• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.91-104
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• 2014

An Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ), in which rock properties are permanently changed due to blasting impact or stress redistribution, can influence the behavior and stability of structures. In this study, the mechanical stability of an underground opening was simulated by using FLAC, which is a two-dimensional modeling code, with a consideration of EDZ. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out with fractional factorial design. From the modeling, it was found that the behavior and the stability of an underground tunnel are strongly dependent on the existence of the EDZ. The sensitivity analysis showed that the key parameters affecting the factor of safety around the tunnel are in-situ stress ratio, depth, cohesion, reduction ratio, internal friction angle, and height and width of the tunnel. It is necessary to consider the EDZ, which can significantly affect mechanical stability in tunnel design.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.35-48
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• 2009

An excessive ground displacement occurs with excavating tunnel in a fault zone because the fault has properties of soft ground in generally. It may have had a bad influence to adjacent structure. So, rapid reduction of ground strength by groundwater inflow should be prevented. It must be established for an impervious and reinforcing effect of ground to ensure a tunnel stability. The ground settlement and reinforcing effects were estimated by numerical analyses on tunnel through 570 m sector in Yangsan fault zone of Keongbu high-speed railway. Settlements evaluated by numerical analysis is similar to those calculated by using equation of Loganathan & Poulo. It was shown that reliable estimate of ground settlement by applying a prediction equation is possible. Applicability of adopted tunnel reinforcement method in fault zone was investigated by results of pilot construction and numerical analysis. Results from this study indicate that the adopted reinforcement method make tunnel displacements and member stresses restrain in design criteria.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.207-219
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• 2008

In urban areas, it is very often to excavate ground adjacent to existing structures for the construction of new buildings. Deformation and vibration induced by such construction activities may cause damages to the existing structures and petitions from citizens. To secure safety of the existing structures, particularly of tunnels, establishment of general guidelines on vibration have been crucial concerns, although some institutions have their own guidelines which are not generally accepted. This study aims establishing guidelines for tunnel safety due to blast-induced vibration. Numerical methods are adopted for this study. Blast load equation proposed by International Society of Explosive Engineers (2000) is used to decide detonation pressure. Analysis models were obtained from the construction cases of Seoul Metros. By performing dynamic numerical analysis, vibration velocity of an existing tunnel is evaluated. The numerical results are verified by comparing with the field measurement data obtained in excavation sites adjacent to an existing tunnel. Based on the results vibration safety zone is proposed. Influence circle for vibration velocity is drawn and the area not exceeding the allowable vibration velocity is established.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.99-112
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• 1999

When there exists a fault zone ahead of the tunnel face and a tunnel is excavated without perceiving its existence, it will cause stress concentration in the region between the tunnel face and the fault zone because of the influence of the fault zone on the arching phenomena. Because the underground structure has many unreliable factors in the design stage, the prediction of a fault zone ahead of the tunnel face by monitoring plans during tunnel construction and the rapid establishment of appropriate support system are required for more economical and safer tunnel construction. Recent study shows that longitudinal displacement changes during excavation due to the change of rock property, and if longitudinal displacement and settlement, which are measured in the field, are considered together in displacement analysis, the prediction of change in rock mass property is possible. This study provided the method for the prediction of fault zones by analyzing the changes of L/C and (Ll-Lr)/C ratio (L= longitudinal displacement at crown, C = settlement at crown, Ll = longitudinal displacement at left sidewall, Lr = longitudinal displacement at right sidewall) and the stereographic projection of displacement vectors which were obtained from the 3-D numerical analysis of hybrid method in various initial stress conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.783-799
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• 2015

In this study, effect of horizontal in situ stress on failure mechanism around underground openings excavated in isotropic, elastic rock zones is investigated. For estimating the plastic zone occurrence, an induced stress influence area approach (Bray Equations) was modified to define critical stress ratio according to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. Results obtained from modified calculations were compared with results of some other analytical solutions for plastic zone thickness estimation and the numerical modelling (finite difference method software, FLAC2D) study. Plastic zone and its geometry around tunnels were analyzed for different in situ stress conditions. The modified equations gave similar results with those obtained from the other approaches. However, safer results were calculated using the modified equations for high in situ stress conditions and excessive ratio of horizontal to vertical in situ stresses. As the outcome of this study, the modified equations are suggested to use for estimating the plastic zone occurrence and its thickness around the tunnels with circular cross-section.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.49-56
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• 2014

