• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.567-574
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• 2019

In order to study the effect of stress and water pressure on the permeability of fractured rock mass under three-dimensional stress conditions, a single fracture triaxial stress-seepage coupling model was established; By using the stress-seepage coupling true triaxial test system, large-scale rock specimens were taken as the research object to carry out the coupling test of stress and seepage, the fitting formula of permeability coefficient was obtained. The influence of three-dimensional stress and water pressure on the permeability coefficient of fractured rock mass was discussed. The results show that the three-dimensional stress and water pressure have a significant effect on the fracture permeability coefficient, showing a negative exponential relationship. Under certain water pressure conditions, the permeability coefficient decreases with the increase of the three-dimensional stress, and the normal principal stress plays a dominant role in the permeability. Under certain stress conditions, the permeability coefficient increases when the water pressure increases. Further analysis shows that when the gob floor rock mass is changed from high stress to unloading state, the seepage characteristics of the cracked channels will be evidently strengthened.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2013

This paper presents the results of a two-dimensional finite element analysis of end bearing capacity of single pile installed in fractured rock mass. A number of cases were analyzed using Hoek-Brown criterion that can consider the condition of rock joints. Considering a wide range of joint conditions in which the pile is embedded into the rock, GSI was set as a main parameter. And the effects of pile diameter, unconfined compressive strength of rock and Hoek-Brown constant $m_0$ were considered. Based on parameter study, end bearing load factor graphs were suggested.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.573-586
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• 2023

Joints or weak planes can induce anisotropy in the strength and deformability of fractured rock masses. Comprehending this anisotropic behavior is crucial to engineering geology. This study used plaster as a friction material to mold specimens with a single joint. The strength and deformability of the specimens were measured in true triaxial compression tests. The measured results were compared with three-dimensional numerical analysis based on the distinct element method, conducted under identical conditions, to assess the reliability of the modeled values. The numerical results highlight that the principal stress conditions in the field, in conjunction with joint orientations, are crucial factors to the study of the strength and deformability of fractured rock masses. The strength of a transversely isotropic rock mass derived numerically considering changes in the dip angle of the joint notably increases as the intermediate principal stress increases. This increment varies depending on the dip of the joint. Moreover, the interplay between the dip direction of the joint and the two horizontal principal stress directions dictates the strength of the transversely isotropic rock mass. For a rock mass with two joint sets, the set with the steeper dip angle governs the overall strength. If a rock bridge effect occurs owing to the limited continuity of one of the joint sets, the orientation of the set with longer continuity dominates the strength of the entire rock mass. Although conventional three-dimensional failure criteria for fractured rock masses have limited applicability in the field, supplementing them with numerical analysis proves highly beneficial.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.399-409
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• 2016

The fracture propagation mechanism and fractured rock mass failure mechanism were important research in geotechnical engineering field. Many failures and instability in geotechnical engineering were related on fractures propagation, coalescence and interaction in rock mass under the external force. Most of the current research were limited to two-dimensional for the brittleness and transparency of three-dimensional fracture materials couldn't meet the requirements of the experiment. New materials with good transparent and brittleness were developed by authors. The making method of multi fracture specimens were established and made molds that could be reused. The tension-compression ratio of the material reached above 1/6 in normal temperature. Uniaxial and biaxial loading tests of single and double fracture specimens were carried out. Four new fractures were not found in the experiment of two-dimensional fractures such as the fin shaped crack, wrapping wing crack and petal crack and anti-wing crack. The relationship between stress and strain of the specimens were studied. The specimens with the load had experienced four stages of deformation and the process of the fracture propagation was clearly seen in each stage. The expansion characteristics of the fractured specimens were more obvious than the previous research.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.465-475
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• 2003

Groundwater inflow into the caverns constructed in fractured rock mass was simulated by numerical modeling, NAPSAC (DFN, discrete fracture network model) and NAMMU (CPM, continuous porous media model), a finite-element software package for groundwater flow in 3D fractured media developed by AEA Technology, UK. The input parameters for modeling were determined on surface fracture survey, core logging and single hole hydraulic test data. In order to predict the groundwater inflow more accurately, the anisotropic hydraulic conductivity was considered. The anisotropic hydraulic conductivities were calculated from the fracture network properties. With a minor adjustment during model calibration, the numerical modeling is able to reproduce reasonably groundwater inflows into cavern and the travel length and times to the ground surface along the flow paths in the normal, dry and rainy seasons.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.53-60
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• 2006

