• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.132-145
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• 2001

The purpose and need of the study is to quantify the advantage or disadvantage of the environmental friendliness of the partitioning of nuclear fuel cycle. To this end, a preliminary study on the quantitative effect of the partition on the permanent disposal of spent PWR and CANDU fuel (HLW) was carried out. Before any analysis, the so-called reference radionuclide release scenario from a potential repository embedded into a crystalline rock was developed. Firstly, the feature, event and processes (FEPs) which lead to the release of nuclides from waste disposed of in a repository and the transport to and through the biosphere were identified. Based on the selected FEPs, the ‘Well Scenario’which might be the worst case scenario was set up. For the given scenario, annual individual doses to a local resident exposed to radioactive hazard were estimated and compared to that from direct disposal. Even though partitioning and transmutation could be an ideal solution to reduce the inventory which eventually decreases the release time as well as the peaks in the annual dose and also minimize the repository area through the proper handling of nuclides, it should overcome major disadvantages such as echnical issues on the partitioning and transmutation system, cost, and public acceptance, and environment friendly issues. In this regard, some relevant issues are also discussed to show the direction for further studies.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.344-354
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• 2000

The concrete plug in an underground cavern prevents the stored product (oil, gas, etc) from leaking and the excessive inflow of underground water, so it plays an important role in construction and operation of the storage cavern. Additionally, it should maintain its stability under every possible loading condition. Once the plug is constructed, the cavern is isolated from the external access. Therefore, mechanical and hydraulic consideration should be made in construction to fulfill its function. Therefore, in this study, numerical analyses were conducted to study the optimal shape and thickness of the plug with respect to the various conditions of installation depth, the shape of the plug, in-situ stress ratio (K), the condition of rock-plug interface, and the effect of Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ). This paper also presents the effect of slot depth on the hydraulic behavior of the plug. These analyses were carried out by using the 2-dimensional finite difference code, rm FLAC, and the 3D code, rm FLAC$\^$3D/.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.24-36
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• 2015

The Geochang granite widely used in construction works is one of the most popular dimension stones in Korea. In order to evaluate the physical properties of rock, a lot of laboratory tests for the Geochang granite were conducted to find unit weight, absorption ratio, P wave velocity, S wave velocity, uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, tensile strength, cohesion, friction angle and point load strength index. The uniaxial compressive strength of the Geochang granite was 19.5 times tensile strength and also 8.6 times cohesion, besides P wave velocity was 1.5 times S wave velocity. Correlation analyses were also conducted to find the correlation among 11 different physical properties, where the uniaxial compressive strength showed Pearson correlation coefficient of more than 0.8 with Poisson's ratio, point load strength index and Young's modulus, respectively. Regression analyses were finally conducted by means of both linear and multiple analysis and the brief results including coefficient of determination of more than 0.7 were presented.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.354-364
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• 2012

In order to evaluate the physical properties of rock which might serve as a database for both mining and civil works, a lot of laboratory tests for Jecheon limestones were conducted to find unit weight, absorption ratio, porosity, elastic wave velocity, uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modulus, poisson's ratio, tensile strength, shore hardness, friction angle and cohesion. On investigation of the mechanical properties of both the gray limestone and the clayey limestone distributed in the studied region, the clayey limestone turned out to have more weak mechanical properties which might come from low unit weight, high absorption ratio and high porosity of rocks. The failure criteria of Jecheon limestones were discussed by means of both Mohr-Coulomb criterion and Hoek-Brown criterion. Regression analyses of the physical properties obtained from a lot of laboratory tests were also conducted by means of both linear and multiple regression analyses.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.261-270
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• 2013

As part of the development of the 3-D geologic modeling software, this study addresses on new development of software modules that can perform the analysis and visualization of the fracture network system in 3-D. The developed software modules, such as BOUNDARY, DISK3D, FNTWK3D, CSECT and BDM, are coded on Microsoft Visual Studio platform using the MFC and OpenGL library supported by C++ program language. Each module plays a role in construction of analysis domain, visualization of fracture geometry in 3-D, calculation of equivalent pipes, production of cross-section map and management of borehole data, respectively. The developed software modules for analysis and visualization of the 3-D fracture network system can be used to tackle the geomechanical problems related to strength, deformability and hydraulic behaviors of the fractured rock masses. All these benefits will further enhance the economic competitiveness of the domestic software industry.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 1995

