• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.309-320
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• 2018

In this paper, a numerical study using finite element method with considering soil-structure interaction was conducted to investigate the stress and deformation behavior of a sheet pile wall structure. In numerical model, one of the nonlinear elastic material constitutive models, Duncan-Chang E-v model, is used for describing soil behavior. The hard contact constitutive model is used for simulating the behavior of interface between the sheet pile wall and soil. The construction process of excavation and backfill is simulated by the way of step loading. We also compare the present numerical method with the in-situ test results for verifying the numerical methods. The numerical analysis showed that the soil excavation in the lock chamber has a huge effect on the wall deflection and stress, pile deflection, and anchor force. With the increase of distance between anchored bars, the maximum wall deflection and anchor force increase, while the maximum wall stress decreases. At a low elevation of anchored bar, the maximum wall bending moment decreases, but the maximum wall deflection, pile deflection, and anchor force both increase. The construction procedure with first excavation and then backfill is quite favorable for decreasing pile deflection, wall deflection and stress, and anchor forces.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.285-293
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• 2021

The construction of underground structures such as power supply lines, communication lines, utility tunnels has significantly increased worldwide for improving urban aesthetics ensuring citizen safety, and efficient use of underground space. Those underground structures are usually constructed along with vertical cylindrical shafts to facilitate their construction and maintenance. When constructing a vertical shaft through the open-cut method, the walls are mostly designed to be flexible, allowing a certain level of displacement. The earth pressure applied to the flexible walls acts as an external force and its accurate estimation is essential for reasonable and economical structure design. The earth pressure applied to the flexible wall is closely interrelated to the displacement of the surrounding ground. This study simulated stepwise excavation for constructing a cylindrical vertical shaft through a centrifugal model experiment. One quadrant of the axisymmetric vertical shaft and the ground were modeled, and ground excavation was simulated by shrinking the vertical shaft. The deformation occurring on the entire ground during the excavation was continuously evaluated through digital image analysis. The digital image analysis evaluated complex ground deformation which varied with wall displacement, distance from the wall, and ground depth. When the ground deformation data accumulate through the method used in this study, they can be used for developing shaft wall models in future for analyzing the earth pressure acting on them.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.293-312
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• 2022

Cantilever sheet pile walls having section thinner than masonry walls are generally adopted to retain moderate height of excavation. In practice, a surcharge in the form of strip load of finite width is generally present on the backfill. So, in the present study, influence of strip load on cantilever sheet pile walls is analyzed by varying the width of the strip load and distance from the cantilever sheet pile walls using finite difference based computer program in cohesionless soil modelled as Mohr-Coulomb model. The results of bending moment, earth pressure, deflection and settlement are presented in non-dimensional terms. A parametric study has been conducted for different friction angle of soil, embedded depth of sheet pile walls, different magnitudes and width of the strip load acting on the ground surface and at a depth below ground level. The result of present study is also validated with the available literature. From the results presented in this study, it can be inferred that optimum behavior of cantilever sheet pile walls is observed for strip load having width 2 m to 3 m on the ground surface. Further as the depth of strip load below the ground surface increases below the ground level to 0.75 times excavation height, the bending moment, settlement, net earth pressure and deflection decreases and then remains constant.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.573-584
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• 2022

Water inrush may occur during seaside urban tunnel excavation. Various factors affect the water inrush, and the water inrush mechanism is complex. In this study, nine evaluation indices having potential effects on water inrush were analysed. Specifically, the geographic and geomorphic conditions, unfavourable geology, distance from the tunnel to sea, strength of the surrounding rock, groundwater level, tidal action, cyclical footage, grouting pressure, and grouting reinforced region were analysed. Furthermore, a two-step interval risk assessment method for water inrush management during seaside urban tunnel excavation was developed by a multi-index system and interval risk assessment comprised of an interval analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, and relative superiority analysis. The novel assessment method was applied to the Haicang Tunnel successfully. A preliminary interval risk assessment method for water inrush was performed based on engineering geological conditions. As a result, the risk level fell into a risk level IV, which represents a section with high risk. Subsequently, a secondary interval risk assessment method was performed based on engineering geological conditions and construction conditions. The risk level of water inrush is reduced to a risk level II. The results agreed with the current tunnel situation, which verified the reliability of this approach.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1991.10a
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• pp.166-178
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• 1991

