• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.2 s.67
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• pp.128-138
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• 2007

At low in-situ stress, the continuity and distribution of natural fractures in rock mass predominantly control the failure processes. However at high in-situ stress, the failure process are affected and eventually dominated by stress-induced fractures preferentially growing parallel to the excavation boundary. This fracturing is often observed in brittle type of failure such as slabbing or spatting. Recent studies on the stress- or excavation-induced damage of rock revealed its importance especially in a highly stressed regime. In order to evaluate the brittle failure around a deep underground opening, physical model experiments were carried out. For the experiments a new tue triaxial testing system was made. According to visual observation and acoustic emission detection, brittle failure grades were classified under three categories. The test results indicate that where higher horizontal stress, acting perpendicular $(S_{H2})$ and parallel $(S_{H1})$ to the axis of the tunnel respectively, were applied, the failure grade at a constant vertical stress level (Sy) was lowered. The failure initiation stress was also increased with the increasing $S_{H1}\;and\;S_{H2}$. From the multi-variable regression on failure initiation stress and true triaxial stress conditions, $f(S_v,\;S_{H1},\;S_{H2})$ was proposed.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.617-628
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• 2022

A ground support pattern should be designed by properly integrating various support materials in accordance with the rock mass grade when constructing a tunnel, and a technical decision must be made in this process by professionals with vast construction experiences. However, designing supports at the early stage of tunnel design, such as feasibility study or basic design, may be very challenging due to the short timeline, insufficient budget, and deficiency of field data. Meanwhile, the design of the support pattern can be performed more quickly and reliably by utilizing the machine learning technique and the accumulated design data with the rapid increase in tunnel construction in South Korea. Therefore, in this study, the design data and ground exploration data of 48 road tunnels in South Korea were inspected, and data about 19 items, including eight input items (rock type, resistivity, depth, tunnel length, safety index by tunnel length, safety index by rick index, tunnel type, tunnel area) and 11 output items (rock mass grade, two items for shotcrete, three items for rock bolt, three items for steel support, two items for concrete lining), were collected to automatically determine the rock mass class and the support pattern. Three machine learning models (S1, A1, A2) were developed using two machine learning algorithms (SVR, ANN) and organized data. As a result, the A2 model, which applied different loss functions according to the output data format, showed the best performance. This study confirms the potential of support pattern design using machine learning, and it is expected that it will be able to improve the design model by continuously using the model in the actual design, compensating for its shortcomings, and improving its usability.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.311-321
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• 2007

Failure of underground structures in hard rocks is a function of the in-situ stress, the intact rock strength and the distribution of fractures in the rock mass. At highly stressed regime, brittle failure is often observed due to excavation-induced stress. The characteristics of brittle failure are classified as failure grade, failure initiation stress, extent of failure and depth of failure. For safety construction of underground structures, these characteristics of brittle failure with stress conditions should be understood. In this study we evaluated the relationship between the extent and depth of failure with stress conditions for failure happened model specimens through true triaxial model experiments. The extent and depth of failure were determined using visual observation and computed tomography (CT). The results indicate that the depth of failure was affected by differential stress perpendicular to the axis of tunnel. However the extent of failure was irrelevant to the stress conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2000

This paper deal with the stability evaluation and suggestion of progressive failure slope in biotite granite area of Andong. Based on geological site investigation and field test, stability analysis of slope was performed in conjunction with limit equilibrium methods and stereographic projection. Additionally, initial design and construction procedure was critically evaluated. Series of the slope stability analysis reveals the detection of local wedge and plane failure under the current slope condition. It is additionally appeared that a certain synthetic behavior of circle and plane failure exists on the right spot where the overall failure's going in progress. In order to construct more stable slope based on the suitability for the real state of the slope circumstances, this study issues a solution to eliminate the primary factors which cause the instability, by means of the grade of weathering and RMR classification of rock mass.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.89-98
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• 2009

Existence of core stone at the inside of the Rock mass is reacting as unstable element. In particular, in case of the cut slope, even when it is not exposed, slope's discontinuity increases or strength level decreases depending on the difference in the weathering grade when it comes to the core stone, and reacts as an important element of the slope movement such as slope's rock fall or collapse. As for the slope that is subject to study, incision was completed after 20 years or so, and parts of the slope reinforcement was completed, but frequent rock fall occurs despite small amount of rainfall, and permanent stability measures are urgent. Refractional seismic survey and geological survey results were compared and analyzed, and reliability was improved by complementing the two survey methods, and stereo-graphic projection using DIPS program was conducted to analyze the characteristics of oore stone in the weathered soil slope.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.80-91
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• 2000

Open cut mining of limestone is generally considered to be more advantageous than underground mining in recovery, grade control, economics, and safety, but it causes substantial environmental pollutants such as ground vibration, noise, dust. It also changes ground surface and may destroy vegetation. The Halla limestone mine which lies adjacent to Baikdu mountains range is selected for a model study. To reduce environmental hazards, and to conserve original surface and woods, both open cut and underground mining methods must be adopted. In case of sub-level sloping. a unit block of 87m high, 70m wide, and 100∼l20m long is suggested with an estimated overall recovery of 42%. Some suggestions to reduce the environmental hazards are also included. The followings must be considered in determining the degree of fragmentation; the discontinuity conditions in the rock mass and the charge concentration both at the bottom and column of the hole. In addition to adopting a barrier wall for reducing environmental hazards, the probable production from underground mining is also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.13-26
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• 2012