The stability of tunnel construction depends entirely on the characteristics of the soil strength. If the soil strength is weak, collapse of tunnel occurs frequently under construction. In general, it copes with collapse by conducting half section excavation or reinforcement in advance under these conditions. Nevertheless, it can be collapsed under upper section excavation in the weathered fracture zone and it can be recovered through the application of reinforcement. As it has a bad influence on the upper section in case of upheaveal of tunnel bottom, it can be adversely affected on the overall stability of the tunnel. Thus, an in-depth review of reinforcement is needed in poor bottom ground. As the practices that has a bad affect on the stability of the tunnel due to upheaveal of tunnel bottom is increasing, research is needed for applicable standards for reinforcement. In this paper, it were investigated at actual field cases of upheaveal of bottom ground and characteristics of behavior and reinforcement measures were analyzed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2024

The construction adit plays a pivotal role in enhancing the working face during the excavation of long-distance and deep hydraulic tunnels. However, the intersection zone between the main tunnel and the construction adit exhibits more intricate deformation patterns in surrounding rock, posing a significant threat to stability during excavation. Taking the Xianglushan tunnel in Yunnan Province, China, as a case study, the FLAC3D software is employed to simulate the excavation process at the intersection. The simulation results are verified combined with the field deformation monitoring results, and the spatial distribution of tunnel rock deformation in the intersection area are analyzed. Five excavation conditions with different intersection angles are simulated, and the surrounding rock deformation of the tunnel intersection area with different intersection angles is analyzed, and its influence range is discussed. The results show that: (1) The surrounding rock deformation in the intersection area increases rapidly during the tunnel excavation. With the increase of construction distance, the deformation of intersection area is gradually stable. (2) The deformation distribution of the tunnel rock is uneven, and the deformation of main tunnel near the intersection area is larger than that far away from the intersection area. (3) With the increase of the intersection angle, the surrounding rock deformation of the tunnel intersection and its influence range decreases gradually. The research results have certain guiding significance for the construction safety of the tunnel intersection area.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.1007-1013
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• 2004

A three-arch NATM tunnel with a total length of 53.5m has been constructed for a metropolitan subway station in Daejon, Korea. The tunnel, whose crown is located 22m below the ground, crosses the old Daejon station underneath. Since the tunnel comprises a very large section (10${\times}$28 m; largest in Korea), it shows complicated mechanical behaviors, especially near portal, due to its short length relative to width. As far as its construction step is concerned, the center tunnel is excavated with pre-excavated pilot tunnel, which is a unique feature of this tunnel (first in Korea) to secure safety during construction and prevent excessive settlements. The both side tunnels are then excavated along with the center tunnel. Since significant amount of settlement was predictable from the design stage, extensive monitoring was performed during construction. During excavation of the side tunnels, unexpected large settlements up to ${\~}$140mm (estimated 41.8 mm at design stage) was measured at the center tunnel. In this paper, we study the causes of this unusually large ground settlement. We believe that the extra-wide tunnel excavation increases the stress influence zone of portal in longitudinal direction and consequently add more settlements to the existing due to excavation and consolidation.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.13-22
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• 2015

In the current work, a series of three-dimensional (3D) numerical modelling has been performed in order to study the effects of the relative locations of tunnels with respect to the position of pile tips which governs the behaviour of pre-existing, adjacent single piles. In the numerical analyses, several governing factors, such as tunnelling-induced pile head settlements, relative displacements, volume losses, axial pile forces, interface shear stresses and apparent factors of safety have been analysed. When the pile tips are inside the tunnelling influence zone, of which the pile tip location is considered with respect to the tunnel position, tunnelling-induced pile head settlements are larger than the ground surface settlements, resulting in tunnelling-induced tensile pile forces. On the contrary, when the pile tips are outside the influence zone, compressive pile forces associated with downward shear stresses at the upper part of the piles are developed. Based on computed load and displacement relation of the pile, the apparent factors of safety of the piles inside the tunnelling influence zone have been reduced by 36% in average. The shear transfer mechanism based on the relative tunnel locations has been analysed in great detail by considering tunnelling-induced pile forces, interface shear stresses and the apparent factors of safety.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.825-835
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• 2019

When the tunnel is designed, the ground is classified into several grades and the corresponding support system is applied according to the support pattern table. However, a simple pattern application based on rock grade does not take into account the longitudinal stress transitions occurring at rock grade boundaries. In this study, three-dimensional numerical analysis was performed to estimate the stress change in the longitudinal rock grade change of NATM tunnel, and the influence zone of load transfer was investigated using the influence line and trend line. As a result, the downward change of rock grade in the direction of tunnel excavation occurs in the range of 0.35~0.7D from low-strength rock to high-strength rock around the grade change boundary. It is necessary to apply a downward pattern of about 1.0D to the safety direction in consideration of the influence range of 0.35D to 0.7D.