• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.5-16
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• 2009

Preconsolidation stress is one of the important design parameters in soft soils because the behavior of saturated soft soils changes dramatically at the preconsolidation stress. For the estimation of preconsolidation stress, the global vertical settlement without considering micro strain behavior has been considered. The purpose of this study is to propose and verify a new method called the "shear wave velocity method" for determination of the preconsolidation stress reflecting on particle behavior at the small-strain. In this study, the undisturbed soft soils obtained at Busan, Incheon and Gwangyang in Korea were used. The oedometer cell incoporated with the bender elements is used for the consolidation tests under the $K_0$ condition. The preconsolidation stress determined by the proposed method is compared with that estimated by Casagrande (e-log p'), Sridharan (log (1+e)-log p'), and Onitsuka (In(1+e)-log p') methods. This study suggests that the shear wave velocity method may determine simply the preconsolidation stress with considering the small-strain behavior.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.17-27
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• 2015

We perform a series of experimental tests to evaluate whether the shear strength of clean sands can be reliably predicted from shear wave velocity. Isotropic drained triaxial tests on clean sands reconstituted at different relative densities are performed to measure the shear strength and bender elements are used to measure the shear wave velocity. Laboratory tests reveal that a correlation between shear wave velocity, void ratio, and confining pressure can be made. The correlation can be used to determine the void ratio from measured shear wave velocity, from which the shear strength is predicted. We also show that a unique relationship exists between maximum shear modulus and effective axial stress at failure. The accuracy of the equation can be enhanced by including the normalized confining pressure in the equation. Comparisons between measured and predicted effective friction angle demonstrate that the proposed equation can accurately predict the internal friction angle of granular soils, accounting for the effect of the relative density, from shear wave velocity.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.93-102
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• 2015

The characteristics of frozen soils are one of most important factors for foundation design in cold region. The objective of this study is to evaluate the shear strength and stiffness of frozen soils according to the confining conditions during the freezing and shearing phase. A direct shear box is constructed for the frozen specimens and bender elements are mounted on the wall of the shear box to measure shear wave velocities. Specimens are prepared by mixing sand and silt with a silt fraction of 30% in weight and the degree of saturation of 10%, giving a relative density of 60% for all tests. The temperature of the specimens in the freezer is allowed to fall below -5℃, and then direct shear tests are performed. A series of vertical stresses are applied during the freezing and shearing phase. Shear stress, vertical displacement, and shear wave along the horizontal displacement are measured. Experimental results show that in all the tests, shear strength increases with increasing vertical stress applied during the freezing and shearing phases. The magnitude of the increase in shear strength with increasing vertical stress during shearing under fixed vertical stress in the frozen state is smaller than the magnitude of the increase in vertical stress during freezing and shearing. In addition, the change in shear wave velocities varies with the position of the bender elements. In the case of shear waves passing through the shear plane, the shear wave velocities decrease with increasing horizontal displacement. This study provides an evaluation of the properties of shear strength and stiffness of frozen soils under varied confining condition.

• 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.

• 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.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.6C
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• pp.285-293
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• 2012

The surface tension, which is generated in the unsaturated soils, increases the stiffness of the soils. The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of the surface tension, which varies according to the temperature, on the shear wave velocity. Nine specimens, which have the different degree of saturation (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%), are prepared by using sand-silt mixtures. Experiments are carried out in a nylon cell designed for the measurement of shear waves. A pair of bender elements, which are used for the generation and detection of shear waves, is installed as a cross-hole type. The shear waves are continuously monitored and measured as the temperature of specimens decreases from $15^{\circ}C$ to $1^{\circ}C$. The results show that shear wave velocities of the fully saturated and fully dried specimens change a little bit as the temperatures of specimens decrease. However, the shear wave velocities of the specimens with the degree of saturations of 2.5%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% continuously increase as temperature decreases from $15^{\circ}C$ to $1^{\circ}C$. Furthermore, a fully saturated specimen is dried at the temperature of $70^{\circ}C$ in order to observe the shear waves according to degree of saturation. The shear wave velocities measured at the temperature of $70^{\circ}C$ are generally lower than those measured at temperature of $15^{\circ}C$. This study demonstrates that the dependence of shear wave velocities on the temperature according to the degree of saturation should be taken into account in both laboratory and field tests.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.43-52
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• 2011

The characteristics of shear zone in granular soils largely affect the stability of geo-structures. The goal of this study is to evaluate shear zone in a direct shear test using shear wave, electrical resistivity, and cone tip resistance. Bender elements and electrical resistivity probe are embedded into the wall of a direct shear box made of transparent acrylic material to estimate the shear wave velocities and the electrical resistivity at shear and non-shear zones. At the point of peak and residual strength, micro cone penetration test which can be available to measure tip resistance has been performed. Experimental results show that the shear wave velocities at upper shear zone increase during shearing while the values remain constant at bottom and lower shear zone. Also, resistivities at lower shear zone depend on relative density while resistivities at bottom remain constant. The results of cone penetration test demonstrate the correlation of the cone tip resistance and small strain shear modulus at shear zone. This study suggests that the application of the modified direct shear box including shear wave, electrical resistivity and the micro cone tip resistance may become effective tools for analyzing the characteristics of a shear zone.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.33-39
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• 2013

A drilling exploration in deep sea is being processed to develop new energy resource in the world. In 2007, the presence of the gas hydrate had been confirmed during the UBGH1 (Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition 1) in the Ulleung Basin. Geotechnical properties of the deep marine sediment are important factors for assessing the safety of gas production facility and productivity from the hydrate bearing sediment. In this study, comprehensive laboratory tests are conducted to investigate the geotechnical engineering characteristics of the deep marine sediments recovered from the hydrate occurrence regions during the UBGH2 (Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition 2) in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea, Korea. The index properties of the specimens including the specific gravity, atterberg limits, specific surface, and particle size distribution are measured, and these are compared to the results reported by previous studies. A zero-lateral strain cell, which houses bender elements, is used to determine stress-dependant characteristics and shear wave velocities with the vertical effective stresses. Furthermore, the hydraulic conductivity is calculated based on the consolidation test results.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.41-50
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• 2021

This study investigated the changes in engineering characteristics of sand-tire chip mixtures during repetitive loading. To quantify the changes in the maximum shear modulus according to the tire chip content in the mixtures and the particle size ratio between sand particle and tire chip, the samples were prepared with tire chip content of TC = 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, and 100%, and the particle size ratios SR were also set to be SR = 0.44, 1.27, 1.87, and 4.00. The stress of the prepared sample was applied through a pneumatic cylinder. The experiment was conducted in the order of static loading (= 50 kPa), cyclic loading (= 50-150 kPa), static loading (= 400 kPa) and unloading. The stress applied to tested mixtures was controlled by a pressure panel and a pneumatic valve by using an air compressor. The shear wave velocity was measured during static and cyclic loadings by installing bender elements at the upper and lower caps of the mold. The results demonstrated that the change in maximum shear modulus of all tested materials with varying SR during repetitive loading is the most significant when TC ~ 40%. In addition, the mixture with smaller SR at a given TC shows greater increase in maximum shear modulus during repetitive loading.