• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.104-113
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• 1995

Shear strength of the discontinuity on which the pre-failure of rock slope was occurred during surface excavation was measured through the direct shear test using core samples obtained in-situ. Internal friction angle was increased as the roughness of discontinuity surface(JRC) was increased. Results of the tilt test using core samples of higher JRC also showed very similar trend as those of the direct shear test. When the samples replicated from natural cores were used int he tilt test, results of friction angles showed almost perfect continuation of the residual friction angles from the direct shear test. However, when the gouge material existed in the discontinuity the internal friction angle strongly depended upon the rate of filling thickness to the height of asperity irrespective of the JRC. Based on the results of both direct shear test and tilt test internal friction angle and cohesion of discontinuity, which reflect the in-situ conditions fo pre-sliding failure and also can be used for the optimum design of support system, were assessed. Two kinds of support measures which were expected to increase the stability of rock slope were considered; lowering of slope face angle and installation of rock cable. But, it was found that the first method might lead to more unstable conditions of rock slope when the cohesion of discontinuity plane was negligibly low and in that case the support systems of any kind which could exert actual resisting force were needed to ensure the permanent stability of rock slope.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.255-264
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• 2020

With the ongoing development of deep mining of coal resources, some coal mine dynamic disasters have exhibited characteristics of both coal-gas outbursts and rockbursts. Therefore, research is required on the mechanism of rockburst-outburst coupling disaster. In this study, the failure characteristics of coal-rock combination structures were investigated using lab-scale physical simulation experiments. The energy criterion of the rockburst-outburst coupling disaster was obtained, and the mechanism of the disaster induced by the gas-solid coupling instability of the coal-rock combination structure was determined. The experimental results indicate that the damage of the coal-rock structure is significantly different from that of a coal body. The influence of the coal-rock structure should be considered in the study of rockburst-outburst coupling disaster. The deformation degree of the roof is controlled by the more significant main role of the gas pressure and the difference in the strength between the rock body and the coal body. The outburst holes and spall characteristics of the coal body after the failure of the coal-rock structure are strongly affected by the difference in strength between the roof and the coal body. The research results provide an in-depth understanding of the mechanism of rockburst-outburst coupling disasters in deep mining.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.481-495
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• 2015

Many hydropower stations in southwest China are located in regions of brittle rock mass with high geo-stresses. Under these conditions deep fractured zones often occur in the sidewalls of the underground caverns of a power station. The theory and methods of fracture and damage mechanics are therefore adopted to study the phenomena. First a flexibility matrix is developed to describe initial geometric imperfections of a jointed rock mass. This model takes into account the area and orientation of the fractured surfaces of multiple joint sets, as well as spacing and density of joints. Using the assumption of the equivalent strain principle, a damage constitutive model is established based on the brittle fracture criterion. In addition the theory of fracture mechanics is applied to analyze the occurrence of secondary cracks during a cavern excavation. The failure criterion, for rock bridge coalescence and the damage evolution equation, has been derived and a new sub-program integrated into the FLAC-3D software. The model has then been applied to the stability analysis of an underground cavern group of a hydropower station in Sichuan province, China. The results of this method are compared with those obtained by using a conventional elasto-plastic model and splitting depth calculated by the splitting failure criterion proposed in a previous study. The results are also compared with the depth of the relaxation and fracture zone in the surrounding rock measured by field monitoring. The distribution of the splitting zone obtained both by the proposed model and by the field monitoring measurements are consistent to the validity of the theory developed herein.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.457-470
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• 2021

In this study, the pull-out behavior of a tunnel-type anchorage for suspension bridges was investigated using experimental tests and image processing analyses. The study focused on evaluating the initial failure behavior and failure mode of the tunnel-type anchorage. In order to evaluate the failure mode of tunnel-type anchorage, a series of scaled model tests were conducted based on the prototype anchorage of the Ulsan Grand Bridge. In the model tests, the anchorage body and surrounding rocks were fabricated using a gypsum mixture. The pull-out behavior was investigated under plane strain conditions. The results of the model tests demonstrate that the tunnel-type anchorage underwent a wedge-shaped failure. In addition, the failure mode changed according to the differences in the physical properties of the surrounding rock and the anchorage body and the size of the anchor plate. The size of the anchor plate was found to be an important parameter that determines the failure mode. However, the difference in physical properties between the surrounding rock and the anchorage body did not affect its size. In addition, this study analyzed the initial failure behavior of the tunnel-type anchorage through image analysis and confirmed that the failure was sequentially transferred from the inside of the tunnel to the surrounding rock according to the image analysis. The reasonable failure mode for the design of the tunnel-type anchorage should be wedge-type rather than pull-out type.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.147-160
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• 2008

