• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.3 no.2 s.9
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• pp.119-125
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• 2003

Water flow in unsaturated soils is affected by two mathematical equations called soil water-characteristic curve and permeability-suction relationship. Soil water-characteristic curve is an equation showing volumetric water content-suction relationship. Many researchers have presented equations for the relationships. This paper illustrates the importance of correctly determining the two relationships when analyzing unsaturated water flows. Results from two methods, Gardner (1958) and Fredlund et al. (1994), are used for comparison purposes. Numerical simulations of water flow by finite element method are performed using the two methods. The results by the numerical simulations are compared with the field data which was obtained from time-domain reflectometry (TDR) probes in Delaware County, Ohio. This data was obtained by the Seasonal Instrumentation Program which is included as a part of the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP).

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.515-524
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• 2015

The number of occurrence of differential settlement and track irregularity at track transition zone recently comes to increase, which leads to frequent maintenance activities that have an impact on train operation. Such track transition zone damages are attributed to the change of mechanical properties of fill materials due to environmental factors such as rainfall and freeze, and thaw. Consequently, this study attempts to establish the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) of fill materials, and conduct seepage analysis to assess the distribution of degree of saturation (DOS) for track transition zone in case of rainfall. The SWCC of fill materials was successfully obtained using filter paper test method. The results of seepage analysis revealed that rainfall intensity, the slope of backfill, backfill condition (fill or cut), and SWCC are significantly influential in controlling the distribution of DOS.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.41-47
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• 2013

Well-graded and dense soils have good engineering properties. Unsaturated soil properties such as shear strength, compressibility and permeability are closely related to the soil-water characteristic curve of the soil. Therefore it is important to study the effects of the coefficient of uniformity and the porosity on the soil-water characteristic curve of the sandy soils, which are also related to the grain size distribution and the density of the soil, respectively. In this study soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) for six sandy soil specimens were investigated using Tempe pressure cells. The test data were best-fitted to Fredlund and Xing equation. The obtained fitting parameters and the characteristic points of SWCCs were discussed and correlated with the porosity and the coefficient of uniformity of the specimens. The results show that the smaller the porosity of the specimen becomes, the larger the value of the residual matric suction becomes, whereas the larger the coefficient of uniformity of the specimen becomes, the larger the value of the residual matric suction becomes. Regardless of the coefficient of uniformity, the smaller the porosity of the specimen, the flatter the max. slope of SWCC.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2018

The physical properties and unsaturated characteristics of acid sulfate soils were investigated and analyzed. As the results of measuring physical properties of the acid sulfate soils obtained around the Ilkwang mine area, the dry unit weight is $1.246t/m^3$ and this soil is classified into the silty sand (SM) by USCS. Soil Water Characteristics Curves (SWCC) of the drying and wetting paths were measured by the automated SWCC apparatus. Also, Hydraulic Conductivity Functions (HCF) of the drying and wetting paths were estimated by the van Geunchten (1980) model which is the most well-known parameter estimation method. The hydraulic conductivity of acid sulfate soils in the dry path was continuously decreased with increasing the matric suction. However, the hydraulic conductivity in the wetting path was decreased relatively small with increasing matric suction and decreased suddenly just before water entry value of matric suction. Meanwhile, the hysteresis phenomenon was occurred in SWCCs and HCFs during the drying and wetting paths.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.13-26
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• 2023

This study examined the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), considering the volume change, using wetting curves on the field monitoring data of a wireless sensor network. Special attention was given to evaluating the landslide vulnerability by deriving a matric suction suitable for the actual site during the wetting process. Laboratory drying SWCC and shrinkage laboratory tests were used to perform the combined analysis of landslide and debris flow. The results showed that the safety factor of the wetting curve, considering the volume change of soil, was lower than that of the drying curve. As a result of numerical analyses of the debris flow simulation, more debris flow occurred in the wetting curve than in the drying curve. It was also found that the landslide analysis with the drying curve tends to overestimate the actual safety factor with the in situ wetting curve. Finally, it is confirmed that calculating the matric suction through SWCC considering the volume change is more appropriate and reasonable for the field landslide analysis.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2011

