• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2020

In order to understand the shear mechanical properties of the interface between clay and structure and better serve the practical engineering projects, it is critical to conduct shear tests on the clay-structure interface. In this work, the direct shear test of clay-concrete slab with different joint roughness coefficient (JRC) of the interface and different normal stress is performed in the laboratory. Our experimental results show that (1) shear strength of the interface between clay and structure is greatly affected by the change of normal stress under the same condition of JRC and shear stress of the interface gradually increases with increasing normal stress; (2) there is a critical value JRC_cr in the roughness coefficient of the interface; (3) the relationship between shear strength and normal stress can be described by the Mohr Coulomb failure criterion, and the cohesion and friction angle of the interface under different roughness conditions can be calculated accordingly. We find that there also exists a critical value JRC_cr for cohesion and the cohesion of the interface increases first and then decreases as JRC increases. Moreover, the friction angle of the interface fluctuates with the change of JRC and it is always smaller than the internal friction angle of clay used in this experiment; (4) the failure type of the interface of the clay-concrete slab is type I sliding failure and does not change with varying JRC when the normal stress is small enough. When the normal stress increases to a certain extent, the failure type of the interface will gradually change from shear failure to type II sliding failure with the increment of JRC.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.643-659
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• 2022

Geologic sequestration technologies such as CCS (carbon capture and storage), EGS (enhanced geothermal systems), and EOR (enhanced oil recovery) have been widely implemented in recent years, prompting evaluation of the mechanical stability of storage sites. As fluid injection can stimulate mechanical instability in storage layers by perturbing the stress state and pore pressure, poroelastic models considering various injection scenarios are required. In this study, we calculate the pore pressure, stress distribution, and vertical displacement along a surface using commercial finite element software (COMSOL); fault slips are subsequently simulated using PyLith, an open-source finite element software. The displacement fields, are obtained from PyLith is transferred back to COMSOL to determine changes in coseismic stresses and surface displacements. Our sequential use of COMSOL-PyLith-COMSOL for poroelastic modeling of fluid-injection and induced-earthquakes reveals large variations of pore pressure, vertical displacement, and Coulomb failure stress change during injection periods. On the other hand, the residual stress diffuses into the remote field after injection stops. This flow pattern suggests the necessity of numerical modeling and long-term monitoring, even after injection has stopped. We found that the time at which the Coulomb failure stress reaches the critical point greatly varies with the hydraulic and poroelastic properties (e.g., permeability and Biot-Willis coefficient) of the fault and injection layer. We suggest that an understanding of the detailed physical properties of the surrounding layer is important in selecting the injection site. Our numerical results showing the surface displacement and deviatoric stress distribution with different amounts of fault slip highlight the need to test more variable fault slip scenarios.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.41-50
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• 2007

The results from normally consolidated isotropic drained and undrained triaxial compression tests (NCIU and NCID) on sand with high silt content were presented in this paper. The experiments were performed on specimens of Nak-dong River sand with 63% silt content under effective confined pressures, 100 kPa to 400 kPa. From test results, Sandy silt became initially compressive but eventually appeared to provide dilatancy response throughout the entire stress-strain curve The behavior of sandy silt was more difficult to characterize than that of clay and sand due to lower plastic characteristic. Especially, the samples exhibited dilatancy development during shear after failure. The shear behavior and shear strength parameters of sandy silt can be determined as stress-strain behaviors are described by the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The shear behaviors were observed increasing dilatancy volume change tendency with strain-softening tendency after failure. In this paper, the behavior of dilatancy depends on not only sand content but also fine content with low-cohesion during shear in the samples of sandy silt.

