• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.19-37
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• 1991

The geology of the northwestern Cheju Island consist of Pleistocene to Holocene volcanic rocks which could be devided into basalt layers, the Sungsan Formation composed mainly of volcaniclastic debris exposed along the shoreline, and more than 30 cinder cones. Columnar joints and vesicles are dominant in the basalts of the Pyeosunri and the Sihungri basalt Formations. Volcaniclast and clay layers are intercalated in basaltic layers. When volcaniclast of the interlayers would be swept away by ground water and some caves of channel shape would be formaed. Overlying lavas cracked by columnar joints could be easily destroyed, collapsed and/or sunk. Geomechananical nature of the rocks such as strength may be controlled by the vesicularity(size, shape, and orientation of the vesicles) of the rocks. On the basis of vesicularity as a factor of strength, the effective strength ratio(Ke) could be calculated as Ke=0.3-0.72, in which the smaller Ke value reflects the lower in internal stress. In the studied area, the strength of the rocks tends to decrease as increasing in altitude of provenance of the rocks. The rocks in the area show relatively low values in angle of failure strength($\phi$) ranging from 10$^{\circ}$ to 30$^{\circ}$. In conclnsion, the rocks in question, majority of which the critical value exceeds 0.33, belong to the unstable rocks in the aspect of engineering geology.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6C
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• pp.251-258
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• 2009

In this study, the optimum design conditions for embankment construction on soft clay layer improved by soil compaction pile (SCP) are discussed by comparing the practical design method to the reliability design which is based on the loss function and advanced first order second moment (AFOSM) method. The results are summarized as follows; 1) the relationship between safety factor and failure probability becomes heavy exponentially, failure probability decreases rapidly till 1% approximately until safety factor is smaller than 1.2 and after then, failure probability decrease gradually along the increase of the safety factor. The design safety factor of 1.2 may be the critical value that has been established on considering both relationships appropriately, 2) the safety factor of 1.15 at the minimum expected total cost is a little smaller than the design safety factor of 1.2 and the failure probability is about 1%, 3) the sensitivities of the ratio of stress share and the internal friction angle of sand is larger than the variables related the undrained shear strength of soft layer. This result means that the distribution characteristic of n and ${\phi}$ influences on the stability analysis considerably and they should be considered necessarily on stability analysis of embankment on soft layer improved by SCP, 4) new failure points of the input variables at the design safety factor of 1.2(below failure probability of 0.1~0.3%) is far 1~2 times of standard deviation from the initial design values of themselves.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2006

Three differing sandstones, two synthetic and one field sample, have been tested ultrasonically under a range of confining pressures and pore pressures representative of in-situ reservoir pressures. These sandstones include: a synthetic sandstone with calcite intergranular cement produced using the CSIRO Calcite In-situ Precipitation Process (CIPS); a synthetic sandstone with silica intergranular cement; and a core sample from the Otway Basin Waarre Formation, Boggy Creek 1 well, from the target lithology for a trial $CO_2$ pilot project. Initial testing was carried on the cores at "room-dried" conditions, with confining pressures up to 65 MPa in steps of 5 MPa. All cores were then flooded with $CO_2$, initially in the gas phase at 6 MPa, $22^{\circ}C$, then with liquid-phase $CO_2$ at a temperature of $22^{\circ}C$ and pressures from 7 MPa to 17 MPa in steps of 5 MPa. Confining pressures varied from 10 MPa to 65 MPa. Ultrasonic waveforms for both P- and S-waves were recorded at each effective pressure increment. Velocity versus effective pressure responses were calculated from the experimental data for both P- and S-waves. Attenuations $(1/Q_p)$ were calculated from the waveform data using spectral ratio methods. Theoretical calculations of velocity as a function of effective pressure for each sandstone were made using the $CO_2$ pressure-density and $CO_2$ bulk modulus-pressure phase diagrams and Gassmann effective medium theory. Flooding the cores with gaseous phase $CO_2$ produced negligible change in velocity-effective stress relationships compared to the dry state (air saturated). Flooding with liquid-phase $CO_2$ at various pore pressures lowered velocities by approximately 8% on average compared to the air-saturated state. Attenuations increased with liquid-phase $CO_2$ flooding compared to the air-saturated case. Experimental data agreed with the Gassmann calculations at high effective pressures. The "critical" effective pressure, at which agreement with theory occurred, varied with sandstone type. Discrepancies are thought to be due to differing micro-crack populations in the microstructure of each sandstone type. The agreement with theory at high effective pressures is significant and gives some confidence in predicting seismic behaviour under field conditions when $CO_2$ is injected.