The deformation modulus of rock masses is a very important design factor for the computation of stability of tunnels and their support systems. Several empirical formulas to estimate the deformation modulus using simple rock classification methods such as RQD or RMR are widely used because field tests to evaluate the deformation modulus are very expensive and time consuming work. However, these formulas can be depended on experiences from the characteristics of local sites in each country. So it is possible that there might be limitations to estimate appropriate deformation modulus in South Korea using the empirical formulas. Therefore, in this study, the applicability of empirical formulas was analyzed by comparing estimated value with the measured value from eight sites in South Korea. The results show that the estimated value based on the empirical formulas partially have tendency to overestimate. Especially, in case of sedimentary rocks, it was too difficult to apply to the empirical formulas because there was no relation ship between estimated value and measured value. For these reasons, additional data from many tests and accurate analyses are necessary to evaluate the estimation method for the deformation modulus considering the local characteristics of rock masses.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.169-182
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• 1978

The Weolagsan area consists of four units; (1) Low grade meta-sediments of the upper members of Ogcheon age unknown group such as Changri (mainly black slate and phyllitic rock), Majeonri (mainly alternation of slate, limestone and chert) and Hwanggangri Formation (pebble bearing phyllitic sediments); (2) Samtaesan Formation of Chosun System of Ordovician; (3) So called meta-volcanics and (4) Weolagsan Granite and its associations which intruded above mentioned meta-sediments and meta-volcanics. This study was focused to know the Woelagsan granite and its metasomatic effects to the country rocks petrographically and petrochemically. According to the field survey, microscopic work and some chemical analysis, the granite is a "normal granite" based on the Streckeisen's classification and belongs to a mass of the Central-zone younger group in Ogcheon geosynclinal belt. The granite metasomatized the country rocks along its northern contact zone. Zone of calcareous and cherty rocks (Majeonri formation) was silicified partly and skarned locally at the contact with the granite. The chemical analysis of the zone show no difinite variations in contents of $SiO_2$ and CaO with the distance from the granite. It seems to be indicated that the silicification of this part was not so metasomatized by the granite body, but thermally affected as much as to be partially remelted in the specific parts of the formations. Meta-volcanic rock zone was slightly chloritized near contact with the granite. Limestone of Samtaesan Formation was silicified and skarned along the contact zone by the granite body. The chemical analysis of the zone show some noticiable changes in compositions of $SiO_2$ and CaO with distance from the granite boundary. It can be imagined that the silicification of this zone was metasomatically originated by Woelagsan Granite. According to chemical analysis on several trace elements, the ratio of Zn/Cr and Ni/Cr are relatively higher than that of Cu/Cr in the above mentioned silicified zones. Generally the variation of these metal elements in the zones tend to be regular with distance from the granite body.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.335-347
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• 2016

The mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of diverse carbonate rocks can be investigated by using VNIRSWIR(visible near infrared-short wavelength infrared) spectroscopic analysis as a rapid, nondestructive, and inexpensive tool. Comparing whole rock analysis to VNIR-SWIR spectroscopic analysis, the analytical method was investigated to estimate CaO contents, mud impurity, and whiteness of carbonate rocks involved in high-grade limestones in the field. We classify typical carbonate rocks in the upper Pungchon Formation in high-grade limestone mine area such as the Gangweon, Chungmu and Baegun mine in the Jeongseon area. The results show that powdered specimen has much higher reflectance than cutted specimen between the same sample. Whiteness is highly correlated with reflectance(0.99) for powdered specimen. The absorption of mineral mixtures shifts in position as a result of the mass ratio of calcite and dolomite in the Chungmu mine by changing to 75:25, 50:50, and 25:75. The absorption peak position in carbonate mixtures is highly correlated with CaO contents(0.98~0.99). Based on color system, the carbonate rocks are grouped into (milky) white, light grey, light brown, grey, and dark grey. The absorption peak position shifts from 2340 nm to 2320 nm as CaO contents decrease from 55.86 wt.% to 29.71 wt.%. We confirmed that absorption peak position shifts depending on the amount of Ca, which is bonded to $CO{_3}^{-2}$, Mg, and Fe contents replacing Ca. This result suggests that CaO contents in carbonate rocks can be considered to quantitative analysis in the field by spectroscopic analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.183-193
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• 2000

A series of studies such as geological logging data analysis, detailed geological survey, rock mass evaluation, in-situ and laboratory tests, rock strength and mechanical properties of the rock were concerned. The stability of the slope were carried out inorder to design the pit slope and individual benches using the stereographic projection analysis and numerical methods in Roto Pit of Pasir coal fetid. The bedding plane was one of the major discontinuities in the Roto Pit and the dip of which is about $60^{\circ}$in the northern part and $83^{\circ}$in the southern part. The dip of bedding becomes steeper from north to south. The plane and toppling failures are presented in many slopes. In laboratory test the average uniaxial compressive strength of mudstone was 9 MPa and that of weak sandstone was 10 MPa. In-situ test showed that the rocks of Roto north mining area are mostly weak enough to be classified in grade from R2(weak) to R3(medium strong weak) and the coal is classified in grades from R1(Very weak) to R2(Weak). The detailed stability analysis were carried out on 4 areas of Roto north(east, west, south and north), and 2 areas of Roto south(east and west). In this paper, the minimum factor of safety was set to 1.2 which is a general criterion for open pit mines. Using the stereographic projection analysis and the limit equilibrium method, slope angles were calculated as 30~$36^{\circ}$for a factor of safety greater than 1.2. Then these results were re-evaluated by numerical analysis using FLAC. The final slope angles were determined by rational described abode. A final slope of 34 degrees can guarantee the stability for the eastern part of the Roto north area, 33 degrees for the western part, 35 degrees for the northern part and 35 degrees for the southern part. For the Roto south area, 36 degrees was suggested for both sides of the pit. Once the pit slope is designed based on the stability analysis and the safety measures. the stability of 니ope should be checked periodically during the mining operations. Because the slope face will be exposed long time to the rain fall, a study such aspreventive measures against weathering and erosion is highly recommended to be implemented.