• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1C
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• pp.53-63
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• 2010

Since the water retention curve is considered as a major parameter to evaluate the unsaturated ground or soils, overburden pressure and clay content on soils underneath ground surface have not been considered for estimating water retention characteristics. Therefore, a need exists that the effect of overburden pressure and clay content on water retention characteristics was assessed in typical weathered soils found in Korea. Soil-Water Characteristic Curve and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity were estimated using water retention characteristics under the condition of different overburden pressure, clay content, and de-saturation path. Then, these effects are evaluated with the results of SWCC tests from the laboratory. In addition to that, the unsaturated moisture capacity and diffusivity of each case is discussed.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.318-328
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• 2015

Effective urban flood reduction and restoration of natural water cycle at present include the application of permeable pavements. The application of permeable pavement addresses urban water cycle and disaster related events which gained attention internationally. However, few researches have been conducted to investigate unsaturated behavior and evaluate the water characteristics curves of these type of pavement materials most especially in the unsaturated state. In this study, first the saturated permeability and the soil-water characteristics curve of a pervious concrete are evaluated based on laboratory tests, and, based on experimental results, the infiltration of permeable pavement system is numerically modelled. In the soil-water characteristics curve of a pervious concrete, the volumetric water content drops very steeply after the air entry value with increasing matric suction. From the finite element analyses, the performance of the permeable pavement when compared to impermeable pavement, confirmed that the whole system effectively delayed and reduced runoff.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.47-58
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• 2014

To investigate the unsaturated characteristics of the tailings obtained from the waste dump at Imgi mine, matric suction and volumetric water content were measured in both drying and wetting processes using Automated Soil-Water Characteristics Curve Apparatus. Based on the measured result, Soil Water Characteristic Curves (SWCC) were estimated by van Genuchten model. According to the unsaturated soil classification method, the tailings of the waste dump correspond to clayey sand. As a result of Suction Stress Characteristic Curve (SSCC) by Lu and Likos model, SSCC has a shape of S which is similar to SWCC. The hysteresis phenomenon occurred in SSCCs, which means the suction stress of drying path is larger than that of wetting path in the same effective degree of saturation. The effective stress of unsaturated soil is equal to that of saturated soil when matric suction is less than Air Entry Value (AEV). However, the effective stress of unsaturated soil is larger than that of saturated soil when matic suction is more than AEV. Meanwhile, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity by van Genuchten model decreased with increasing matric suction, and the hydraulic conductivity of drying path is larger than that of wetting path.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.73-83
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• 2006

Seepage analysis through unsaturated zone based on the theory of unsaturated flow is commonly performed to evaluate dam safety. However, the concepts of unsaturated soil behavior have not been transferred into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers since the problems involving unsaturated soils often have the appearances of being extremely complex. There is variability and uncertainty associated with the unsaturated hydraulic properties that in turn will lead to variability in predicting unsaturated soil behavior such as seepage rate and the pore water pressure distribution. In this paper, measurements of the soil-water characteristic curve and saturated hydraulic conductivity for the core material of dam were conducted. Then, finite element stochastic analysis was used to capture the effect of unsaturated hydraulic properties on the seepage behavior of dam. It is observed that the amount of seepage increases, as the values of unsaturated soil parameters a and n increase. The values of m and p showed opposite trend.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.17-22
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• 2009

계절에 따른 토양공극의 수리학적 변화를 파악하기 위해서 설마천 유역의 범륜사 독립사면과 광릉 원두부 소유역의 독립사면을 대상으로 장력침투실험을 실시하였다. 토양수분 확보에 신뢰를 받기위해서 TDR(Time Domain Reflectometry)및 현장에서 토양의 불포화 투수계수 측정이 가능한 장력침투계(Tension infiltrometer)를 이용하였다. 계절에 따른 자료수집을 위해서 2008년 3월 20일 부터 약 6주간격으로 10월 29일까지 5회에서 6회 토양수분 자료 및 토양장력침투 자료를 획득하였다. 획득한 자료를 이용하여 포화 및 불포화 수리전도도, 대공극 유효흐름분율(macropore flow), 대공극 유효부피분율을(effective macroporosity) 나타내었다. 분기별로 자료분석 결과 계절별 특성이 나타남을 알 수 있다. 수리전도도는 3월, 5월, 10월은 유사한 반면 6월과 7월 그리고 9월은 상대적으로 높았다. 이는 여름철에 공극 발달이 활발하다는 것을 의미한다. 선행토양수분은 수리전도도에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 대공극의 발달은 삼림과 같은 복잡 경관에서는 강우사상에 따른 토양수분의 공간 분포 및 이송, 유출과정이 물순환에 영향을 미친다. 지형분석을 통한 공극의 흐름특성과 토양수분 유의성에 대하여 논의하였고, 대공극 변화에 밀접한 관계가 있는 식생과 그밖에 계절적으로 발달을 일으키는 요인을 모색 하였다. 본 연구는 계절에 따라 변하는 수리전도도를 기초로 하여 불포화대에서 토양공극의 수리학적 변화와 시공간적으로 침투흐름에 얼마나 영향을 주는가를 보여준다.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1073-1082
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• 2015

