• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.1278-1284
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• 2008

This study carried out bender element tests in a calibration chamber in order to estimate the characteristics of soil specimen prepared in a calibration chamber. Basically, the purpose of bender element test is to measure the shear wave velocity. Bender element test cannot only confirm the status of soil specimen deposited in a chamber, but also estimate the consolidation process indirectly. In order to carry out bender element test in a calibration chamber, a pair of bender elements was installed inside the chamber, using the 'ㄷ' shaped frame. For the sandy soils having various relative densities in various stress conditions, the maximum shear modulus was estimated. From the comparison with bender element test results in a triaxial testing device, testing device and procedure was validated.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.47-57
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• 2006

The shear wave velocity is related with the stiffness of granular skeleton and mass density. The shear stiffness of the granular skeleton remains unaffected by the presence of the fluid. Bender elements are convenient shear wave transducers for instrumenting soil cells due to optimal soil-transducer coupling. This study addresses the principles of the shear wave, the design and implementation of bender elements including electromagnetic coupling prevention, directivity, resonant frequency, detection of first arrival, and near field effects. It is shown that electromagnetic coupling effects can be minimized using parallel-type bender elements. Thus, the in-plane S-wave directivity is quasi-circular. The resonant frequency of bender element installations depends on the geometry of the bender element, the anchor efficiency and the soil stiffness. One of the most cumbersome parts in the bender element test is near field effects, which affect the selection of arrival time. The selection of the first arrival within the near field Is effectively solved by the multiple reflection technique and signal matching technique. Bender elements, which requires several considerations, may be effective tools for the subsurface characterization by using S-wave.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2007

Recent investigations into earthquake-induced damage have reported that liquefaction may take place on not only sands but also fine-contained soils or non-plastic silts. Although not a few study has been performed to understand the liquefaction of sands, relatively little effort has been devoted to improving our understanding of the liquefaction characteristics for non-plastic soils. Given that liquefaction strength is largely associated to shear wave velocity, bender element test as well as direct simple shear test is employed to examine the stiffness of non-plastic silt more precisely. Through the soil tests, the stiffness of non-plastic silts from the bender element tests is identified as slightly greater than that from the direct simple shear test. Further, the stiffness of non-plastic silts appears to be smaller than that of clay.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.17-25
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• 2005

The bender element method is an experimental technique to determine very small strain ($<10^{-3}\%$), elastic shear modulus of a soil, $G_{max}$ by measuring the velocity of shear wave propagation through a sample. Bender elements have been applied as versatile transducers to measure small strain modulus of wet or dry soils in various laboratory apparatus. In this paper, bender element (BE), resonant column (RC) and torsional shear (TS) tests were performed on Toyoura sand at various testing conditions using the modified Stokoe type RC/TS testing equipment capable of performing BE test. Based on the results, applicabilities of the testing method using bender element were evaluated by comparing the values of $G_{max}$ obtained from RC/TS and BE testing methods. For more dependable evaluation, the loading frequency of each testing method was considered for the results obtained for samples in saturated condition by adapting Biot's theory.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2C
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• pp.125-131
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• 2008

Ground stiffness(shear wave velocity) is one of the key parameters in geotechnical earthquake engineering. An In-situ seismic technique has its own advantages and disadvantages over the others in stiffness measurements. By combining the crosshole and seismic cone techniques and utilizing favourable features of bender elements, a new hybrid probe has been developed in order to enhance data quality and easiness of testing. The basic structure of the probe, called "MudFork" is a fork composed of two blades, on each of which source and receiver bender elements were mounted respectively. To evaluate the disturbance caused by the penetration of the probe, shear wave velocity measurements were carried out in the Kaolinite slurry in the laboratory. Finally, the probe was penetrated in coastal mud near Incheon, Korea, using SPT(standard penetration test)rods pushed with a routine boring machine and shear wave velocity measurements were carried out. The results were verified with data from laboratory and cone testing. The performance of the probe turns out to be excellent in terms of data quality and testing convenience.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.119-126
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• 2008

