• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.137-164
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• 2018

The guarantee of the performance of the engineered barriers in a geological repository is very important for the long-term safety of disposal as well as the efficient design of the repository. Therefore, the performance of the engineered barriers under repository condition should be demonstrated by in-situ experiments conducted in an underground research laboratory. This article provides a review of the major in-situ experiments that have been carried out over the past several decades at underground research laboratories around the world to validate the performance of engineered barriers of a repository, as well as their results. In-situ experiments to study the coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical behavior of the engineered barrier system used to simulate the post-closure performance of the repository are analyzed as a priority. In addition, in-situ experiments to investigate the performance of the buffer material under a real repository environment have been reviewed. State-of-the art in-situ validations of the buffer-concrete interaction, and the installation of the buffer, backfill and plug, as well as characterization of the near-field rock and the corrosion of the canister materials are, also performed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1015-1039
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• 2014

The widening project on Freeway No.1 in Taiwan has a total length of roughly 14 kilometers, and includes three special bridges, namely a 216 m long-span bridge crossing the original freeway, an F-bent double decked bridge in a co-constructed section, and a steel and prestressed concrete composite bridge. This study employed in-situ monitoring in conjunction with numerical modeling to establish a real-time monitoring system for the three bridges. In order to determine the initial static and dynamic behavior of the real bridges, forced vibration experiments, in-situ static load experiments, and dynamic load experiments were first carried out on the newly-constructed bridges before they went into use. Structural models of the bridges were then established using the finite element method, and in-situ vehicle load weight, arrangement, and speed were taken into consideration when performing comparisons employing data obtained from experimental measurements. The results showed consistency between the analytical simulations and experimental data. After determining a bridge's initial state, the proposed in-situ monitoring system, which is employed in conjunction with the established finite element model, can be utilized to assess the safety of a bridge's members, providing useful reference information to bridge management agencies.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.383-386
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• 2008

In performing in situ heating transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for materials characterizations, arising concerns such as specimen drifts and unintentional Cu contamination are discussed. In particular, we analysed the thermal and mechanical characteristics of in situ heating holders to estimate thermal drift phenomena. From the experimental results, we suggest an empirical model to describe the thermal drift behavior so that we can design an effective plan for in situ heating experiment. Practical approaches to minimize several hindrances arisen from the experiment are proposed. We believe that our experimental recommendations will be useful for a microscopist fascinated with the powerful potential of in situ heating TEM.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.558-566
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• 2018

The objective of the study was to determine nutrition regime and limitation in the Boryeng Reservoir where there's a water tunnel between Geum River and the reservoir. Evaluation was conducted through in situ algal bioassay experiments (in situ ABEs) using the cubitainer setting in the reservoirs. For in situ ABEs, we compared and analyzed variations in chlorophyll-a (CHL-a) and phosphorus concentrations in Boryeong Reservoir before and after the water tunnel construction. We then analyzed the nutrient effects on the reservoir. Analysis for nitrogen and phosphorus was done in the three locations of the reservoir and two locations of the ABEs. The in situ ABEs results showed that phosphorous and Nitrogen, the primary limiting nutrient regulating the algal biomass was not limited in the system. The treatments of phosphorus or simultaneous treatments of N+P showed greater algal growth than in the control of nitrate-treatments, indicating a phosphorus deficiency on the phytoplankton growth in the system. The water from the Geum River had 5 times higher total phosphorus (TP) than the water in the reservoir. Efficient management is required as pumping of the river water from Geum River may accelerate the eutrophication of the reservoir.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.229-243
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• 2013

An in situ solute migration system was designed and installed in KAERI Underground Research Tunnel (KURT) constructed in the site of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in order to investigate the migration and retardation of non-sorbing and sorbing tracers through a rock fracture. The system is composed of three main parts including injection, extraction, and data treatment. For the selection of a water-conducting fracture, boreholes were drilled. The fractures in the drilled boreholes were investigated using borehole image analysis using borehole image processing system (BIPS). The results of BIPS analysis showed that borehole YH 3-1 and YH 3-2 were connected each other. Moreover, hydraulic tests were carried out to determine the test section with connectivity for the in situ experiments. The in situ solute migration experiments were accomplished to understand the migration of solutes through fractures in KURT using non-sorbing tracers which were fluorescein sodium, eosin-B, bromide and sorbing tracers which were rubidium, nickel, zirconium, and samarium.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.239-244
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• 2015

