• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.583-594
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• 2021

The gas permeability behavior of unsaturated bentonite-based materials is of major importance for ensuring effective sealing of high-level radwaste repositories. This study investigated this by taking a sample of Granular Bentonite Material (GBM) at the end of the Engineered Barrier Emplacement (EB) experiment in the Opalinus Clay, placing it under different humidity conditions until it achieved equilibration, and testing the change in the gas permeability under loading and unloading. Environmental humidity is shown to have a significant effect on the water content, saturation, porosity and dry density of GBM and to affect its gas permeability. Higher sensitivity to confining pressure is exhibited by samples equilibrated at higher relative humidity (RH). It should be noted that for the sample at RH=98%, when the confining pressure is raised from 1 MPa to 6 MPa, gas permeability can be reduced from 10^-16 m² to 10^-19 m², which is close to the requirements of gas tightness. Due to higher water content and easier compressibility, samples equilibrated under higher RH show greater irreversibility during the loading and unloading process. The effective gas permeability of highly saturated samples can be increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude after 105℃ drying. In addition, cracks possibly occurred during the dehydration and drying process will become the main channel for gas migration, which will greatly affect the sealing performance of GBM.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.697-706
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• 2022

In order to explore the stable anchoring conditions of coal side under the mining disturbance of soft section coal pillar in Wangcun Coal Mine of Chenghe Mining Area, the distribution model of the anchoring support pressure at the coal pillar side was established, using the strain-softening characteristics of the coal to study the distribution law of anchoring coal side support pressure. The analytical solution for the reinforcement anchorage stress in the coal pillar side was derived with the inelastic state mechanical model. The results show that the deformation angle of the roadway side and roof increases with the roof subsidence due to the mining influence at the adjacent working face, the plastic deformation zone extends to the depth of the coal side, and the increase of anchorage stress can effectively control the roof subsidence and further deterioration of plastic zone. The roadway height and the peak support pressure have a certain influence on the anchorage stress, the required anchorage stress of the coal side rises with the roadway height and the peak support pressure. The required anchorage stress of the coal pillar side decreases as the cohesion between the coal seam and the roof and floor and the anchor length increases. Then, applied the research result to Wangcun coal mine in Chenghe mining area, the design of anchor cable reinforcement support was proposed for the section of coal pillars side that has been anchored and deformed, which achieved great results and effectively controlled the convergence and deformation of the side, providing a safety guarantee for the roadway excavation and mining.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.531-546
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• 2022

Ground displacements caused by the construction of overlapping twin shield tunnels with small turning radius are complex, especially under special geological conditions of construction. To investigate the ground displacements caused due to shield machines in the unique calcareous sand layers in Israel for the first time and determine the main factors affecting the ground displacements, field monitoring, laboratory geological analysis, theoretical calculations, and parameter studies were adopted. By using rod extensometers, inclinometers, total stations, and automatic segment-displacement monitors, subsurface tunneling-induced displacement, surface settlement, and displacement of the down-track tunnel segments caused by the construction of an up-track tunnel were analyzed. The up-track tunnel and the down-track tunnel pass through different stratum, resulting in different construction parameters and ground displacements. The laws of variation of thrust and torque, soil pressure in the chamber, excavated soil quantity, synchronous grouting pressure, and grout volume of the two tunnels from parallel to fully overlapping orientations were compared. The thrust and torque of the shield in the fine sand are larger than those in the Kurkar layer, and the grouting amount in fine sand is unstable. According to fuzzy statistics and Gaussian curve fitting of the shield tunneling speed, the tunneling speed in the Kurkar stratum is twice that in the fine-sand stratum.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.509-522
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• 2022

