• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.55-66
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• 2006

Laboratory tests have revealed that the liquefaction resistance of sands depends strongly upon the degree of saturation, which is expressed in terms of the pore pressure coefficient, B. The velocity of compression waves(i.e. P-waves), which have been known to be influenced largely by the degree of saturation and can be measured conveniently in the field, appears as an indicator of saturation. In this paper, the Stokoe type torsional shear(TS) testing equipment is modified to saturate the specimen and measure the velocities of P-wave and S-wave and pore pressure buildup. The velocities of P-wave and S-wave for Toyoura sand from Japan is measured and compared at the various B-value (degree of saturation) which are partially saturated to fully saturated conditions. Additionally, the variation of the pore water pressure induced during undrained TS tests at the various B-value is measured and analyzed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1037-1047
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• 2013

A systematic laboratory compaction testing was performed with the laboratory seismic measurements of the compacted specimens sampled from various compaction fills and was supplemented with in-situ seismic testing to investigate the effects of compaction energy on the elastic wave velocities of the railway roadbed materials. The both variances of the compressive and shear wave velocities with moisture content curve ($V_p$-w and $V_s$-w curves) are similar to the general trend of the density-moisture content curve(${\gamma}_d$-w curve). At the wet side of optimal moisture content (OMC), either $V_p$ or $V_s$ does not significantly increase, which is well reflecting the no gaining in density with the increasing compaction energy exceeding modified-D compaction effort. $V_p$ increases linearly with ${\gamma}_d$ at the dry side of OMC, while it does exponentially at the wet side. The in-situ wave velocities were found to be influenced by the level of confinement and $V_s$ was more sensitive to compaction energy than $V_p$.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.193-206
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• 2006

Among various borehole seismic testing techniques for determining body wave velocity, crosshole seismic method has been known as one of the most suitable technique for evaluating reliably geotechnical dynamic properties. In this study, to perform successfully the crosshole seismic test for rock as well as soil layers regardless of the groundwater level, multi-purposed spring-loaded source which impact horizontally a subsurface ground in vertical borehole was developed and applied at major facility sites in Korea. The geotechnical dynamic properties were evaluated by determining efficiently the body wave velocities such as shear wave velocity and compressional wave velocity from the horizontally impacted crosshole seismic tests at study sites, and were provided as the fundamental parameters for the seismic performance evaluation and seismic design of the target facilities.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.5-11
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• 2015

The development of Controlled Low Strength Material (CLSM), which is a highly flowable material, has been performed for the application of backfill. The objective of this study is to compare the compressive strength and compressive wave velocity of CLSM according to the curing time. To investigate the characteristics of the CLSM consisting of sand, silt, water, flyash, and CSA cement, uniaxial compression test and flow test were carried out. For the measurement of compressional waves, a cell and a couple of transducers were used. The test results show that the compressive strength increases with the curing time, while the increment of compressive strength decreases with the curing time. In addition, the compressive wave velocity increases with the curing time, and the correlation between the compressive wave velocity and compressive strength is similar to exponential function. This study suggests that the correlation between the compressive wave velocity and compressive strength may be effectively used for the estimation of compressive strength of the CLSM at early curing time.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.75-86
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• 2009

Salt, one of the most common soluble materials in engineering soil, may have an effect on mechanical behaviors of soils under its cementation process. In order to investigate this natural phenomenon, non-soluble material by using glass beads is mixed with salt electrolyte and cemented by using oven to evaporate water. Three different sizes of glass bead particles, 0.26, 0.5, and 1.29 mm, with different salt concentration, 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0M, are explored by using P- and S-waves, excited by bender elements and piezo disk elemets, respectively. The velocities of the P-wave and S-wave of the particulate medium cemented by salt show three stages with the degree of saturation: 1) S-wave velocities increase while P-wave velocities reduce with degree of saturation changing from 100% to 90%; 2) Both velocities are stable with degree of saturation varying from 90% to 10%; 3) The velocities change enormously when the specimens are nearly dry with degree of saturation from 10% to 0%. Besides, the resonance frequencies of S-wave show similar stages to the S-wave velocities. This study demonstrates meaningful trends of elastic wave characteristics of geo-materials according to the cementation of dissolved salt.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1063-1075
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• 2013