Using FLAC, which is an explicit finite difference code written for analysis of problems in geotechnical engineering, a particular example 2 in the Korean Geothechnical Society News has been analysed. The elastoplasticity formulation in FLAC assumes an elastic, perfectly plastic solid in plane strain which conforms to a Mohr-Coulomb yield condition. During tunnel excavations by stages, stresses and diaplacements in region around the tunnel varies according to distance from the face of tunnel and installation of tunnel supports, and soon. In this analysis, the three dimensional support effect of the rock mass during the process of excavation is simulated by using the stress distribution method, and varying the material constants of shotcrete in each stage also considered. The maximum convergency is occured at the crown of the tunnel and estimated to be about 12mm.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.132-141
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• 1993

Laboratory and field tests were performed to find out the effectiveness of ground improvement by grouting for an urban subway tunnel that was excavated in weak rock by the NATM. Field measurements were carried out to monitor the behavior of rock mass around the tunnel and to ensure the validity of the current design of the distance form the measuring points to the tunnel face. The final converged displacement and the peroid were predicted using the gamma function. It was found that the ground improvement in terms of reduced permeability and increased stength in the self-supportability of the excavation face enabled the NATM applied in poor gorund. As the result of applying the gamma function to the predicting of displacement, the final displacement including the preceding one and the converged period could be approximately predicted at the early excavation stage.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.26 no.A
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• pp.3-15
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• 2006

To determine the optimum ventilation systems during long tunnel excavation, the velocity vector profile and the contaminant's distribution at working place are studied using 2-D, 3-D numerical analysis. The main results can be summarized as follow; In case of long tunnels, blower-exhaust-mixture types which enable to use soft blast ducts is most appropriate in terms of ventilation and economical efficiency. Of the same ventilation types, ventilation efficiency has a difference according to blast ducts and the distance between fan and working place. The 3-D numerical result shows that arranging blower and exhaust ducts in the right and left corners of the tunnel respectively is effective to discharge contaminant. The result of the real measurement shows that CO concentration can be reduced to below 50 ppm, which is regulation value, as 16-minutes fan operation goes on.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 1995

In this paper the stress redistribution around tunnel face was analyzed by using a three-dimensional finite element model. The effects of in-situ stress levels, excavation sequences, stiffness difference between the hard ground and the weak zone on the stress redistributions were considered. Displacement and stress changes at tunnel crown, side wall, and invert were investigated throughout the sequential excavation. To show ground response, percentage of the displacement and stress variations are used as a function of normalized distance that is between the face and monitoring section. Preceding displacements and stress variations were presented to be adopted in the two-dimensional tunnel analysis.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2007.03a
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• pp.721-728
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• 2007

The prediction of quality characteristics during the design phase of a construction project was fragmented, because no particular method exists. One of the most important key responses is the total displacements (horizontal and vertical). A brainstorming session produces the quality parameters i.e. the control factors which here are identified as: the steel joint, the pile's length, the excavation depth and angle, the distance between the piles, the anchor stretch and length to name just some of the most engaging in the design. The purpose of this study is to optimise these parameters to minimize the total displacements following a methodology based on Taguchi method. For this reason, a 2-level, L₈ orthogonal array has been employed to organize the experimentation. Data is obtained from a real-life excavation project designed on the Plaxis v.8 CAE package. Taguchi analysis is performed in the statistical package Minitab.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.231-246
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• 2012

Recently, the construction of tunnel frequently involves neighboring weak ground conditions. In this case, the stabilized ground could be relaxed by the excavation of tunnel. This will create issues in terms of stability of tunnel. Major factors determining the stability of tunnel can be the direction (angle) of weak zone, the distance between tunnel and boundary of weak zone and so on. In this study, by quantifying the displacement and crack propagation during the excavation of tunnel constructed neighboring weak zone, the influence of the direction of weak zone and the distance between tunnel and boundary of weak zone on the mechanical behavior of tunnel is investigated. A series of experimental scaled model tests by changing the direction of weak zone and the distance between tunnel and boundary of weak zone, are performed and analyzed under the condition of homogeneous material. The results show that as the angle between ground surface and boundary of weak zone moves from horizontal to perpendicular plane, displacement near tunnel increases. An increased distance between tunnel and boundary of weak zone induces displacements near tunnel to decrease and stabilizes beyond a certain level of distance. These findings verify and extend the earlier studies quantitatively. Finally, an appropriate distance between tunnel and boundary of weak zone according to the angle of weak zone is justified. This fundamental insight provides the basis for a more rational design of tunnel neighboring weak ground conditions.