• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.335-352
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• 2024

Low carbon energy demand in South Korea is increasing, hence leading to an increasing usage of wood pellets and the amount of its combustion by-product called wood pellet fly ash (WA). In an effort to develop recycling technology, this research investigates the use of WA as a new sustainable binder for backfill soil materials. The influence of WA on weathered granite soils (WS) is investigated by mixing 5%, 15%, and 25% of WA dosage, compacted at optimum moisture content, then cured for 3, 7, 14, and 28 days. After curing, the compacted specimens were investigated through unconfined compressive tests, pH tests, total suction tests, and microstructural analysis. The findings suggest that the higher the dosage rate, the higher strength and modulus. Additionally, the alkali ions of WA aid in the cementation of WS particles, and newly cementitious minerals are confirmed after 28 curing days. The refinement of pore microstructures led to a denser WS matrix and stiffness improvements. The results validate the binding potential of wood pellet fly ash on weathered granite soils in terms of strength, modulus, and microstructures.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2008

To obtain the input data for the design and long-tenn performance assessment of a high-level waste repository, the thermal conductivities of several granite rocks which were taken from the rock cores from the declined borehole were measured. The rock specimens were sampled at the various depths from the surface, and the thermal conductivity was measured under the dry and water-saturated conditions. Under the dry condition, the thermal conductivities of the granite rocks decrease with increasing porosity and range from 2.1 W/mK to 3.1 W/mK. The water-saturated rock samples showed greater thermal conductivities than the dry samples, and the thermal conductivities of the granite rocks range from 2.9 W/mK 3.6 W/mK. The anisotropy effects on the thermal conductivity of granite of the site seem to be insignificant.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-47
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• 2009

The deteriorations of stone monuments located in Gyeongju area are predicted in a modeling study. Artificial rain and accelerated weathering test are here applied to the Gyeongju Namsan granite and cement mortar. They are reacted with pH 4.0, pH 8.0 and pH 5.6 rain, respectively. The two former values are the limited acidity values in the Gyeongju (the acidity of rain of the Gyeongju were pH $4.93{\sim}6.39$ in 2005) and the latter is the limited acidity of acid rain. The rains of pH 5.6 and pH 8.0 reach close to a value of pH 7.0 after the reaction with the Gyeongju Namsan granite. After application of the artificial rain and weathering test, the weight of specimens were reduced and the contents of soluble ions in the specimens were increased. These results are attributable to solution of minerals in the specimens. At first, the microlithic have dissolved in ground from the reaction with acid rain. And then mainly quartz, plagioclase and orthoclase bound by the microlithic are disintegrated. The cement mortars are dissolved after the reaction with not only acid but alkali rain. The concentrations of ions in the dissolved cement mortar are higher than those in granite.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.352-361
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• 2001

Mode I fracture toughness ( $K_{IC}$) of the frozen rocks and that of the frozen-thawed rocks were obtained by using BDT and CCNBD specimens. The test temperatures ranged from +$25^{\circ}C$ to -16$0^{\circ}C$. Wet and air-dry specimens of granite and sandstone were used in order to investigate the effect of water and porosity on fracture toughness. The SEM images of the frozen-thawed rocks were also analysed to check the density of thermal cracks. The $K_{IC}$ of the frozen rocks increased as the test temperature went down. The rate of increase was higher in wet condition than in dry condition and the rate of increase for wet granite was higher than that for wet sandstone. The $K_{IC}$ of the frozen-thawed rocks varied within 15% from the $K_{IC}$ of the rocks at room temperature. After one freeze-thaw process, thermal crack occurred in granite but no thermal cracks occurred in sandstone. And the crack density was increased as the temperature went down.n.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.71-87
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• 2024

In deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, the surrounding rock at the immediate vicinity of the deposition hole may experience localized changes in permeability due to in-situ stress at depth, swelling pressure from resaturated bentonite buffer, and the heat generated from the decay of radioactive isotopes. In this study, experimental data on changes in permeability of granite, a promising candidate rock type in South Korea, were obtained by applying various confining pressures and temperature conditions expected in the actual disposal environment. By conducting the permeability test on KURT granite specimens under three or more hydrostatic pressure conditions, the relation in which the permeability decreases exponentially as the confining pressure increases was derived. The temperature-induced changes in permeability were found to be negligible at temperatures below the expected maximum of 90℃. In addition, by establishing a relation in which the initial permeability is proportional to the power of the initial porosity, it was possible to estimate permeability value for granite with a specific porosity under a certain confining pressure.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.395-409
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• 2022