The behavior of the unsaturated soil slope can be influenced by the various factors such as the hydraulic characteristics, the mechanical characteristics, the coefficient of conductivity, the stratifications, the rainfall conditions i.e. the rainfall intensity, the rainfall pattern, the duration time of the rainfall and the antecedent rainfall etc. It is known that the slope failure is influenced greatly by the antecedent rainfall rather than the rainfall condition at the failure time, so the antecedent rainfall is supposed to be a very important factor in slope stability analysis among these factors. To predict and to prevent the slope failure by the rainfall, the distribution of the matric suction by the antecedent rainfall must be considered first of all and the slope stability analysis should be carried out by considering the successive rainfall characteristics. In this research, 3 samples with different quantity (5%, 10%, 20%) of silts were prepared and the SWCC (Soil-water characteristic curve) tests were carried out and the associated parameters were analyzed. After analyzing the distribution of the matric suction and the change of the mechanical characteristics such as the stress and the strength when applying the antecedent rainfall for one month and the successive intensive rainfall for 12 hours, the slope stability analyses were carried out numerically. And the influence of the antecedent rainfall for one month and the SWCC on the stability of a slope were compared and analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.35-42
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• 2012

This paper evaluates the effect of anisotropic conductivity on the seepage face and reliability index of an homogeneous dam with and without toe drain. The analysis are conducted under steady state saturated-unsaturated seepage condition using finite element method. Various anisotropic conductivity ratios were interpreted under such conditions as the vertical conductivity is reduced while the horizon conductivity is fixed. The shear strength of soil is defined by the modified Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The analysis results demonstrate that the length of seepage face and reliability index at the downstream and upstream of the dam increase with an increasing anisotropic ratio. These results of the seepage face and reliability index, however, depend on the total head difference between the upstream slope and downstream toe. The difference in seepage face and reliability index is attributed to the different equipotential head with different anisotropic ratios of the dam material.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2009

The unsaturated characteristics of Korean weathered granite soils have been studied to investigate the influence of saturated permeability, rainfall intensity and soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) on the slope stability. The upper, average and lower SWCCs were estimated from the publication and experimental results using the statistical concept. The roughly estimated SWCC can be used for the soils without experimental results by relating SWCC with the particle size distribution curve. An appropriate ratio between the saturated permeability and the rainfall intensity ($k_s$/i) was also suggested for practical use in designing the slopes by investigating the time-dependent variation of slope instability during the rainfall. The slope stability was deteriorated from the initiation of rainfall and recovered again after the factor of safety reached the critical value. The FS of the slope decreased at first and then increased after reaching the critical value during the rainfall. As a result, the slope instability was not related with an absolute rainfall intensity but with the ratio between the saturated permeability and the rainfall intensity. In case of the upper SWCC, the critical condition occurred when the ratio between the saturated permeability and the rainfall intensity was in the range of $1.0{\sim}2.0$.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.119-131
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• 2005

Seepage analysis through unsaturated zone based on the theory of unsaturated flow is commonly performed to evaluate dam safety. However, the concepts of unsaturated soil behavior have not been transferred into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers since the problems involving unsaturated soils often have the appearances of being extremely complex. The behavior of dam such as seepage rate and the pore water pressure distribution is different according to the unsaturated hydraulic properties, but nevertheless simply assumed properties have been used due to insufficient data from domestic soils. In this paper, the effect of unsaturated hydraulic properties on the behavior of dam was studied through a series of numerical analyses, and then the results were discussed. It is observed that water table moves at a (aster rate, as the values of unsaturated soil parameter a and n increase. The value of m showed opposite trend. The sensitivity calculated using the approximation form showed maximum values near the water table. And the value of n that is related to the slope of soil water characteristic curve gives greatest influence on the change of sensitivity with time.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.67-74
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• 2007

Many studies for slope stability studies have indicated that the infiltration of rainwater into a slope decrease the slope stability. In order to minimize damage caused by slope failure, most design codes suggest that the slope stability be analyzed by saturated condition during rainy season. However it would be excessively conservative condition that every soil slope is saturated in rainy season irrespective of rainfall intensity, soil type and slope geometry. In addition, because most soil slopes are in an unsaturated state, it is necessary to consider the unsaturated characteristics of slope. This paper suggests a prediction method of saturation time for the weathered granite soil slopes due to rainfalls. The finite element analysis of transient water flow through unsaturated slope was used to investigate effects of soil-water characteristics, permeability at saturation, slope geometry, and rainfall intensity. From the result of these analyses, the prediction charts considering soil-water characteristics, permeability at saturation, and slope height were proposed in this study. It is possible to the time required to be saturated slope after rainfall.