of the study area was estimated from the directional block conductivities of the 2-D DFN blocks generated for various directions in 3-D. The orientations of the principal components of the 3-D hydraulic conductivity tensor were found to be identical to those of delineated joint sets in the study area.