• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.478-490
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• 2022

TBM disc cutter, which is the main cutting tool of tunnel boring machine (TBM), is replaced when it is excessively worn during the boring process. Disc cutters are usually monitored by workers at cutterhead chamber, and they check the status and wear amount of cutters. Because cutterhead chamber is usually in dangerous circumstance due to high pressure and instability of excavation surface, the measurement by manpower occasionally results in inaccuracy of measurement result. In order to overcome the limitations, the real-time disc cutter monitoring techniques have been developed in some foreign countries. This paper collected the current status of disc cutter monitoring system from the literature. Several types of sensors are used to measure the cutter wear, and it is believed that the collected information can be useful reference when similar domestic technologies are developed in the future.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.598-610
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• 2022

Avoiding a fault zone would be a best practice for safety in underground construction, which is only sometimes possible because of many restrictions and other field conditions. For instance, there is an ongoing conception of Korea-Japan subsea tunnels that inevitably cross a massive fault system in the Korea Strait. Therefore it was deemed necessary to find an efficient way of predicting the likely behaviour of underground structures under fault slip. This paper presents the findings from simple numerical analysis for investigating the stress induced at a normal fault with a dip of 45 degrees. We used a boundary element software that assumed constant displacement discontinuity, which allowed the displacement to be estimated separately at both the fault's hangingwall and footwall sides. The results suggested that a principal stress rotation of 45 degrees occurred at the edges of the fault during the slip, which was in agreement with the phenomenon for fault plane suggested in the body of literature. A simple numerical procedure presented in this paper could be adopted to investigate other fault-related issues associated with underground structure construction.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.57-66
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• 2008

In this study, the blast-induced vibration effects on the structural stability of the adjacent tunnel and the stability were estimated with respect to the allowable peak particle velocity (PPV). The blasting distance from the tunnel satisfying the allowable PPV was estimated based on the analytical solutions, United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) suggestions, and the equations used in the subway in Seoul. The allowable blasting distance was estimated by using finite difference analysis (FDA) and the behavior of the concrete lining and rock bolts was examined and the stability of those was estimated during the blast. Research results show that the blast-induced vibration effects on the structural stability are negligible for the concrete lining but relatively large for the rock bolts.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.335-343
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• 2014

Room-and-pillar mining method is one of the most popular underground mining method in the world. If the room-and-pillar mining method is able to be adopted in civil works, it would be highly probable to reduce underground construction costs and to expand a underground structure in use. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the design procedure of unsupported rock pillars which are indispensable to ensure the stability of a room-and-pillar underground structure. Parametric studies on their key design parameters are also carried out for 125 different kinds of design conditions. From the study, the width of a rock pillar is found to show a linear relationship with its corresponding safety factor. The safety factor of a unsupported rock pillar decreased drastically like a negative exponential function as the ratio of room width to pillar width increases in the same rock strength condition. Based on the parametric studies, a design chart to simply evaluate the geometric design parameters of a unsupported rock pillar satisfying a design safety factor is also proposed in this study.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.1 s.60
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• pp.58-72
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• 2006

In recent years, not only the occurrences but the magnitude of earthquakes in Korea are on an increasing trend and other sources of dynamic events including large-scale construction, operation of hi띤-speed railway and explosives blasting have been increasing. Besides, the probability of exposure fir rock joints to free faces gets higher as the scale of rock mass structures becomes larger. For that reason, the frictional behavior of rock joints under dynamic conditions needs to be investigated. In this study, a shaking table test system was set up and a series of dynamic test was carried out to examine the dynamic frictional behavior of rock joints. In addition, a computer program was developed, which calculated the acceleration and deformation of the sliding block theoretically based on Newmark sliding block procedure. The static friction angle was back-calculated by measuring yield acceleration at the onset of slide. The dynamic friction angle was estimated by closely approximating the experimental results to the program-simulated responses. As a result of dynamic testing, the static friction angle at the onset of slide as well as the dynamic friction angle during sliding were estimated to be significantly lower than tilt angle. The difference between the tilt angle and the static friction angle was $4.5\~8.2^{\circ}$ and the difference between the tilt angle and the dynamic friction angle was $2.0\~7.5^{\circ}$. The decreasing trend was influenced by the magnitude of the base acceleration and inclination angle. A DEM program was used to simulate the shaking table test and the result well simulated the experimental behavior. Friction angles obtained by shaking table test were significantly lower than basic friction angle by direct shear test.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.1 s.60
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• pp.26-37
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• 2006