Ground stiffness(shear wave velocity) is one of the key parameters in geotechnical earthquake engineering. An In-situ seismic technique has its own advantages and disadvantages over the others in stiffness measurements. By combining the crosshole and seismic cone techniques and utilizing favourable features of bender elements, a new hybrid probe has been developed in order to enhance data quality and easiness of testing. The basic structure of the probe, called "MudFork", is a fork composed of two blades, on each of which source and receiver bender elements were mounted respectively. To evaluate the disturbance caused by the penetration of the probe, shear wave velocity measurements were carried out in the Kaolinite slurry in the laboratory. Finally, the probe was penetrated in coastal mud near Incheon, Korea, using SPT(standard penetration test)rods pushed with a routine boring machine and shear wave velocity measurements were carried out. The results were verified with data from laboratory and cone testing. The performance of the probe turns out to be excellent in terms of data quality and testing convenience.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.215-223
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• 2005

Piezo-ceramics are special materials which transform energy from mechanical to electrical forms and vice versa. Bender elements are composite materials consisting of thin piezo-ceramics and elastic shims, and are widely used as actuators and transducers in the field of electronics, robotics, autos and mechatronics utilizing the effectiveness of energy transformation capability. In geotechnical engineering, commercial bender elements are used in laboratory as source and receiver in the measurements of soil stiffness. The elements were built by using various metal shims sandwiched between piezo-ceramics and coating over the composite in the research. A pair of elements were buried in a concrete block and used as source and receiver to measure the stiffness of the concrete. The test results were verified by comparing with the resonant column testing results. In a preliminary stage of the development of an in-situ seismic testing equipment using bender elements for soft clay materials, shear waves were generated and measured by burying the elements in the barrel of kaolinite and water mixture. The measured shear wave signals were so distinct for the first-arrival pick that applicability of the elements in the field measurements could be very promising.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.59-68
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• 2007

The comparative study using the lab-scale experiment and the discrete element analysis is attempted to analyze the cross-anisotropic elasticity of granular soils. The lab-scale experiment consists of the small stress-controlled triaxial cyclic tests and the bender element tests. In the discrete element analysis the simulations of lab-scale cyclic tests are conducted in the various directions. Good agreement between the experimental data and the simulation on the elastic properties in the axial and shear directions confirms the usefulness of the discrete element method. The comparative analysis of the difference in the experimental data and the simulation of radial cyclic tests shows that the discrete element method can successfully be used to check the reasonable magnitude of each measurement in the experiments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1365-1371
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• 2009

A new s-wave probe, called "MudFork", has been recently developed and is used in accurate measurements of shear wave velocities of soft soils. In previous researches, some instrumental defects of the probe have been reported. Bending deformation of probe is caused by small section modulus of blades, and open-ended bender elements are vulnerable to damage during penetration. Herein, we improved the MudFork to solve these problems. Field tests at Sinan, Jeollanamdo using the improved MudFork were conducted. Results from MPT are compared with the results from CPT.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.3C
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• pp.159-166
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• 2008

The stress-strain behavior of soils can usually be regarded as non-linear, while it is also known that the soil exhibits the linear-elastic behavior at pre-failure state (very small strain range, $<10^{-3}%$). This study aims to analyze the variation of anisotropic elastic shear moduli of granular soils in various stress conditions. The stress probe experiments with the triaxial testing device equipped with local strain gages and multi-directional bender elements were conducted. When the stress ratio exceeds the range between -0.5 and 1.5, the elastic shear stiffness in the axial direction deviates from the empirical correlation with current stresses, which indicates that the yielding of soils alters the internal pathway through which the elastic shear wave propagates. The experimental results show that the variation of elastic shear moduli in the horizontal direction closely relates to the volume change of soils.