Tail-grouting is an effective measure in shield engineering for filling the gap at the shield tail to reduce ground deformation. However, the gap-filling ratio affects the value of the gap parameters, leading to different surface settlements. It is impossible to adjust the fill ratio indiscriminately to study its effect, because the allowable adjustment range of the grouting quantity is limited to ensure construction site safety. In this study, taking the shield tunnel section between Chaoyanggang Station and Shilihe Station of Beijing Metro Line 17 as an example, the correlation between the tail-grouting parameter and the surface settlement is investigated and the optimal grouting quantity is evaluated. This site is suitable for conducting field tests to reduce the tail-grouting quantity of shield tunneling over a large range. In addition, the shield tunneling under different grouting parameters was simulated. Furthermore, we analyzed the evolution law of the surface settlement under different grouting parameters and obtained the difference in the settlement parameters for each construction stage. The results obtained indicate that the characteristics of the grout affect the development of the surface settlement. Therefore, reducing the setting time or increasing the initial strength of the grout could effectively suppress the development of surface subsidence. As the fill ratio decreases, the loose zone of the soil above the tunnel expands, and the soil deformation is easily transmitted to the surface. Meanwhile, owing to insufficient grout support, the lateral pressure on the tunnel segments is significantly reduced, and the segment moves considerably after being removed from the shield tail.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2024

Owing to the high strength and abrasive characteristics of cobble-boulders, cutters are easily worn and damaged during shield tunneling, making construction inefficient. In the present work, the stress on the ripper and scraper on the cutterhead was analyzed by the PFC3D-FLAC3D coupling model of shield tunneling to get insight into the performance of the cutterhead for cutting underground cobble and boulders. The numerical calculation results revealed that the increase in trajectory radius leads to a rising stress on the cutters, and the stress on the front cutting surface is greater than that on the back of the cutters. Moreover, the correlation between cutter wear and stress is revealed based on field measurement data. The distribution of the cutter stress is consistent with the cutter wear and breakage characteristics in actual construction, in which more extensive cutter stress is exhibited, extreme cutter wear appears, and more cutter breakage occurs. Finally, the relationship between the cutterhead opening area's layout and cutter wear distribution was investigated, indicating that the cutter wear extent is the most severe in the region where the radial opening ratio dropped sharply.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.619-629
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• 2015

Influenced by various mining activities, fractures in rock masses have different densities, set numbers and lengths, which induce different mechanical properties and failure modes of rock masses. Therefore, precisely expressing the failure criterion of the fractured rock influenced by coal mining is significant for the support design, safety assessment and disaster prevention of underground mining engineering subjected to multiple mining activities. By adopting PFC2D particle flow simulation software, this study investigated the propagation and fractal evolution laws of the micro cracks occurring in two typical kinds of rocks under uniaxial compressive condition. Furthermore, it calculated compressive strengths of the rocks with different confining pressures and box-counting dimensions. Moreover, the quantitative relation between the box-counting dimension of the rocks and the empirical parameters m and s in Hoek-Brown strength criterion was established. Results showed that with the increase of the strain, the box-counting dimension of the rocks first increased slowly at the beginning and then exhibited an exponential increase approximately. In the case of small strains of same value, the box-counting dimensions of hard rocks were smaller than those of weak rocks, while the former increased rapidly and were larger than the latter under large strain. The results also presented that there was a negative correlation between the parameters m and s in Hoek-Brown strength criterion and the box-counting dimension of the rocks suffering from variable mining activities. In other words, as the box-counting dimensions increased, the parameters m and s decreased linearly, and their relationship could be described using first order polynomial function.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2019

An optimal hydraulic section is critical for irrigated water conservancy in seasonal frozen ground due to a large proportion of water leakage, as investigated by in-situ surveys. This is highly correlated with the frost heave of underlain soils in cold season. This paper firstly derived a practical model for frost heave of clayey soils, with temperature dependent thermal indexes incorporating phase change effect. A model test carried out on clay was used to verify the rationality of the model. A novel approach for optimizing the cross-section of irrigation canals in cold regions was suggested with live updated geometry characterized by three unique geometric constraints including slope of canal, ratio of practical flow section to the optimal and lining thickness. Allowable frost heave deformation and tensile stress in canal lining are utilized as standard in computation iterating with geometry updating while the construction cost per unit length is regarded as the eventual target in optimization. A typical section along the Jinghui irrigation canal was selected to be optimized with the above requirements satisfied. Results prove that the optimized hydraulic section exhibits smaller frost heave deformation, lower tensile stress and lower construction cost.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.127-137
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• 2020