To overcome the limitation of conventional rock excavation methods, the excavation with abrasive waterjet has been actively developed. The abrasive waterjet excavation method has the effect of reducing blasting vibration and enhancing the excavation efficiency by forming a continuous free surface on the rock. However, the waterjet cutting performance varies with rock fracturing characteristics. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the cutting performance for various rocks in order to effectively utilize the waterjet excavation. In this study, cutting experiments with the high pressure waterjet system were performed for basalt and granite specimens. Water pressure, standoff distance, and traverse speed were determined as effective parameters for the abrasive waterjet cutting. The cutting depth and width of basalt specimens were analyzed to compare with granite results. The averaged cutting depth of basalt was shown in 41% deeper than granite; in addition, the averaged cutting width of basalt was formed by 18.5% narrower than granite. The results of this study are expected to be useful basic data for applying rock excavation site with low strength and high porosity such as basalt.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.360-372
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• 2005

The weathering degree and shear wave velocity, $V_S$, were evaluated for decomposed granite layers in Hongsung, where earthquake damages have occurred. The subsurface geological layers and their $V_S$ profiles were determined, respectively, from boring investigations and seismic tests such as crosshole, downhole and SASW tests. The subsurface layers were composed of 10 to 40 m thickness of weathered residual soil and weathered rock in most sites. In the laboratory, the weathering indexes with depth were estimated based on the results of X-ray fluorescence analysis using samples obtained from field, together with the dynamic soil properties determined from resonant column tests using reconstituted specimens. According to the results, it was examined that most weathering degrees represented such as VR, Li, CIA, MWPI and WIP were decreased with increasing depth with exception of RR and CWI. For weathered residual soils in Hongsung, the $V_S's$ determined from borehole seismic tests were slightly increased with increasing depth, and were similar to those from resonant column tests. Furthermore, the $V_S$ values were independent on the weathering degrees, which were decreased with depth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.55-61
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• 2000

For proper sampling of a rock and preparation of specimens, the representative elementary volume (REV) should be determined in rock mechanical test and numerical analysis. Mechanical properties of a rock, in general, would be strongly affected by mineral composition. In this reason REV of Youngju granite is determined by using stereoscopic microscope observation and homogenization numerical analysis. As the area of analysis model exceeds approximately 702 $ extrm{mm}^2$(900 elements), the change of the mineral composition is not observed. The calculated results indicate that Young's modulus is fluctuated with increase of the number of elements in homogenization numerical analysis mesh. However, as the number of elements exceeds 1156 (area of about 900 $ extrm{mm}^2$), Young's modulus does not change apparently.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.309-315
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• 2000

For proper sampling of a rock and preparation of specimens, the representative elementary volume (REV) should be determined in rock mechanical test and numerical analysis. Mechanical properties of a rock, in general, would be strongly affected by mineral composition. In this reason REV of Youngju granite is determined by using stereoscopic microscope observation and homogenization numerical analysis. As the area of analysis model exceeds approximately 702$\textrm{mm}^2$(900 elements), the change of the mineral composition is not observed. The calculated results indicate that Young's modulus is fluctuated with increase of the number of elements in homogenization numerical analysis mesh. However, as the number of elements exceeds 1156 (area of about 900$\textrm{mm}^2$), Young's modulus does not change apparently.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.19-28
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• 2011

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the effect of cyclic wetting-drying on the compressive strength characteristics of decomposed granite soils. A series of plane strain compression (PSC) tests were performed on test specimens with varying fine contents under different wetting-drying cycles to investigate the change in compressive strength under the process of wetting-drying cycles. The effect of wetting-drying cycles on the structural particle rearrangement at a micro-scale level was also examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests. It was shown that the soil containing larger fines showed more significant decrease in compressive strength compared with the soils with less fines. Also found was that the wetting-drying cycle did not have significant effect on the particle arrangement.