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is one of the most important processes for enabling sub-14 nm semiconductor manufacturing. Moreover, post-CMP defect control is a key process parameter for the purpose of yield enhancement and device reliability. Due to the complexity of device with sub-14 nm node structure, CMP-induced defects need to be fixed in the CMP in-situ cleaning module instead of during post ex-situ wet cleaning. Therefore, post-CMP in-situ cleaning optimization and cleaning efficiency improvement play a pivotal role in post-CMP defect control. CMP in-situ cleaning module normally consists of megasonic and brush scrubber processes. And there has been an increasing effort for the optimization of cleaning chemistry and brush scrubber cleaning in the CMP cleaning module. Although there have been many studies conducted on improving particle removal efficiency by brush cleaning, these studies do not consider the effects of brush contamination. Depending on the process condition and brush condition, brush cross contamination effects significantly influence post-CMP cleaning defects. This study investigates brush cross contamination effects in the CMP in-situ cleaning module by conducting experiments using 300mm tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) blanket wafers. This study also explores brush pre-treatment in the CMP tool and proposes recipe effects, and critical process parameters for optimized CMP in-situ cleaning process through experimental results.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.88-97
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• 2013

Technical investigation to figure out the problems arising during in-situ heating electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis inside scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was carried out. EBSD patterns were successfully acquired up to $830^{\circ}C$ without degradation of EBSD pattern quality in steels. Several technical problems such as image drift and surface microstructure pinning were taking place during in-situ experiments. Image drift problem was successfully prevented in constant current supplying mode. It was revealed that the surface pinning problem was resulted from the $TiO_2$ oxide particle formation during heating inside SEM chamber. Surface pinning phenomenon was fairly reduced by additional platinum and carbon multi-layer coating before in-situ heating experiment, furthermore was perfectly prevented by improvement of vacuum level of SEM chamber via leakage control. Plane view in-situ observation provides better understanding on the overall feature of recrystallization phenomena and cross sectional in-situ observation provides clearer understanding on the recrystallization mechanism.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.431-438
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• 2022

In functional materials, in situ experimental techniques as a function of external stimulus (e.g., electric field, magnetic field, light, etc.) or changes in ambient environments (e.g., temperature, humidity, pressure, etc.) are highly essential for analyzing how the physical properties of target materials are activated/evolved by the given stimulation. In particular, in situ electric-field-dependent X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements have been extensively utilized for understanding the underlying mechanisms of the emerging electromechanical responses to external electric field in various ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and electrostrictive materials. This tutorial article briefly introduces basic principles/key concepts of in situ electric-field-dependent XRD analysis using a lab-scale XRD machine. We anticipate that the in situ XRD method provides a practical tool to systematically identify/monitor a structural modification of various electromechanical materials driven by applying an external electric field.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.71-88
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• 2010

Soil nailing technique is being widely used for stabilization of vertical cuts because of its economic, environment friendly and speedy construction. Global stability and lateral displacement are the two important stability criteria for the soil nail walls. The primary objective of the present study is to evaluate soil nail wall stability criteria under the influence of in-situ soil variability. Finite element based numerical experiments are performed in accordance with the methodology of $2^3$ factorial design of experiments. Based on the analysis of the observations from numerical experiments, two regression models are developed, and used for reliability analyses of global stability and lateral displacement of the soil nail wall. A 10 m high prototype soil nail wall is considered for better understanding and to highlight the practical implications of the present study. Based on the study, lateral displacements beyond 0.10% of vertical wall height and variability of in-situ soil parameters are found to be critical from the stability criteria considerations of the soil nail wall.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2012

The increased brightness and focused X-ray beams now available from laboratory X-ray sources facilitates a variety of powder diffraction experiments not practical using conventional in-house sources. Furthermore, the increased availability of 2-dimensional area detectors, along with implementation of improved software and customized sample environmental cells, makes possible new classes of in-situ and time-resolved diffraction experiments. These include phase transitions under variable pressure- and temperature conditions and ion-exchange reactions. Examples of in-situ and time-resolved studies which are presented here include: (1) time-resolved data to evaluate the kinetics and mechanism of ion exchange in mineral natrolite; (2) in-situ dehydration and thermal expansion behaviors of ion-exchanged natrolite; and (3) observations of the phases forming under controlled hydrostatic pressure conditions in ion-exchanged natrolite. Both the quantity and quality of the in-situ diffraction data are such to allow evaluation of the reaction pathway and Rietveld analysis on selected dataset. These laboratory-based in-situ studies will increase the predictability of the follow-up experiments at more specialized beamlines at the synchrotron.