• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2009

Cone factors, $N_{kt}$, $N_{ke}$ and $N_{{\Delta}u}$, for estimating undrained shear strength of Busan clay are evaluated in this study. For this, CPTu and field vane tests are performed for clay layers at two sites, Busan new-port and Noksan, and also $CK_0U$ triaxial tests with undisturbed samples taken from the same site are carried out. From experimental results, it is observed that the undrained shear strengths of clay increases with depth, and the undrained shear strength obtained from triaxial tests is 1.5 times higher than one obtained from vane tests. The normalized undrained shear strengths of Busan clay from triaxial and vane shear tests are $0.26{\sim}0.44$ and $0.20{\sim}0.23$, respectively. In CPTu results, cone tip resistance ($q_c$) and pore pressure ($u_2$) linearly increase with depth, and the pore pressure ratio ($B_q$) of Busan clay is within the range of $0.3{\sim}1.0$. The cone factors, which are determined by comparing the CPTu results with $CK_0U$ triaxial and vane shear test results, are found to be $5{\sim}20$ and $10{\sim}35$, respectively. It is also observed that the cone factors are inversely proportional to the pore pressure ratio. From this, the prediction methods for evaluating the cone factors of Busan clay are developed.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.5-12
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• 2009

As rock bolts become one of the main support systems in tunnels and underground structures, the integrity of the rock bolts affects the safety of these structures. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of rock bolt integrity using wavelet transforms of the guided ultrasonic waves by using transmission test in the field. After several rock bolts with various defect ratios are embedded into a large scale concrete block and rock mass, guided waves are generated by a piezo disk element and measured by an acoustic emission (AE) sensor. The captured signals are analyzed in the time-frequency domain using the wavelet transform based on a Gabor wavelet. Peak values in the time-frequency domain represent the interval of travel time of each echo. The energy velocities of the guided waves increase with an increase in the defect ratio. The suitable curing time for the evergy velocity analysis is proposed by the laboratory test, and in-situ tests are performed in two tunnelling sites to verify the applicability of rock bolt integrity tests performed after proposed curing time. This study proves that time-frequency domain analysis is an effective tool for the evaluation of the rock bolt integrity.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.2C
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• pp.85-93
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• 2010

The shear stiffness has become an important design parameter to understand the soil behavior. In particular, the elastic moduli and void ratio has been considered as important parameters for the design of the geotechnical structures. The objective of this paper is the development of the penetration type Field Velocity and Resistivity Probe (FVRP) which is able to assess the elastic moduli and void ratio based on the elastic wave velocities and electrical resistivity. The elastic waves including the compressional and shear wave are measured by piezo disk elements and bender elements. And the electrical resistivity is measured by the resistivity probe, which is manufactured and installed at the tip of the FVRP. The penetration tests are carried out in calibration chamber and field. In the laboratory calibration chamber test, after the sand-clay slurry mixtures are prepared and consolidated. The FVRP is progressively penetrated and the data are measured at each 1 cm. The field experiment is also carried out in the southern part of Korea Peninsular. Data gathering is performed in the depth of 6~20 m at each 10 cm. The elastic moduli and void ratio are estimated based on the analytical and empirical solutions by using the elastic wave velocities and electrical resistivity measured in the chamber and field. The void ratios based on the elastic wave velocities and the electrical resistivity are similar to the volume based void ratio. This study suggests that the FVRP, which evaluates the elastic wave velocities and the electrical resistivity, may be a useful instrument for assessing the elastic moduli and void ratio in soft soils.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 1997