This study addresses the applicability of box fractal dimension, $D_B$, as an index of statistical homogeneity of fractured rock mass. The box-count method's capability in quantifying the combined effect of fracture density and size distribution is examined systematically. Total of 129 two-dimensional fracture configurations were generated based on different combinations of fracture size distribution and fracture density. $D_B$was calculated for the generated fracture network systems using the box-counting method. It was found that was standard deviation of trace length and fracture orientation have no effect on calculated $D_B$. The estimated $D_B$ was found to increase with increasing total density and/or mean trace length. To explore the field applicability of this study, the statistical homogeneity of fractured rock mass was investigated at the rock slope and the underground facility using the box-counting method as well as conventional contingency table analysis. The results obtained in this study clearly show that the methodologies given in this paper have the capability of determining the statistical homogeneity of fractured rock mass.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.6 s.65
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• pp.506-525
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• 2006

For the design of large scale rock slope which has complex formations and geological structures, generally, insufficiency of geotechnical investigations and laboratory tests are the main factors of slope failures doling construction. In such case, remedial measures to stabilize slope should be selected and applied through reliable investigations and analysis considering the geotechnical characteristics. The rock slope of this study, one of the largest cut slopes in Korea with a length of 520.0 m and maximum height of 122.0 m consists of metasedimentary rocks. And a case study on the causes of large-scale rock slope failure was carried out by analysis of landslides history and site investigations during construction. When the slope with the original design slope of 0.7: 1.0 (H:V) was partially constructed, the slope failure was occurred due to the factors such as poor conditions of rocks (weathered zone, coaly shale and fault shear zone), various discontinuities (joints, foliations and faults), severe rain storm and so on. The types of failures were rockfall, circular failure, wedge failure and the combination of these types. So, the design of slope was changed three times to ensure long-term slope stability. This paper is intended to be a useful reference for analyzing and estimating the stability of rock slopes whose site conditions are similar to those of this study site such as geological structures and geotechnical properties.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.97-106
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• 2015

We must precisely investigate the mechanical characters of rock to design rock slope safely and efficiently. But the method of clinometer has some disadvantages. So, we need a new measurement that can replace the method of clinometer. In this study, we analyze the reliability of joint orientation measurements in rock slope using the 3D laser scanner and program Split-FX that is a point cloud data analysis software. We could acquire the 495 pieces joint data through the automatic extraction of features. And we confirmed that there were some errors occurred with ${\pm}4^{\circ}$ of dip and ${\pm}5^{\circ}$ of dip direction. Generally, the method of clinometer has ${\pm}5^{\circ}$ and ${\pm}10^{\circ}$ error ranges of the joint orientation(dip/dip direction) that are the results of the advance research. Therefore, we analyzed the method of 3D laser scanner, and it is found to be efficient, reliable. This method is expected to mend the disadvantages of Clinometer method.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.308-318
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• 2013

Thermal stratification in heat stores is essential to improve the efficiency of energy storage systems and deliver more useful energy on demand. It is generally well known that the degree of thermal stratification in heat stores varies depending on the aspect ratio (the height-to-width ratio) and size of the stores. The present study aims to investigate the effect of the aspect ratio and storage volume of rock caverns for storing hot water on thermal stratification in the caverns and heat loss to the surroundings. Heat transfer simulations using a computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT were performed at different aspect ratios and storage volumes of rock caverns. The variation of thermal stratification with respect to time was examined using an index to quantify the degree of stratification, and the heat loss to the surroundings was evaluated. The results of the numerical simulations demonstrated that the thermal stratification in rock caverns was improved by increasing the aspect ratio, but this effect was not remarkable beyond an aspect ratio of 3-4. When the storage volume of rock caverns was large, a higher thermal stratification was maintained for a relatively longer time compared to caverns with a small storage volume, but the difference in thermal stratification between the two cases tended to decrease as the aspect ratio became larger. In addition, the numerical results showed that the heat loss to the surrounding rock tended to increase with an increase in aspect ratio because the surface area of rock caverns increased as the aspect ratio became larger. The total heat loss from multiple small caverns with a reduced storage volume per cavern was larger compared to a single cavern with the same total storage volume as that of the multiple caverns.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.304-317
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• 2009

Most crystalline rocks have much higher compressive strength than tensile strength and show brittle failure. In-situ rock mass, strong enough in general sense, often fails in brittle manner when subjected to high stress exceeding strength in due of geometrically induced stress concentration or of high initial stress. Therefore, it is necessary to verify the brittle failure characteristics of rock and rock mass for proper stability assessment of underground structures excavated in great depths. In this study, damage controlled tests were conducted on biotite-granite and granitic gneiss, which are the two major crystalline rock types in Korea, to obtain the strain dependency characteristics of the cohesion and friction angle. A Cohesion-Weakening Friction-Strengthening (CWFS hereafter) model for each rock type was constructed and a series of compression tests were carried out numerically while varying confining pressures. The same tests were also conducted assuming the rock is Mohr-Coulomb material and results were compared.