• 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.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1417-1431
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• 1994

In this study, shear strength characteristics of the Nak-Dong river sand in Taegu area are investigated by triaxial compression test, considering shear strain control velocity, relative density, and confining pressure. The results from Lade model and Modified Lade model are compared with the measured value in the laboratory test. The results by the change of shear strain control velocity, relative density, and confining pressure are as follows; 1) The stress limit, which can be Coulomb's law about the Nak-Dong river sand, have ranged 120~200 kpa at 0.08%/min and 120~150 kpa at 0.5%/min. These limits are smaller than that of the calcareous sand and the well-graded, quartz sand. 2) The parameters needed to Lade model and Modified Lade model are much affected by the strain control velocity and the relative density. Consequently, in the field, it is important to use parameters aptly after accurately understanding both the loading condition and subsoil condition. 3) Overall, the principal stress ratio obtained from constitutive model equations is not affected by the control velocity, but both the relative density and confining pressure affect the result of constitutive model equations. Consequently, the study on the various conditions about the relative density and confining pressure is needed to accurately predict the stress-strain behavior on the Nak-Dong river sand. 4) For the range of the used confining pressure in the study, the Lade model shows better agreements with the measured value than the Modified Lade model, comparing the measured value with the principal stress ratio at failure and the internal friction angle of failure envelope obtained from the Lade model and Modified Lade model.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.5-19
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• 2019

Considering the natural phenomenon in which steep slopes ($65^{\circ}{\sim}85^{\circ}$) consisting of rock mass remain stable for decades, slopes steeper than 1:0.5 (the standard of slope angle for blast rock) may be applied in geotechnical conditions which are similar to those above at the design and initial construction stages. In the process of analysing the stability of a good to fair continuum rock slope that can be designed as a steep slope, a general method of estimating rock mass strength properties from design practice perspective was required. Practical and genealized engineering methods of determining the properties of a rock mass are important for a good continuum rock slope that can be designed as a steep slope. The Genealized Hoek-Brown (H-B) failure criterion and GSI (Geological Strength Index), which were revised and supplemented by Hoek et al. (2002), were assessed as rock mass characterization systems fully taking into account the effects of discontinuities, and were widely utilized as a method for calculating equivalent Mohr-Coulomb shear strength (balancing the areas) according to stress changes. The concept of calculating equivalent M-C shear strength according to the change of confining stress range was proposed, and on a slope, the equivalent shear strength changes sensitively with changes in the maximum confining stress (${{\sigma}^{\prime}}_{3max}$ or normal stress), making it difficult to use it in practical design. In this study, the method of estimating the strength properties (an iso-angle division method) that can be applied universally within the maximum confining stress range for a good to fair continuum rock mass slope is proposed by applying the H-B failure criterion. In order to assess the validity and applicability of the proposed method of estimating the shear strength (A), the rock slope, which is a study object, was selected as the type of rock (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary) on the steep slope near the existing working design site. It is compared and analyzed with the equivalent M-C shear strength (balancing the areas) proposed by Hoek. The equivalent M-C shear strength of the balancing the areas method and iso-angle division method was estimated using the RocLab program (geotechnical properties calculation software based on the H-B failure criterion (2002)) by using the basic data of the laboratory rock triaxial compression test at the existing working design site and the face mapping of discontinuities on the rock slope of study area. The calculated equivalent M-C shear strength of the balancing the areas method was interlinked to show very large or small cohesion and internal friction angles (generally, greater than $45^{\circ}$). The equivalent M-C shear strength of the iso-angle division is in-between the equivalent M-C shear properties of the balancing the areas, and the internal friction angles show a range of $30^{\circ}$ to $42^{\circ}$. We compared and analyzed the shear strength (A) of the iso-angle division method at the study area with the shear strength (B) of the existing working design site with similar or the same grade RMR each other. The application of the proposed iso-angle division method was indirectly evaluated through the results of the stability analysis (limit equilibrium analysis and finite element analysis) applied with these the strength properties. The difference between A and B of the shear strength is about 10%. LEM results (in wet condition) showed that Fs (A) = 14.08~58.22 (average 32.9) and Fs (B) = 18.39~60.04 (average 32.2), which were similar in accordance with the same rock types. As a result of FEM, displacement (A) = 0.13~0.65 mm (average 0.27 mm) and displacement (B) = 0.14~1.07 mm (average 0.37 mm). Using the GSI and Hoek-Brown failure criterion, the significant result could be identified in the application evaluation. Therefore, the strength properties of rock mass estimated by the iso-angle division method could be applied with practical shear strength.