The use of TBM has been rapidly increased in recent years since TBM has been introduced to Korea in 1985 and Korea came to occupy 27% of TBM holding ratio in the world. Despite a lot of experience, study on promoting the efficiency of TBM excavation is insufficient. The factors that influence the efficiency of excavation are the mechanical farttor geotechnical factor and management factor. The study on the efficiency of excavation has focused on the improvement of mechanical factor. But geotechnical factor is also very important and by this factor engineer can estimate the applicability of TBM. The purpose of this paper is to understand the effectiveness of TBM excavation for vari orts rock quality by analysing relations between rock quality and TBM excavation.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.869-886
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• 2018

Rockbolt is one of the most common supports used to reinforce discontinuous rock during underground excavation. Extra drain pipes are installed to improve excavation workability and the anchorage of rockbolts in water bearing ground. The drain pipe is effective in improving the workability by providing drainage path, but it is difficult to expect the reinforcement effect, increasing disturbance of the discontinuous rock mass and the construction cost. To solve this problem, dual purpose rockbolt (DPR) has been developed for the reinforcement of rock and the drainage of ground water. DPR was able to improve the mechanical and hydraulic stability of the rocks quickly and economically. Two kinds of DPRs using FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastic) and steel were investigated for the mechanical and hydraulic performance. Also, the workability and stability of DPR were analyzed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.22-40
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• 1995

Thermomechanical characteristics of rocks such as thermal shock, thermal expansion, thermal cracking were experimentally investigaed using Iksan granite, Cheonan tonalite and Chung-ju dolomite to obtain the basic data for proper design and Chung-ju dolomite to obtain the basic data for proper design and stability analysis of underground structures subjected to temperature changes. The effect of thermal shock did not appear when the heating speed was under 3$^{\circ}C$/min. and there existed little difference between multi-staged cyclic heating and single-cycled heating. Thermal expansion of rocks was affected by mineral composition, crack porosity and the degree of thermal craking. In quartz-beraring multimineralic rocks such as Iksan granite and Cheonan tonalite, the thermal expansion coefficient increaseed continuously with temperature rise, but that of Chung-ju dolomite which was a monomineralic rock showed a constant value for the temperature above 250$^{\circ}C$, Chung-ju dolomite yielded the lowest critical threshold temperature(Tc) of 100$^{\circ}C$ and unstable thermal cracking was initiated above the new threshold temperature(Tc')of 300$^{\circ}C$. Above Tc' thermal cracks grew but they were not interconnected. Iksan granite showed closing of microcracks to the temperature of 100$^{\circ}C$, then expanded linearly to Tc of 200$^{\circ}C$. Above Tc, thermal cracking was initiated and progressed rapidly and almost all the grain boundaries were cracked at 600$^{\circ}C$. Cheonan tonalite also showed similar behavior to iksan granite except that Tc was 350$^{\circ}C$ and that thermal cracks propagated more rapidly. Thermal expansions calculated by Turner's equation were found to be valid in predicting the thermal expansion and cracking behavior of rocks.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.153-168
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• 2003

The objective of this present study is to understand long term(500 years) thermohydromechanical interaction behavior in the vicinity of a repository cavern on the joint location and repository depth variations. The model includes a saturated discontinuous granitic rock mass, PWR spent nuclear fuel in a disposal canister surrounded with compacted bentonite inside a deposition hole, and mixed bentonite backfilled in the rest of the space within a repository cavern. It is assumed that two joint sets exist within the model. Joint set 1 includes joints of 56$^{\circ}$ dip angle, spaced at 20 m, and joint set 2 is in the perpendicular direction to joint set 1 and includes joints of 34$^{\circ}$ dip angle, spaced at 20 m. In order to understand the behavior change on the joint location variations, 5 different models of 500m in depth are analyzed, and additional 3 different models of 1000 m in depth are analyzed to understand the effect of depth variation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2004

As underground caverns have many advantages such as safety and operation, they can also be used for gas storage purpose. When liquefied gas is stored underground, the cryogenic temperature of the gas affects the stability of the storage cavern. In order to store the liquefied gas successfully, it is essential to estimate the exact temperature distribution of the rock mass around the caverns. The main purpose of this study is the development of theoretical solution to be able to estimate the temperature distribution around storage caverns and the assessment of the solution. In this study, a theoretical solution and a conceptual model for estimating two and three dimensional temperature distribution around the storage caverns are suggested. Based on the multi-dimensional transient heat transfer theory, the theoretical solution is successfully derived by assuming the caverns shape as simplified geometry. In order to assess the theoretical solution, by performing numerical experiments with this multi-dimensional model, the temperature distribution of the theoretical solution is compared with that of numerical analysis. Furthermore, the effects of the caverns size are investigated.