Single well injection withdrawal tracer tests with bromide were carried out at two wells developed in a horizontally heterogeneous fractured rock. The hydraulic conductivity of TW-1 well was 5 times larger than TW-2 well, and the average linear velocity of TW-2 well was 1.8 times faster than TW-1 well. The difference of hydrodynamic dispersions of two wells in the fractured rock was studied with the analysis of concentration breakthrough curves and cumulative mass recovery curves of bromide with withdrawal time, and the estimation of average travel distance, pore velocity, longitudinal dispersivity and longitudinal dispersion coefficient. The average travel distances of bromide were estimated to be 3.00 m in TW-1 well and 5.62 m in TW-2 well. The average pore velocities for the injection/withdrawal phase were estimated to be $4.31\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;m/sec$ in TW-1 well and $8.08\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;m/sec$ in TW-2 well. Average travel distance and pore velocity were higher in TW-2 well because of small effective porosity. Longitudinal dispersivities were estimated to be 28.73 cm in TW-1 well and 18.49 cm in TW-2 well, and bromide transport was 1.55 times faster in TW-1 well. Longitudinal dispersion coefficients were estimated to be $5.14\;{\times}\;10^{-6}\;m^2/sec$ in TW-1 well and $6.06\;{\times}\;10^{-6}\;m^2/sec$ in TW-2 well, and diffusion area was 1.18 times larger in TW-2 well.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2000

A three-dimensional discrete fracture network model based on probabilistic characteristics of fracture geometry and transmissivity was designed to calculate the conductivity tensor and to estimate theanisotropy of conductivity. The conductivities, $K_p$, obtained from the numerical simulation of single-holepacker test corresponded well to those from the field tests. From this, it can be concluded that thefracture network model designed in this study can represent hydraulic characteristics of in-situ fractured rock mass. Block-scale conductivities, $K_b$, estimated from the modelling of steady-state flow through the REV-scale block were ranged between the arithmetic mean and harmonic mean of theconductivity estimates from packer tests. The conductivity along north-south direction was 1.4 timesgreater than that along the east-west direction. It was concluded that the anisotropy of conductivitywas insignificant. It was also found that there was a little correlation between $K_b$ and $K_p$. This would be to that the conductivities from the packer test simulation was strongly dependent on thetransmissivity and the number of fractures within the packer test intervals.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.571-598
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• 2024

Nuclear power generation, which belongs to the eco-friendly energy category, has a comparative advantage over other power generation methods in terms of cost and efficiency, and its share of electricity energy has recently shifted to an increasing trend worldwide. In Korea, various empirical studies have been conducted centering on KURT (KEARI Underground Research Tunnel) to secure elemental technology necessary for safe and efficient disposal of high-level radioactive waste inevitably generated during the operation of nuclear power plants. Considering the domestic rock type and geological conditions, the multi-barrier system is evaluated as the most effective among various high-level radioactive waste disposal methods. The objectives of this study were, first, to evaluate the hydraulic characteristics of deep and low-permeable rock masses and second, to secure quantitative information on the hydraulic connectivity between boreholes for establishing a large-scale in-situ test system necessary for the proper design and stability evaluation of the multi-barrier system. In this regard, diverse borehole tests using DHTS (Deep borehole Hydraulic Testing System) were performed in the two research modules in KURT, and in particular, the injection type cross-hole hydraulic connectivity tests were successfully completed for the first time in Korea. In this paper, we briefly introduced MDST (Mini Downhole Shut-in Tool) developed to update the performance of DHTS and mainly discussed the key results obtained from the stepwise in-situ borehole tests.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.29-46
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• 2004

It is important to identify geometries of fracture that act as a conduit of fluid flow for characterization of ground water flow in fractured rock. Fracture geometries control hydraulic conductivity and stream lines in a rock mass. However, we have difficulties to acquire whole geometric data of fractures in a field scale because of discontinuous distribution of outcrops and impossibility of continuous collecting of subsurface data. Therefore, it is needed to develop a method to describe whole feature of a target fracture geometry. This study suggests a new approach to develop a method to characterize on the whole feature of a target fracture geometry based on the Fourier transform. After sampling of specimens along a target fracture from borehole cores, effective frequencies among roughness components were selected by the Fourier transform on each specimen. Then, the selected effective frequencies were averaged on each frequency. Because the averaged spectrum includes all the frequency profiles of each specimen, it shows the representative components of the fracture roughness of the target fracture. The inverse Fourier transform is conducted to reconstruct an averaged whole roughness feature after low pass filtering. The reconstructed roughness feature also shows the representative roughness of the target subsurface fracture including the geometrical characteristics of each specimen. It also means that overall roughness feature by scaling up of a fracture. In order to identify the characteristics of permeability coefficients along the target fracture, fracture models were constructed based on the reconstructed roughness feature. The computation of permeability coefficient was performed by the homogenization analysis that can calculate accurate permeability coefficients with full consideration of fracture geometry. The results show a range between $10^{-4}{\;}and{\;}10^{-3}{\;}cm/sec$, indicating reasonable values of permeability coefficient along a large fracture. This approach will be effectively applied to the analysis of permeability characteristics along a large fracture as well as identification of the whole feature of a fracture in a field scale.