The strength of frozen soils is one of the significant design parameters for the construction in frozen ground. The properties of frozen soils should be investigated to understand the strength of frozen soils. The objective of this study is to figure out the characteristics of elastic waves in frozen soils, which reflect the constituent and physical structure of frozen soils in order to provide fundamental information of those according to the degree of saturation. Freezing cell is manufactured to freeze specimens, which are prepared with the degree of saturation of 10%, 40%, and 100%. Piezo disk elements are used as the compressional wave transducers and Bender elements are used as the shear wave transducers. While the temperature of specimens changes from $20^{\circ}C$ to $-10^{\circ}C$, the velocities, resonant frequencies and amplitudes of the compressional and shear waves are investigated based on the elastic wave signatures. Experimental results reveal that the elastic wave velocities increase as the degree of saturation increases. The variation of resonant frequencies coincide with that of elastic wave velocities. A marked discrepancy in amplitudes of compressional and shear waves are observed at the temperature of $0^{\circ}C$. This study renders the basic information of elastic waves in frozen soils according the degree of saturation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.41-51
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• 2012

Soils are commonly unsaturated in the near surface. The stiffness of soils is affected by the amount of air and water. The objective of this study is to evaluate the porosity of the unsaturated soils by using the elastic waves including compressional and shear waves. The elastic waves are measured at different degrees of saturation by controlling the matric suction. Thus, the unsaturated soils are characterized at different levels of the matric suction. Shear and compressional waves are measured by using the bender elements and the piezo disk elements, respectively. Both transducers are installed on the walls of the rectangular cell. The unsaturated soils are prepared by using uniform size sands and silts. Test results show that both compressional and shear wave velocities change according to the matric suction. The elastic modulus, the shear modulus, and the Poisson's ratio are estimated based on the measured elastic wave velocities. In addition, the void ratio of the unsaturated soils estimated using elastic wave velocities matches well with the volume based void ratio. This study demonstrates that the elastic waves can be effectively used for the characterization of unsaturated soils.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.15-24
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• 2021

In Korea, which is mostly mountainous, the proportion of tunnel and underground space development are increasing. Although the ground is reinforced by applying the ground improvement method during underground space development, accidents still occur frequently in Korea. In the grouting method, a representative ground reinforcement method, the effect was judged by comparing the total amount of injection material with the amount of injection material used during the actual grouting construction. However, it is difficult to determine whether the ground reinforcement is properly performed during construction or within the target ground. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to study a new method for quality control during or after construction by measuring electrical resistivity after performing grouting by mixing carbon fiber, which is a conductive material, and microcement, which is a grout material. In this study, as a basic study, a cement specimen mix ed with 0%, 3%, 5%, 7% of carbon fiber was prepared to evaluate the performance of the grout material mixed with carbon fiber, which is a conductive material. The prepared specimens were wet curing for 3 days, 7 days, and 28 days under 99% humidity, and then compression wave velocity and shear wave velocity were measured. As a result of the compression wave velocity and shear wave velocity measurement, it showed a tendency to increase with the increase in the compounding ratio of carbon fibers and the number of days of age, and it was confirmed that the elastic modulus and shear modulus, which are the stiffness of the material, also increased.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.41-50
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• 2019

Gyeongju bentonite is a buffer material primarily considered in Korea and it is highly compacted as a part of an engineered barrier system (EBS) of high-level radioactive waste repository. The compacted bentonite undergoes swelling stress by groundwater penetration and thermal stress by decay heat from a canister. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the compacted bentonite buffer material is crucial for the performance assessment of EBS. This paper aims to evaluate deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite using seismic methods. Two sets of compacted bentonite specimens were prepared having dry densities of $1.59g/cm^3$ and $1.75g/cm^3$ with water contents of 10.6% and 8.7%. Free-free resonant column tests were performed to measure constrained and unconstrained compression wave velocities. With the measured wave velocities, Young's modulus ($E_{max}$) and constrained modulus ($M_{max}$), material damping ratio ($D_{min}$), and Poisson's ratio at small strain were determined. As results, this paper evaluates the deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite and compares them with the results of previous researches.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.27-36
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• 2012

The water in surface of the earth is frozen under freezing point. The freezing phenomenon, which causes the volume change of soils, affects on the behavior of soils and causes the significant damage on the geotechnical structures. The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of elastic waves in sand-silt mixtures using small size freezing cells, which reflect the frozen ground condition due to temperature change. Experiments are carried out in a nylon cell designed to freeze soils from top to bottom. Bender elements and piezo disk elements are used as the shear and compressional wave transducers. Three pairs of bender elements and piezo disk elements are placed on three locations along the depth. The specimen, which is prepared by mixing sand and silt, is frozen in the refrigerator. The temperature of soils changes from $20^{\circ}C$ to $-10^{\circ}C$. The velocities, resonant frequencies and amplitudes of the shear and compressional waves are continuously measured. Experimental results show that the shear and compressional wave velocities and resonant frequencies increase dramatically near the freezing points. The amplitudes of shear and compressional waves show the different tendency. The dominant factors that affect on the shear wave velocity change from the effective stress to the ice bonding due to freezing. This study provides basic information about the characteristics of elastic waves due to the soil freezing.