• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.423-432
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• 2020

Hydraulic conductivity is one of the engineering properties of soil. This study focusses on the influence of cement content on the hydraulic conductivity of cemented sand, which is investigated based on the results from numerical analysis and laboratory testing. For numerical analysis the cemented samples were scanned using X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) while laboratory testing was carried out using a triaxial setup. Numerical analysis enables us to simulate flow through the sample and provides insight to the microstructure. It quantifies the pore volume, proportion of interconnected voids and pore size distribution in both cemented and uncemented samples, which could be computed only through empirical equations in case of laboratory testing. With reduction in global voids, the interconnecting voids within the samples also reduce with cement content. Gamma cumulative distribution function is used to predict the percentage of voids lesser than a given pore volume. Finally, the results obtained from both numerical analysis and laboratory testing are compared.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.159-169
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• 2007

The behavior of fiber-reinforced cemented sands (FRCS) was studied to improve a brittle failure mode observed in cemented sands. Nak-dong River sand was mixed with ordinary Portland cement and a Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber. A PVA fiber is widely used in concrete and cement reinforcement. It has a good adhesive property to cement and a specific gravity of 1.3. A PVA fiber has a diameter of 0.1 mm that is thicker than general PVA fiber for reinforced cement. Clean Nak-dong River sand, cement and fiber at optimum water content were compacted in 5 layers giving 55 blows per layer. They were cured for 7 days. Cemented sands with a cement/sand ratio of 4% were fiber-reinforced at different locations and tested for unconfined compression tests. The effect of fiber reinforcement form and distribution on strength was investigated. A specimen with evenly distributed fiber showed two times more strength than not-evenly reinforced specimen. The strength of fiber-reinforced cemented sands increases as fiber reinforcement ratio increases. A fully reinforced specimen was 1.5 times stronger than a specimen reinforced at only middle part. FRCS behavior was controlled not only by a dosage of fiber but also by fiber distribution methods or fiber types.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.483-495
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• 2020

Dams are vital infrastructures that are expected to maintain their stability during seismic excitations. Accordingly, cemented material dams are an emerging type, which are being increasingly used around the world owing to benefiting from advantages of both earth-fill and concrete gravity dams, which should be designed safely when subjected to strong ground motion. In the present paper, the seismic performance of a cemented sand and gravel (CSG) dam is assessed using incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method by accounting for two failure modes of tension cracking and base joint sliding considering the dam-reservoir-foundation interactions. To take the seismic uncertainties into account, the dam is analyzed under a suite of ground motion records and then, the effect of friction angle for base sliding as well as deformability of the foundation are investigated on the response of dam. To carry out the analyses, the Cindere dam in Turkey is selected as a case study, and various limit states corresponding to seismic performance levels of the dam are determined aiming to estimate the seismic fragilities. Based on the results, sliding of the Cindere dam could be serious under the maximum credible earthquake (MCE). Besides, dam faces are mostly to be cracked under such level of intensity. Moreover, the results indicate that as friction angle increases, probability of sliding between dam and foundation is reduced whereas, increases tensile cracking. Lastly, it is observed that foundation stiffening increases the probability of dam sliding but, reduces the tensile damage in the dam body.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.14-21
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• 2008

In this study, a series of CID tests were performed on gypsum-cemented specimens to determin the cohesion intercept and the confined stress start to break the cementation bonds (${q_i}'_{(BP)}$). And the relationships between the unconfined compressive strength ($q_{ucs}$) and cohesion intercept or ${q_i}'_{(BP)}$ were investigated. From the experiments, it was concluded that the friction angle of cemented sands is not affected by cementation while the cohesion intercept of cemented sands significantly influenced by cementation and is constant before ${q_i}'_{(BP)}$. By an analytical interpretation, the failure strength of cemented specimen could be represented by summation of the failure strength of uncemented specimen and the unconfined compressive strength of cemented one. And the cohesion intercept of cemented specimen was represented as a linear relation with the unconfined compressive strength. Those analytical values of failure strength and cohesion intercept almost coincided with the experimental values of those. In addition, the ${q_i}'_{(BP)}$ also could be related with unconfined compressive strength linearly.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.207-219
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• 2021

Several additives are used to enhance the geotechnical properties (e.g., shear wave velocity, shear modulus) of soils to provide sustainable, economical and eco-friendly solutions in geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering. In this study, piezoelectric ring actuators are used to measure the shear wave velocity of unreinforced, fiber, cemented, and fiber reinforced cemented Toyoura sand. One dimensional oedometer tests are performed on medium dense specimens of Toyoura sand-cement-fiber-silica flour mixtures with different percentages of silica flour (0-42%), fiber and cement (e.g., 0-3%) additives. The experimental results indicate that behavior of the mixtures is significantly affected by the concentration of silica flour, fiber and cement additives. Results show that with the addition of 1-3% of PVA fibers, the shear wave velocity increases by only 1-3%. However, the addition of 1-4% of cement increases the shear wave velocity by 8-35%. 10.5-21% increase of silica flour reduces the shear wave velocity by 2-5% but adding 28-42% silica flour significantly reduces the shear wave velocity by 12-31%. In addition, the combined effect of cement and fibers was also found and with only 2% cement and 1% fiber, the shear wave velocity increase was found to be approximately 24% and with only 3% cement and 3% fibers this increased to 35%. The results from this study for the normalized shear modulus and normalized mean effective stress agree well with previous findings on pure Toyoura sand, Toyoura silty sand, fiber reinforced, fiber reinforced cemented Toyoura sand. Any variations are likely due to the difference in stress history (i.e., isotropic versus anisotropic consolidation) and the measurement method. In addition, these small discrepancies could be attributed to several other factors. The potential factors include the difference in specimen sizes, test devices, methods of analysis for the measurement of arrival time, the use of an appropriate Ko to convert the vertical stresses into mean effective stress, and sample preparation techniques. Lastly, it was investigated that there is a robust inverse relationship between α factor and 𝞫₀ exponent. It was found that less compressible soils exhibit higher 𝜶 factors and lower 𝞫₀ exponents.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.87-97
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• 2008

