Long-term evaluation of excavation damaged zone by optical measurement in Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory

Hata, Koji*; Niunoya, Sumio*; Aoyagi, Kazuhei  

The objective of this research is to investigate the long-term hydro-mechanical behavior of rock mass around the shaft in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL). The long-term monitoring has been carried out by optical AE sensors, optical water pressure sensors, and optical temperature sensors below 350m depth of the shaft in the Horonobe URL. From the measurement results, the extent of an excavation damaged zone was 1.5m within the shaft wall. After the excavation, it was observed that the unsaturated zone of the groundwater was spread more than 1.5m within the shaft wall.