To study the reverse fault formation process and the stress evolution feature, a simulation test system of reverse fault formation is developed based on the analysis of reverse fault formation mechanism. The system mainly consists of simulation laboratory module, operation console and horizontal loading control system, and data monitoring system. It can represent the fault formation process, induce fault crack initiation and simulate faults of different throws. Simulation tests on reverse fault formation process are conducted by using the simulation test system: horizontal loading is added to one side of the model. the bottom rock layer cracks under the effect of the induction device. The crack dip angle is about 29°. A reverse fault is formed with the expansion of the crack dip angle towards the upper right along the fracture surface and the slippage of the hanging wall over the foot wall. Its formation process unfolds five stages: compressive deformation of rock, local crack initiation, reverse fault penetration, slippage of the hanging wall over the foot wall and compaction of fault plane. There is residual structural stress inside rock after fault formation. The study methods and results have guiding and referential significance for further study on reverse fault formation mechanism and rock stress evolution.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.491-498
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• 2018

The Earth Mechanics Institute (EMI) was established at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in 1974 to develop innovations in rock mechanics research and education. During the last four decades, extensive rock mechanics research has been conducted at the EMI. Results from uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), point load index (PLI), punch penetration (PP), and many other types of tests have been recorded in a database that has been unexamined for research purposes. The EMI database includes over 20,000 tests from over 1,000 different projects including mining and underground construction, and analysis of this database to identify relationships has been started with preliminary results reported here. Overall, statistically significant correlations are identified between bulk density and mechanical strength properties through UCS, BTS, PLI, and PP testing of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. In this paper, bulk density is considered as a surrogate metric that reflects both mineralogy and porosity. From this analysis, sedimentary rocks show the strongest correlation between the UCS and bulk density, whereas metamorphic rocks exhibit the strongest correlation between UCS and PP. Data trends in the EMI database also reveal a linear relationship between UCS and BTS tests. For the singular case of rock coral, the database permits correlations between bulk density of the core versus the deposition depth and porosity. The EMI database will continue under analysis, and will provide additional insightful and comprehensive understanding of the variation and predictability of rock mechanical strength properties and density. This knowledge will contribute significantly toward the increasingly safe and cost-effective geostructures and construction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.53-69
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• 2017

Rock burst may cause serious casualties and property losses, and how to conduct effective monitoring and warning is the key to avoid this disaster. In this paper, we reviewed both the rock burst mechanism and the principle of using electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from coal rock to monitor and forewarn rock burst, and systematically studied EMR monitored data of 4 rock bursts of Qianqiu Coal Mine, Yima Coal Group, Co. Ltd. Results show that (1) Before rock burst occurrence, there is a breeding process for stress accumulation and energy concentration inside the coal rock mass subject to external stresses, which causes it to crack, emitting a large amount of EMR; when the EMR level reaches a certain intensity, which reveals that deformation and fracture inside the coal rock mass have become serious, rock burst may occur anytime and it's necessary to implement an early warning. (2) Monitored EMR indicators such as its intensity and pulses amount are well and positively correlated before rock bursts occurs, generally showing a rising trend for more than 5 continuous days either slowly or dramatically, and the disaster bursts generally occurs at the lower level within 48 h after reaching its peak intensity. (3) The rank of EMR signals sensitive to rock burst in a descending order is maximum EMR intensity > rate of change in EMR intensity > maximum amount of EMR pulses > rate of change in the amount of EMR pulses.