This paper presents the results of full-scale loading tests performed on 54 passive anchors and 4 group anchored footings grouted to various lengths at several sites in Korea. The test results, the failure mechanisms as well as uplift capacities of rock anchors depend mostly on rock type and quality, embedded fixed length, properties of the discontinuities, and the strength of rebar. Anchors in poor quality rocks generally fail along the grout/rock interfaces when their depths are very shallow (a fixed length of less than 1 m). However, even in such poor rocks, we can induce a more favorable mode of rock pull-up failure by increasing the fixed length of the anchors. On the other hand, anchors in good quality rocks show rock pull-up failures with high uplift resistance even when they are embedded at a shallow depth. Laboratory test results revealed that a form of progressive failure usually occurs starting near the upper surface of the grout, and then progresses downward. The ultimate tendon-grout bond strength was measured from $18{\sim}25%$ of unconfined compressive strength of grout. One of the important findings from these tests is that the measured strains along the corrosion protection sheath were so small that practically the reduction of bond strength by the presence of sheath would be negligible. Based on test results, the main parameters governing the uplift capacity of the rock anchor system were determined. By evaluation of the ultimate uplift capacity of anchor foundations in a wide range of in situ rock masses, rock classification suitable for a transmission tower foundation was developed. Finally, a very simple and economical design procedure is proposed for rock anchor foundations subjected to uplift tensile loads.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2021

Uniaxial compression tests were conducted on sandstone-CGFB composite samples with different interface angles, and their strength, acoustic emission (AE), and failure characteristics were investigated. Three macro-failure patterns were identified: the splitting failure accompanied by local spalling failure in CGFB (Type-I), the mixed failure with small sliding failure along with the interface and Type-I failure (Type-II), and the sliding failure along with the interface (Type-III). With an increase of interface angle β measured horizontally, the macro-failure pattern changed from Type-I to Type-II, and then to Type-III, and the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus generally decreased. Due to the small sliding failure along with the interface in the composite sample with β of 45°, AE events underwent fluctuations in peak values at the later post-peak failure stage. The composite samples with β of 60° occurred Type-III failure before the completion of initial compaction stage, and the post-peak stress-time curve initially exhibited a slow decrease, followed by a steep linear drop with peaks in AE events.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.255-274
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• 2014

The target of this study is large scale rock slope collapsed by around 7 pm on August, 2012, which is located at ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$ limestone quarries of Gangneung city, Gangwondo. The slope prior to the collapse is formed as the height of about 200 m and the average inclination of $45^{\circ}$. The estimated amount of the collapse is about $1,500,000m^3$ with respect to the slope after the collapse. Geotechnical and field investigations such as boring, geophysical prospecting, surface geological survey, geological lineaments, borehole imaging, metric 3D imaging, experimental and field test, mining work by year, and daily rainfall were performed to find the cause of rock slope failure. Various analyzes using slope mass rating, stereonet projection, limit equilibrium method, continuum and non-continuum model were conducted to check of the stability of the slope. It is expected that the cause of slope failure from the results of various analysis and survey is due to the combined factors such as topography, rainfall, rock type and quality, discontinuities, geo-structural characteristics as the limestone cavity and fault zones, but the failure of slope in case of the analysis without the limestone cavity is not occurred. Safe factor of 0.66 was obtained from continuum analysis of the slope considering the limestone cavity, so the ultimate causes of slope failure is considered to be due to the influence of limestone cavity developed along fault zone.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.535-542
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• 2000

The investigated cut-slope is located in Odong-Ri, Hoebuk-Myun, Boeun-Gun and composed of quartzite and phyllitic rocks (approximately 80 meters in length and 25 meters in height). During the investigation, the groundwater which was inferred to the natural pipe of slope was continuously flowing in the upper part of slope. The investigation for discontinuity properties in this area was carried out to decide the rock mass rating and strength parameters. To analyze the stability of cut-slope, lower equal-area hemisphere projection method was used. And laboratory test was done to evaluate engineering properties of soil which was sampled in the non-failure and failure area The inferred causes of cut-slope failure are the geometric relationship between the orientation of cut-slope and geological structures such as joints, faults which is distributed in the slope. And direct cause of failure is the increase of water content due to the heavy rainfall.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.595-609
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• 2017

Due to high in-situ stress and brittleness of rock mass, the surrounding rock masses of underground caverns are prone to appear splitting failure. In this paper, a kind of loading-unloading variable elastic modulus model has been initially proposed and developed based on energy dissipation principle, and the stress state of elements has been determined by a splitting failure criterion. Then the underground caverns of Dagangshan hydropower station is analyzed using the above model. For comparing with the monitoring results, the entire process of rock splitting failure has been achieved through monitoring the splitting failure on side walls of large-scale caverns in Dagangshan via borehole TV, micro-meter and deformation resistivity instrument. It shows that the maximum depth of splitting area in the downstream sidewall of the main power house is approximately 14 m, which is close to the numerical results, about 12.5 m based on the energy dissipation model. As monitoring result, the calculation indicates that the key point displacement of caverns decreases firstly with the distance from main powerhouse downstream side wall rising, and then increases, because this area gets close to the side wall of main transformer house and another smaller splitting zone formed here. Therefore it is concluded that the energy dissipation model can preferably present deformation and fracture zones in engineering, and be very useful for similar projects.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.5-12
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• 2014

A slope may fail after construction owing to external factors such as localized rainfall, earthquake, and weathering. Therefore, the grasp of failure probability for slope failures is necessary to maintain their stability. In particular, it is very difficult to detect the symptoms of rock slope failure in advance by using traditional methods, such as displacement due to the brittleness of rocks. However, Acoustic Emission (AE) techniques can predict slope failures earlier than the traditional methods. This study grasped failure probability of slope by applying AE techniques to a rock slope with a history of collapse. When applying AE techniques to a slope that has a high probability of failure, the grasp of failure probability of the specific location became possible.