• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.115-129
• /
• 2015

The cut-slope of a large-sectional tunnel portal is recognized as a potential area of weakness due to unstable stress distribution and possible permanent displacement. This paper presents a case study of a slope failure and remediation for a large-scale cut-slope at a tunnel portal. Extensive rock-slope brittle failure occurred along discontinuities in the rock mass after 46 mm of rainfall, which caused instability of the upper part of the cut-slope. Based on a geological survey and face mapping, the reason for failure is believed to be the presence of thin clay fill in discontinuities in the weathered rock mass and consequent saturationinduced joint weakening. The granite-gneiss rock mass has a high content of alkali-feldspar, indicating a vulnerability to weathering. Immediately before the slope failure, a sharp increase in displacement rate was indicated by settlement-time histories, and this observation can contribute to the safety management criteria for slope stability. In this case study, emergency remediation was performed to prevent further hazard and to facilitate reconstruction, and counterweight fill and concrete filling of voids were successfully applied. For ultimate remediation, the grid anchor-blocks were used for slope stabilization, and additional rock bolts and grouting were applied inside the tunnel. Limit-equilibrium slope stability analysis and analyses of strereographic projections confirmed the instability of the original slope and the effectiveness of reinforcing methods. After the application of reinforcing measures, instrumental monitoring indicated that the slope and the tunnel remained stable. This case study is expected to serve as a valuable reference for similar engineering cases of large-sectional slope stability.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.361-374
• /
• 2016

When the seabed around and under gravity structures such as submerged breakwater is exposed to a large wave action long period, the excess pore pressure is generated significantly due to pore volume change associated with rearrangement soil grains. This effect leads a seabed liquefaction around and under structures as a result from decrease in the effective stress, and the possibility of structure failure is increased eventually. These facts shown above have been investigated in the previous studies related to regular and irregular waves. This study suggested a concrete mat for preventing the seabed liquefaction near the submerged breakwater. The concrete mat was mainly used as a countermeasure for scouring protection in riverbed. According to installation of the concrete mattress, the time and spatial series of the deformation of submerged breakwater, the pore water pressure, and the pore water pressure ratio in the seabed were investigated. Their results were also compared with those of the seabed unprotected with the concrete mat. The results presented were confirmed that the liquefaction potential of seabed under the concrete mattress is significantly reduced under regular wave field.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.34 no.8
• /
• pp.37-49
• /
• 2018

Since the observation of ground motions in South Korea, liquefaction manifestation was the first to be observed in Pohang earthquake in 2017 with $M_L$ 5.4. Because liquefaction causes ground settlement and lateral spread damaging in-ground or super structures, various researchers have been analyzing the Pohang liquefaction case history to better understand and predict liquefaction consequence and to prevent future disasters. In prior research at the 2018 EESK conference, a map of Liquefaction Potential Index (LPI), indicating the severity of liquefaction, in Pohang was created and compared with damage observations. The LPI correlated well with the observations, but the severity categorized by LPI range was significantly higher than the actual observations in most regions. The prior LPI map was created evaluating ground motions using the simplified approach. In this research, we perform the effective site response analyses with porewater pressure generation model for the detailed evaluation of liquefaction on the liquefied sites in Pohang. We found that the simplified approach for LPI evaluation can overestimate the severity.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.617-634
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of between earthquakes and fluctuation of water level in a groundwater well of the active-fault zone and 124 national groundwater monitoring wells in Gyeongju area. The spatial and temporal relationships between the fluctuation of water level and the earthquake were analyzed by the calculation of earthquake effectiveness (ε) and q-factor which are the function of earthquake magnitude and distance from epicenter. Two earthquake events of E1 (April 22, 2019, M 3.8) and E2 (June 11, 2019, M 2.5) show a close relationship with a post-seismic 83 cm decrease and a pre-seismic 76 cm increase in water level at the active fault zone of Dangu-ri, respectively. The spatial analysis of water level fluctuation data in National Groundwater Monitoring Networks caused by earthquake events shows a more distinct response in deep groundwater around fault zones than other area, and a greater change in deep groundwater than shallow groundwater. It's inferred that the decrease and increase in groundwater level are affected by the expansion of fractures and compression of rock mass due to seismic stress, respectively. The effective ranges of ε-value and q-factor of the monitoring well in Dangu-ri were calculated as 2.70E-10~5.60E-10 and 14.4~18.0, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.115-130
• /
• 2013

