• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.597-609
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• 2023

The instability and failure of engineered rock masses are influenced by crack initiation and propagation. Uniaxial compression and acoustic emission (AE) experiments were conducted on cracked sandstone. The effect of the crack's dip on the crack initiation was investigated using fracture mechanics. The crack propagation was investigated based on stress-strain curves, AE multi-parameter characteristics, and failure modes. The results show that the crack initiation occurs at the tip of the pre-fabricated crack, and the crack initiation angle increases from 0° to 70° as the dip angle increases from 0° to 90°. The fracture strength k_cr is derived varies in a U-shaped pattern as β increased, and the superior crack angle β_m is between 36.2 and 36.6 and is influenced by the properties of the rock and the crack surface. Low-strength, large-scale tensile cracks form during the crack initiation in the cracked sandstone, corresponding to the start of the AE energy, the first decrease in the b-value, and a low r-value. When macroscopic surface cracks form in the cracked sandstone, high-strength, large-scale shear cracks form, resulting in a rapid increase in the AE energy, a second decrease in the b-value and an abrupt increase in the r-value. This research has significant theoretical implications for rock failure mechanisms and establishment of damage indicators in underground engineering.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.109-125
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• 2023

Disposal repository for high-level radioactive waste secures its safety by means of engineered and natural barriers. The performance of these barriers should be tested and verified through various aspects in terms of short and/or long-term. KAERI has been conducting various in-situ demonstrations in KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel). After completing previous experiment, a conceptual design of an improved in-situ experiment, i.e. K-COIN (KURT experiment of THMC COupled and INteraction), was established and detailed planning for the experiment is underway. Preliminary characterizations were conducted in KURT for siting a K-COIN test site. 15 boreholes with a depth of about 20 m were drilled in three research galleries in KURT and intact rock specimens were prepared for laboratory tests. Using the specimens, physical measurements, uniaxial compression, indirect tension, and triaxial compression tests were conducted. As a result, specific gravity, porosity, elastic wave velocities, uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, Brazilian tensile strength, cohesion, and internal friction angle were estimated. Statistical analyses revealed that there did not exist meaningful differences in intact rock properties according to the drilled sites and the depth. Judging from the uniaxial compressive strength, which is one of the most important properties, all the specimens were classified as very strong rock so that mechanical safety was secured in all the regions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.223-241
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• 2024

Evaluating the performance of Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) stands as a pivotal juncture in the domain of hard rock mechanized tunneling, essential for achieving both a dependable construction timeline and utilization rate. In this investigation, three advanced artificial neural networks namely, gated recurrent unit (GRU), back propagation neural network (BPNN), and simple recurrent neural network (SRNN) were crafted to prognosticate TBM-rate of penetration (ROP). Drawing from a dataset comprising 1125 data points amassed during the construction of the Alborze Service Tunnel, the study commenced. Initially, five geomechanical parameters were scrutinized for their impact on TBM-ROP efficiency. Subsequent statistical analyses narrowed down the effective parameters to three, including uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), peak slope index (PSI), and Brazilian tensile strength (BTS). Among the methodologies employed, GRU emerged as the most robust model, demonstrating exceptional predictive prowess for TBM-ROP with staggering accuracy metrics on the testing subset (R² = 0.87, NRMSE = 6.76E-04, MAD = 2.85E-05). The proposed models present viable solutions for analogous ground and TBM tunneling scenarios, particularly beneficial in routes predominantly composed of volcanic and sedimentary rock formations. Leveraging forecasted parameters holds the promise of enhancing both machine efficiency and construction safety within TBM tunneling endeavors.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-62
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• 2022

Experimental and discrete element methods were used to investigate the effects of triple joints lengths and triple joint angle on the failure behavior of rock mass under uniaxial compressive test. Concrete samples with dimension of 20 cm × 20 cm × 5 cm were prepared. Within the specimen, three imbedded joint were provided. The joint lengths were 2 cm, 4cm and 6 cm. In constant joint lengths, the angle between middle joint and other joints were 30°, 60°, 90°, 120° and 150°. Totally 15 different models were tested under compression test. The axial load rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. Concurrent with experimental tests, the models containing triple joints, length and joint angle are similar to the experiments, were numerical by Particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC2D). Loading rate in numerical modelling was 0.05 mm/min. Tensile strength of material was 1 MPa. The results show that the failure behaviors of rock samples containing triple joints were governed by both of the angle and the length of the triple joints. The uniaxial compressive strengths (UCS) of the specimens were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. Furthermore, it was shown that the compressive behavior of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by decreasing the joint length. Along with the damage failure of the samples, the acoustic emission (AE) activities are excited. There were only a few AE hits in the initial stage of loading, then AE hits rapidly grow before the applied stress reached its peak. In addition, every stress drop was accompanied by a large number of AE hits. Finally, the failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both methods i.e., the experimental testing and the numerical simulation methods.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.639-653
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• 2016

The present article discusses the effect of the ratio of bridge surface to total shear surface, number of bridge areas and normal stress on the failure behavior of the planar non-persistent open joints. Totally, 38 models were prepared using plaster and dimensions of $15cm{\times}15cm{\times}15cm$. The bridge area occupied $45cm^2$, $90cm^2$ and $135cm^2$ out of the shear surface. The number of rock bridges increase in fixed area. Two similar samples were prepared on every variation in the rock bridges and tested for direct shear strength under two high and low normal loads. The results indicated that the failure pattern and the failure mechanism is mostly influenced by the ratio of bridge surface to total shear surface and normal stress so that the tensile failure mode change to shear failure mode by increasing in the value of introduced parameters. Furthermore, the shear strength and shear stiffness are closely related to the ratio of bridge surface to total shear surface, number of bridge areas and normal stress.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.547-559
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• 2023

