• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2014

Direct shear tests have been initiated to understand the characteristics of joints which crucially affect the stability of rock mass. In this research, numerical approach in direct shear tests has been initiated using 3DEC on the basis of 3D distinct element method. Normal loads were altered in four different levels on artificial joint tests depending on the sawtooth angle and strengths on constant normal stress conditions, measuring the peak shear strength according to the direct shear tests under laboratory condition. Also results obtained from mechanical properties through laboratory test were used to perform numerical modeling, and shear strength obtained from the modeling was used to compare with laboratory direct shear test. As a result numerical analysis from distinct element method can simulate well on the shear behavior of rockmass.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.293-302
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• 2015

Thin Spray-on Liner (TSL) has been considered as a new rock support to replace shotcrete as well as wire mesh. However, the development of its original production technology is highly in demand since it is not open to the public. Therefore, two kinds of powder-type TSL prototypes were developed as the first development stage. Then, their mechanical properties were experimentally compared with those of a two-component foreign TSL material including both of liquid and powder components. From a series of experiments, the first TSL prototype mixing condition satisfied every TSL performance requirements specified by EFNRAC (2008), and showed much higher tensile and bond strengths than those of the two-component foreign TSL, even though the other TSL prototype cannot be used as a support member since its elongation at break is much lower than its corresponding EFNARC (2008) performance criterion. In addition, a further study to increase the ductility of the first TSL prototype might be necessary to guarantee its higher applicability to field conditions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.255-263
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• 2015

Explosive blasting is a very useful tool for mining and civil engineering applications. It, however, may cause severe environmental hazards on adjacent structures due to blasting impact. Blast engineers try to make optimum blast design to provide efficient performance and to minimize the environmental impact as well. It requires a pre-assessment of the impacts resulting from the blasting operation in design stage. One of the common procedures is to evaluate the proposed blast pattern through a series of test blasting in the field. Another approach is to evaluate the possible environmental effects using the numerical methods. There are a number of input parameters to be prepared for the numerical analysis. Some of them are well understood, while some are not. This paper presents some results of sensitivity analysis of the basic input parameters in numerical modelling of blasting problems so as to provide sound understanding of the parameters and some guidelines for input preparation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.231-243
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• 2015

In this study, both in-situ stress measurements and a lot of laboratory rock tests were conducted at a metal mine in Jeongseon, Korea. The stress ratio obtained from in-situ stress measurements showed a tendency to decrease according to depth below surface and its average value was 1.10. The mechanical properties such as 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 were investigated for the four different rocks mainly distributed at a studied mine, which were dolomite, felsite, granite and magnetite. The mechanical properties of the four different rocks were compared by means of statistical analyses, whereupon the felsite and the granite turned out to have more strength characteristics than the magnetite. The correlation of mechanical properties was also investigated, whereupon a few results against the general correlation were found out. The failure criteria of the four different rocks were finally discussed by means of both Mohr-Coulomb criterion and Hoek-Brown criterion.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.325-333
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• 2014

Hydraulic fracturing is the key technology for production of shale gas, which is one of the major unconventional resources. Brittleness index is one of the most important mechanical properties which determine the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing. It was required that the production of shale gas increases with more brittle behavior. Confusingly, there are numerous definitions available for brittleness of rock. This paper summarizes various definitions of brittleness index, and presents correlation analysis of the brittleness indices by using the laboratory experimental results of 48 shale specimens in Korea. Generally, it shows a very weak positive correlation between the brittleness index ($B_1$) which is the ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to tensile strength and the brittleness index ($B_3$) which is calculated by using the Youngs modulus and Poisson's ratio. In addition, the role of Poissons ratio is not clear in defining brittleness indices. In conclusion, standardization of definition for brittleness index is required to apply it to hydraulic fracturing as a parameter for predicting the efficiency.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.78-85
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• 2013

A primary objective in creating a stratified thermal storage is to maintain the thermodynamic quality of energy, so thermally stratified energy can be extracted at temperatures required for target activities. The separation of the thermal energy in heat stores to layers with different temperatures, i.e., the thermal stratification is a key factor in achieving this objective. This paper introduces different methods that have been proposed to characterize the thermal stratification in heat stores. Specifically, this paper focuses on the methods that can be used to determine the ability of heat stores to promote and maintain stratification during the process of charging, storing and discharging. In addition, based on methods using thermal stratification indices, the degrees of stratification of stored energy in Lyckebo rock cavern in Sweden were compared and the applicability of the methods was investigated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.72-78
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• 2001

A method to determine elastic constants for transversely isotropic rock using a single uniaxial compression test was proposed by Kim(1995). However, some problems were found when this method was applied. We derived two different equations in determination of elastic constants using V$\sub$12/ and V$\sub$21/ and performed uniaxial compression tests for two specimens whose angles between transversely isotropic plane and horizontal plane are 30$^{\circ}C$ and 65$^{\circ}C$. The anisotropic elastic constants should be calculated with different equations depend on the angle. If the anisotropic angle is lower than 45$^{\circ}$, V$\sub$21/ may be used. However, if the anisotropic angle is higher than 45$^{\circ}$, V$\sub$12/ may be used.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.64-71
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• 1999

A numerical analysis was performed to investigate the effects of notched blasthole in controlling the fracture plane. Analyzed were elastic and elasto-plastic response of rock, and fracture propagation under static and dynamic load conditions. Results showed that the region exceeding the tensile strength extended up to three times the radius of a normal blasthole in elastic analysis, while fifteen times in elasto-plastic analysis. It was shown that a crack was driven from the notch tip up to the distance of 23 times the hole radius in the case of a notched blasthole with a notch of 5 mm in depth and 30 mm in length.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.386-392
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• 2008

Recently, an earthquake-resistant has become essential to the large-scale structures at Gyeonggi and Gyeongsangnam province in Korea, but it is generally compared the measured data with foreign references because of the lack of the research data. It will be presented the characteristics of suitable dynamic elastic modulus in Korean geology, which characteristics are characterized the seismic wave velocities($V_p,\;V_s$) and correlation with dynamic elastic modulus($E_d,\;G_d\;K_d$) by each rock type of Korean granite, because it is very different between the values of foreign references and Korean geological characteristics.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.165-174
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• 2008

Thermo-hydro-chemico-mechanical evolution of the radioactive waste repository and surrounding geological media is one of the key issues for the radioactive waste disposal. This article describes not only the basic context for the site selection but also a reasonable strategy for the repository related research based on the results of the French repository project carried out by ANDRA (National radioactive waste management agency). To have some alternatives for the determination of a preferable depth and geological media, it would be recommendable to establish a database system. The curing process of the fractures or microfissures in the EDZ (Excavation Disturbed Zone) during operation time has to be examined considering the evolution of the EDZ and the reversibility of the repository. It is prerequisite to carry out a feasibility study and to validate the design concept and design parameters in a properly constructed underground research laboratory (URL) in Korea.