In this study, lateral-torsional buckling (LTB) strength of high-strength H-beams built up from 800MPa tensile-strength steel was experimentally and analytically evaluated according to current lateral stability provisions (KBC 2009, AISC-LRFD 2010). The motivation was to evaluate whether or not current LTB provisions, which were originally developed for ordinary steel with different stress-strain characteristics, are still applicable to high-strength steel. Two sets of compact-section specimens with relatively low (Set A) or high (Set B) warping stiffness were prepared and tested under uniform moment loading. Laterally unbraced lengths of the test specimens were controlled such that inelastic LTB could be induced. All specimens exhibited LTB strength exceeding the minimum limit required by current provisions by a sufficient margin. Moreover, some specimen in Set A reached a rotation capacity required for plastic design, although its laterally unbraced length belonged to the inelastic LTB range. All the test results indicated that extrapolation of current provisions to high-strength steel is conservative. In order to further analyze the test results, the relationship between inelastic moment and laterally unbraced length was also derived in explicit form for both ordinary- and high-strength steel based on the effective tangent modulus of inelastic section. The analytical relationship derived again showed that extrapolation of current laterally unbraced length limit leads to a conservative design in the case of high-strength steel and that the laterally unbraced length to control the inelastic LTB behavior of high-strength steel beam should be specified by including its unique post-yield strain-hardening characteristics.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.27-48
• /
• 1984

This study is conserned with the optimization of reinforced concrete frames using limit state design theory. Formulations of the optimal design for reinforced concrete frame based on the limit state theory turn out to be the nonlinear programming problems which have to deal with the required steel area, the width and effective height of the beam and column section and the moment reduction factor as the design variables. The objective function is formulated as the total construction cost which considers the costs of steel, concrete and forming for the reinforced concrete frames, and the basic constraints are imposed upon both ultimate and serviciability limit state concepts. Also, the stress blocks assumpted in CP110 and Hognestad et al. theory are applied to analysis an ultimate resistant section force for the ultimate limit state and only the criteria of CP110 are used for serviciability limit state. The optimized technique which is applied to solve the nonlinear programming problems for the optimization of reinforced concrete frames is SUMT utilizing the modified Newton-Raphson method. This algorithm is used to test for the two reinforced concrete frames, and then is compared and analysized with the numerical results of reference(10) to examine its convergence, applicability and stability under the same conditions. The results of this study are discussed about the economy comparision of the optimal values for CP110 and Hognestad et al., and the applicability, stability, convergence and validity of this algorithm used herein through the numerical analyses.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.605-615
• /
• 2016

It is difficult to form a rational strut-tie model that represents a true load transfer mechanism of structural concrete with disturbed stressed region(s). To overcome the difficulty and handle numerous load cases with just one strut-tie model, a two-dimensional grid strut-tie model method was proposed previously. However, the validity of the method was not fully examined, although the incorporated basic concepts and new methods regarding the effective strength of concrete strut, load carrying capacity of struts and ties, and geometrical compatibility of grid strut-tie model were explained in detail. In this study, for accurate strength analysis and reliable design of reinforced concrete deep beams, the appropriateness of the two-dimensional grid strut-tie model method is verified. For this, the failure strength of 237 reinforced concrete deep beams, tested to shear failure, is predicted by the two-dimensional grid strut-tie model method, and the results are compared with those obtained by the sectional shear design methods and conventional strut-tie model methods of current design codes.