We evaluated the applicability of machine learning techniques and the Kuz-Ram model for predicting the mean fragmentation size in open-pit mines. The characteristics of the in-situ rock considered here were uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength, rock factor, and mean in-situ block size. Seventy field datasets that included these characteristics were collected to predict the mean fragmentation size. Deep neural network, support vector machine, and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) models were trained using the data. The performance was evaluated using the root mean squared error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (r²). The XGBoost model had the smallest RMSE and the highest r² value compared with the other models. Additionally, when analyzing the error rate between the measured and predicted values, XGBoost had the lowest error rate. When the Kuz-Ram model was applied, low accuracy was observed owing to the differences in the characteristics of data used for model development. Consequently, the proposed XGBoost model predicted the mean fragmentation size more accurately than other models. If its performance is improved by securing sufficient data in the future, it will be useful for improving the blasting efficiency at the target site.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2002

Since early in the 90's, the need for construction of underground rock structures such as long and large section traffic tunnel, energy storage cavern, industrial facility, etc. has been largely increased because the Korean territory is not wide and about 65 % of the land consists of mountainous region. The initial rock stress measurement has been widely conducted to provide the quantitative information on the stress state of engineering site at the design stage of underground rock structures. Among the diverse methods developed for measuring rock stress, hydraulic fracturing test is most popularly used because it is applicable at pre-construction stage and has no limit in testing depth. In this paper, the characteristics of initial rock stress state in mountainous region were studied on the basis of the in-situ hydraulic fracturing stress measurement results from the 60 test boreholes in various parts of Korea.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.315-328
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• 2019

This paper presents an investigation on bearing capacity, load-settlement behavior and safety factor of rock-soil slopes reinforced using geogrid-box method (GBM). To this end, small-scale laboratory studies were carried out to study the load-settlement response of a circular footing resting on unreinforced and reinforced rock-soil slopes. Several parameters including unit weight of rock-soil materials (loose- and dense-packing modes), slope height, location of footing relative to the slope crest, and geogrid tensile strength were studied. A series of finite element analysis were conducted using ABAQUS software to predict the bearing capacity behavior of slopes. Limit equilibrium and finite element analysis were also performed using commercially available software SLIDE and ABAQUS, respectively to calculate the safety factor. It was found that stabilization of rock-soil slopes using GBM significantly improves the bearing capacity and settlement behavior of slopes. It was established that, the displacement contours in the dense-packing mode distribute in a broader and deeper area as compared with the loose-packing mode, which results in higher ultimate bearing load. Moreover, it was found that in the loose-packing mode an increase in the vertical pressure load is accompanied with an increase in the soil settlement, while in the dense-packing mode the load-settlement curves show a pronounced peak. Comparison of bearing capacity ratios for the dense- and loose-packing modes demonstrated that the maximum benefit of GBM is achieved for rock-soil slopes in loose-packing mode. It was also found that by increasing the slope height, both the initial stiffness and the bearing load decreases. The results indicated a significant increase in the ultimate bearing load as the distance of the footing to the slope crest increases. For all the cases, a good agreement between the laboratory and numerical results was observed.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.99-110
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• 2017

In this paper, the effect of normal load on the failure mechanism of echelon joint has been studied using PFC2D. In the first step, calibration of PFC was undertaken with respect to the data obtained from experimental laboratory tests. Then, six different models consisting various echelon joint were prepared and tested under two low and high normal loads. Furthermore, validation of the simulated models were cross checked with the results of direct shear tests performed on non-persistent jointed physical models. The simulations demonstrated that failure patterns were mostly influenced by normal loading, while the shear strength was linked to failure mechanism. When ligament angle is less than $90^{\circ}$, the stable crack growth length is increased by increasing the normal loading. In this condition, fish eyes failure pattern occur in rock bridge. With higher ligament angles, the rock bridge was broken under high normal loading. Applying higher normal loading increases the number of fracture sets while dilation angle and mean orientations of fracture sets with respect to ligament direction will be decreased.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.75-86
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to evaluate their mechanical properties after laser-welding or soldering of precious and non-precious dental alloys. For this study, 30 Co-Cr alloy specimens, 15 gold alloy specimens, 15 palladium alloy specimens were casted and seperated on the middle area. 15 sperated Co-Cr specimens and 15 seperated gold alloy specimens were laser welded (GW Group). 15 sperated Co-Cr specimens and 15 sperated gold alloy specimens were soldered by coventional soldering method (GS Group). 15 sperated Co-Cr specimens and 15 seperated palladium alloy specimens were laser welded (PW Group). 15 sperated Co-Cr specimens and 15 sperated palladium alloy specimens were soldered by coventional soldering method (PS Group). Tensile strength, 0.2% yield strength, % elongation were recorded in nine specimens of each group. Bending strength were record in six specimens of each group. These data for four groups were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance(ANOVA). The fracture locations, fractured surfaces were examined by SEM(scanning electron microscope). The results were as following: 1) In the same alloy combination, the tensile strength and 0.2% yield strength and of the laser welded group with same metal combination were significantly less than soldered groups(p<0.05). 2) In the combination of Co-Cr/Palladium, the bending strength of laser welded group were significantly less than that of soldered groups(p<0.05). In the combination of Co-Cr/Gold, the bending strength of laser welded group were significantly higher than that of soldered groups(p<0.05). 3) In the same method of joint, the tensile strength and 0.2% yield strength and bending strength of the Co-Cr/gold were significantly higher than Co-Cr/palladium(p<0.05). 4) There was no significantly statistical difference between each group in the % elongation(p>0.05). 5) The fracture of the laser welded specimens occured in the welding area and a large void was observed at the center of the fracture surface. 6) The fracture of the soldered specimens occured also inthe soldered area and many porpsities were showed at the fracture sites.