At the tailings dam of the disused Brukunga pyrite mine in South Australia, reaction of groundwater with the tailings causes the formation and discharge of sulphuric acid. There is a need to improve remediation efforts by decreasing groundwater flow through the tailings dam. Geophysical methods have been investigated to determine whether they can be used to characterise variations in depth to watertable and map preferred groundwater flow paths. Three methods were used: transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings, direct current (DC) soundings and profiling, and self potential (SP) profiling. The profiling methods were used to map the areal extent of a given response, while soundings was used to determine the variation in response with depth. The results of the geophysical surveys show that the voltages measured with SP profiling are small and it is hard to determine any preferred channels of groundwater flow from SP data alone. Results obtained from TEM and DC soundings, show that the DC method is useful for determining layer boundaries at shallow depths (less than about 10 m), while the TEM method can resolve deeper structures. Joint use of TEM and DC data gives a more complete and accurate geoelectric section. The TEM and DC measurements have enabled accurate determination of depth to groundwater. For soundings centred at piezometers, this depth is consistent with the measured watertable level in the corresponding piezometer. A map of the watertable level produced from all the TEM and DC soundings at the site shows that the shallowest level is at a depth of about 1 m, and occurs at the southeast of the site, while the deepest watertable level (about 17 m) occurs at the northwest part of the site. The results indicate that a possible source of groundwater occurs at the southeast area of the dam, and the aquifer thickness varies between 6 and 13 m. A map of the variation of resistivity of the aquifer has also been produced from the TEM and DC data. This map shows that the least resistive (i.e., most conductive) section of the aquifer occurs in the northeast of the site, while the most resistive part of the aquifer occurs in the southeast. These results are interpreted to indicate a source of fresh (resistive) groundwater in the southeast of the site, with a possible further source of conductive groundwater in the northeast.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.47-56
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• 2014

In winter season, the pore water inside the ground freezes and thaws repetitively due to the cold air temperature. When the freezing-thawing processes are repeated on the ground, the change in soil particle structure occurs and thus the damage of the infrastructure may be following. This study was performed in order to investigate the stiffness change of soils due to the freeze-thaw by using elastic waves. Sand-silt mixtures are prepared with in the silt fraction of 40 %, 60 % and 80 % in weight and in the degree of saturation of 40 %. The specimens are placed into the square freezing-thawing cell by the temping method. For the measurement of the elastic waves, a pair of the bender elements and a pair of piezo disk elements are installed on the cell, and a thermocouple is inserted into soils for the measurement of the temperature. The temperature of the mixtures is decreased from $20^{\circ}C$ to $-10^{\circ}C$ during freezing, is maintained at $-20^{\circ}C$ for 18 hours, is gradually increased up to the room temperature of $20^{\circ}C$ to thaw the specimens. The shear waves, the compressional waves and the temperature are measured during the freeze-thaw process. The experimental result indicates that the shear and the compressional wave velocities after thawing are smaller than those of before freezing. The velocity ratio of after thawing to before freezing of shear wave is smaller than that of the compressional wave. As silt fraction increases from 40 % to 80 %, the shear and compressional wave velocities are gradually increased. This study suggests that the freezing-thawing process in unsaturated soil loosens the soil particle structure, and the shear wave velocity reflects the effect of freezing-thawing more sensitively than the compressional wave velocity.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.31-48
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• 2019

The artificial ground freezing (AGF) method is a groundwater cutoff and/or ground reinforcement method suitable for constructing underground structures in soft ground and urban areas. The AGF method conducts a freezing process by employing a refrigerant circulating through a set of embedded freezing pipes to form frozen walls serving as excavation supports and/or cutoff walls. However, thermal expansion of the pore water during freezing may cause excessive deformation of the ground. On the other hand, as the frozen soil is thawed after completion of the construction, mechanical characteristics of the thawed soil are changed due to the plastic deformation of the ground and the rearrangement of soil fabric. This paper performed a field experiment to evaluate the freezing rate of marine clay in the application of the AGF method. The field experiment was carried out by circulating liquid nitrogen, which is a cryogenic refrigerant, through one freezing pipe installed at a depth of 3.2 m in the ground. Also, a piezo-cone penetration test (CPTu) and a lateral load test (LLT) were performed on the marine clay before and after application of the AGF method to evaluate a change in strength and stiffness of it, which was induced by freezing-thawing. The experimental results indicate that about 11.9 tons of liquid nitrogen were consumed for 3.5 days to form a cylindrical frozen body with a volume of about $2.12m^3$. In addition, the strength and stiffness of the ground were reduced by 48.5% and 22.7%, respectively, after a freezing-thawing cycle.