In this paper, we got soil-water characteristic curve(SWCC) of Nak-Dong River's sand respectively as relative density 40%, 60%, 80% and content of silt 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%. As a result, the more the sand densify in the same silt content and the more the sand has silt in the same relative density, the change of volume water content was decreased. we have known effect of silt contents for SWCC and verified existing empirical formula of SWCC. As experiment results of soil-water characteristic curves compared to the empirical solutions, the results of van Genuchten(1980) and Fredlund & Xing(1994) were well-matched showing S type curves with experiment results. Especially the empirical solution of Fredlund & Xing showed almost same results of the coefficient of correlation($R^2$) equal to 0.99.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.261-273
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• 1993

In order to study hydraulic properties and mechanical properties on unsaturated region, soil-water retention curve was obtained for suction plate method and pressure plate method, respectively. To investigate permeability of unsaturated soil and soil-water retention curve at the same time, unsaturated permeability tests using an improved Richard's method were performed on Joomoonjin Sand. These experimental results were compared with those by empirical equations. The relationship between air entry value and saturated permeability of filter was obtained for selecting a proper filter in unsaturated soil tests.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 2005

In this paper, a method reasonably predicting soil water characteristic curve of domestic weathered granite soils was suggested, based on the test results obtained through experiments. In other words, a method to estimate the parameters of Fredlund and Xing's equation using an ANN (artificial neural network) was proposed. The particle size distribution, compacted water content and void ratio were used as input data in the ANN model for predicting the parameters, since it was found that these basic soil properties affect the parameters obtained from the test results and the fitting results of SWCC. The network model proposed in this study to obtain the parameters of Fredlund and Xing's SWCC equation produced reliable predictions, and the precision of the prediction results from the proposed method was high, in comparison with the prediction results of other methods.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.13-20
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• 2009

Generally, soil is regarded as fully saturated in Geotechnical Engineering and under ground structure design. Because it is in convenience and safety. But soils treated in field are almost in unsaturated state. Design in unsaturated state is difficult comparing with saturated soil. In unsaturated soil mechanics, parameters are usually not constant unlike saturated soil mechanics. Additionally lab or field tests in unsaturated soil mechanics are required more cost, time and theoretical difficulty. One of essential requisites for examination about unsaturated soil is Soil-Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC). It show the relation between soil suction and soil water content. Through many studies in and out of country, computation and testing methods for SWCC were introduced. But in this the country, most soil is granite soil that is widely spread in Korea. And the studies for granite soil's SWCC are not enough yet. In this paper, through studying for existing proposal methods about computation SWCC and collection data for domestic granite soils, It was determined the suitable method for domestic granite soils, and computed each granite soil's SWCC. The purpose of this paper is establishing database for domestic granite soil's SWCC as each region to convenience for applying to actual affairs. For this, studying about existing proposal methods for SWCC was performed and a computer program Soil-Vision is used. Furthermore for verification theoretical and testing methods were also performed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2014

Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (HC) is integrated theoretically from soil water retention curves (SWRC) by Mualem capillary model, but the prediction of HC is extremely sensitive to small variation of matric suction near saturation. Near saturation, the Mualem HC based on smooth SWRC decreases abruptly and has problems in the reliability of hydraulic behavior and the stability of numerical solutions. To improve van Genuchten-Mualem (VGM) HC, the van Genuchten SWRC model is modified within range of low matric suction (arbitrary air entry pressure). At an arbitrary air entry pressure, the VG SWRC is linearized in log scale until full saturation. The modified VG SWRC does not affect the fit of actual retention behavior and either the parameters of original VG SWRC fit. Using the modified VG SWRC, the VGM HC is modified to integrate for each interval decomposed by arbitrary air entry pressure. An analytical solution on modified VGM HC is proposed each interval, to protect the rapid change in HC near saturation. For silty soils, VGM models of HC function underestimate the unsaturated permeability characteristics and especially show rapid reduction near saturation. The modified VGM model predicts more accurate HC functions for Korean weathered soils. Furthermore, near saturation, the saturated HC is conserved by the modified VGM model. After 2-D infiltration analysis of an actual slope, the hydraulic behaviors are compared for VGM and the modified models. The prediction by the proposed model conserved the convergence of solutions on various rainfall conditions. However, the solution by VGM model did not converge since the conductivity near saturation reduced abruptly for heavy rainfall condition. Using VGM model, the factor of safety is overestimated in both initial and final stage during heavy rainfall. Stability analysis based on infiltration analysis could simulate the actual slope failure by the proposed model on HC.