Behaviors of cemented engineered soils, composed of rigid sand particle and soft rubber particle, are investigated under $K_o$ condition. The uncemented and cemented specimens are prepared with various sand volume fractions to estimate the effect of the cementation in mixtures. The vertical deformation and elastic wave velocities with vertical stress are measured. The bender elements and PZT sensors are used to measure elastic wave velocities. After cementation, the slope of vertical strain shows bilinear and is similar to that of uncemented specimen after decementation. Normalized vertical strains can be divided into capillary force, cementation, and decementation region. The first deflection of the shear wave in near field matches the first arrival of the primary wave. The elastic wave velocities dramatically increase due to cementation hardening under the fixed vertical stress, and are almost identical with additional stress. After decementation, the elastic wave velocities increase with increase in the vertical stress. The effect of cementation hinders the typical rubber-like, sand-like, and transition behaviors observed in uncemented specimens. Different mechanism can be expected in decementation of the rigid-soft particle mixtures due to the sand fraction. a shape change of individual particles in low sand fraction specimens; a fabric change between particles in high sand fraction specimens. This study suggests that behaviors of cemented engineered soils, composed of rigid-soft particles, are distinguished due to the cementation and decementation from those of uncemented specimens.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.429-438
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• 2019

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is an innovative soil improvement approach utilizing metabolic activity of microbes to hydrolyze urea. In this paper, the shear response and the erodibility of MICP-treated sand under axial compression and submerged impinging jet were evaluated at a low confining stress range. Loose, poorly graded silica sand was used in testing. Specimens were cemented at low confining stresses until target shear wave velocities were achieved. Results indicated that the erodibility parameters of cemented specimens showed an increase in the critical shear stress by up to three orders of magnitude, while the erodibility coefficient decreased by up to four orders of magnitude. Such a trend was observed to be dependent on the level of cementation. The treated sand showed dilative behavior while the untreated sands showed contractive behavior. The shear modulus as a function of strain level, based on monitored shear wave velocity, indicated mineral debonding may commence at 0.05% axial strain. The peak strength was enhanced in terms of emerging cohesion parameter based on utilizing the Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 2008

The method to prepare the large cemented sand specimen for calibration chamber test by air-pluviation is investigated in this study. The uniformity of cemented specimen is evaluated by performing the CPTs, DMTs, and bender element tests in the calibration chamber. The sand particles, pre-wetted with 0.5% water content, are mixed with gypsum to provide the homogeneous coating of gypsum particles on the grain surface. It was shown that the pre-wetting of particle surface is effective to minimize the potential for segregation between sands and gypsum during air-pluviation. It was observed that the extreme void ratios ($e_{max}\;and\;e_{mix}$) of the mixture of pre-wetted sand and gypsum powder increase at lower gypsum content while those of the mixture of dry sand and gypsum decrease with increasing gypsum content. It was also shown from the test results that large cemented specimens reconstituted in calibration chamber by rainer system are quite uniform in vertical and horizontal directions.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.161-168
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• 2003

Most natural deposits of sandy soil possess some degree of cementation resulting from the deposition and precipitation of cementing agents. The presence of cementation can have a significant influence on the stiffness and volume change behavior, and the strength of soils. An important feature of deposits of cemented sandy soils is their ability to remain stable in surprisingly high and almost vertical man-made cuts as well as natural slopes. Numerous field observations and studies of failures in slopes of cemented soils have reported that application of conventional analysis techniques of slope stability is inadequate. That is not only due to the fact that the failure surface of the slope is not circular, but also the fact that the average shear stress along the failure surface is much smaller than the shear strength measured in laboratory shear experiments. This observation alerts us to the fact that a mechanism different from conventional Mohr-Coulomb shear failure takes place, which may be related to fracture processes, which in turn are governed by fracture mechanics concepts and theory. In this study, steep slopes in cemented sand were assessed using fracture mechanics concepts. The results showed that FEM coupled with fracture mechanics concepts provides an excellent alternative in the design and safety assessment of earth structures in cemented soils.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.13-22
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• 2018

The number of researches on the mechanical properties of cemented sand and gravel (CSG) materials and the application of the CSG Dam has been increased. In order to explain the technical scheme of strength prediction model about the artificial neural network, we obtained the sample data by orthogonal test using the PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol) fiber, different amount of cementing materials and age, and established the efficient evaluation and prediction system. Combined with the analysis about the importance of influence factors, the prediction accuracy was above 95%. This provides the scientific theory for the further application of CSG, and will also be the foundation to apply the artificial neural network theory further in water conservancy project for the future.