• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.79-97
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• 2017

Natural clays exhibit features such as structural and anisotropy. In this work, a constitutive model that is able to replicate these two salient features of natural clays is presented. The proposed model is based on the classical S-CLAY1 model, where the anisotropy of the soil is captured through the initial inclination and rotation of the yield surface. To account for the structural of the soil, the compression curve of the reconstituted soil is taken as the reference. All parameters of the proposed constitutive model have clear physical meanings and can be conveniently determined from conventional triaxial tests. This proposed model has been used to simulate the behavior of soft soil in the undrained triaxial tests and the performance of Murro embankment in terms of settlement and horizontal displacements during embankment construction and consolidation stage. Results of numerical simulations using proposed model have been compared with the field measurement data. The comparisons show that the two features significantly influence the prediction results.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.105-131
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• 2014

In this paper, the effects of variability of smear zone characteristics induced by installation of prefabricated vertical drains on the preloading design are investigated employing analytical and numerical approaches. Conventional radial consolidation theory has been adopted to conduct analytical parametric studies considering variations of smear zone permeability and extent. FLAC 2D finite difference software has been employed to conduct the numerical simulations. The finite difference analyses have been verified using three case studies including two embankments and a large-scale laboratory consolidometer with a central geosynthetic vertical drain. A comprehensive numerical parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of smear zone permeability and extent on the model predictions. Furthermore, the construction of the trial embankment is recommended as a reliable solution to estimate accurate smear zone properties and minimise the post construction settlement. A back-calculation procedure is employed to determine the minimum required waiting time after construction of the trial embankment to predict the smear zone characteristics precisely. Results of this study indicate that the accurate smear zone permeability and extent can be back-calculated when 30% degree of consolidation is obtained after construction of the trial embankment.

• Journal of Korean Port Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.463-473
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• 2000

Reinforcement with geotextiles have been used in the foundation soil to enhance the resistance of embankments to avoid failure through excessive deformation or shear in the foundation. It is improtant to know the amount of the strain and the displacement of buried geotextiles for the verification of the reinforcement behaviour. Full scale trial constructions were performed to check the deformational characteristics of the polyester(PET) mat which was used for the embankment reinforcement. Many instrumentation equipments including surface settlement plates, profile gauges and inclinometer casings were installed to observe the behaviour of the soft ground due to the soil embankment. 60 electrical resistance strain gauges and 9 vibrating wire LVDTs were installed 세 measure the deformation of the polyester mat. Results of various tests and geotextile, waterproofing and protection from the hazard environments were introduced. The proposed instrumentation method was effective for the monitoring or the geotextile behaviour. The direct attachment of electrical resistance strain gauges on the gertextile mat was able to measure small changes of the strain of geotextiles. At the end of the 5 month monitoring, 54 of 60 (93%) strain gauges and 7 of 9 (78%) displacement transducers survived all perils of the compaction impacts and the humidity. And the tensile strain of grotextiles increased as the ground displacement became larger. Though the observed strain of mats under the 3m high embankment load was less than 1%, the magnitudes of the strain according to the mat spreading method were different from each other.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.87-97
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• 2022

The excessive settlement and deformation of disintegrated carbonaceous mudstone (DCM) embankments under dynamic loading have long been problems for engineers and technicians. In this work, the characteristics and mechanism of the plastic deformation of DCM under different degrees of compaction, water contents and confining pressures were studied by static triaxial, dynamic triaxial and scanning electron microscopy testing. The research results show that the axial stress increases with increasing confining pressure and degree of compaction and decreases with increasing water content when DCM failure. The axial strain at failure of the DCM decreases with increasing confining pressure and degree of compaction and increases with increasing water content. Under cyclic dynamic stress, the change in the axial stress level of the DCM can be divided into four stages: the stable stage, transition stage, safety reserve stage and unstable stage, respectively. The effects of compaction, water content and confining pressure on the critical axial stress level which means shakedown of the DCM are similar. However, an increase in confining pressure reduces the effects of compaction and water content on the critical axial stress level. The main deformation of DCM is fatigue cracking. Based on the allowable critical axial stress, a method for embankment deformation control was proposed. This method can determine the degree of compaction and fill range of the embankment fill material according to the equilibrium moisture content of the DCM embankment.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.260-270
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• 1998

The field tests were performed to suggest the rational method for stability evaluation of soft clay. The behavior of settlement-displacement obtained by field monitoring system was to compare and analyze the results of the observationed method, and to investigate the complex behavior of soft clay with filling height. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1. The horizontal displacement was suddenly increased when physical properties of soft clay showed maximum values and the part of the turning point. The values of these properties were available to the fundamental data for stability evaluation. The shear deformation appeared that difference of the horizontal displacement was maximum values. 2. Although the stability of embankment by step filling showed the unstable part over the failure standard line, the embankment was confirmed stable. So the evaluation of the stability of embankment is reasonable to use the inclination of curve than failure standard line. 3. The horizontal displacement and relative settlement were increased as same ratio at improvement ground. Estimation of shear deformation using Terzaghi's modified bearing capacity should consider the relations of embankment load and undrained shear strength at nonimprovement ground, and minimum safety factor is recommended to use larger than 1.2. 4. Excess pore water pressure was increased with increasing of filling height and decreased with maintain the filling height. The embankment was unstable when filling height was exceed the evaluation standard line, and the behavior of excess pore water pressure and horizontal displacement could use as a standard of judgement of the filling velocity control because their behavior were agree with each other.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 1994

One of problems being faced during construction of soil structures along the coastal regions is the stabilization of soft clay foundation, In this study, centrifugal model bests were conducted to investigate behavior effect of soft foundation reinforced by cement -soil piles for the stabilization of softs clay foundation during the embankment construction. This paper presents results of settlement and heaving behavior of reinforced and unreinforced foundation with time under the swaged loading for different best conditions. The test results have shown that the reductions of vertical settlement of the foundation and heaving of the ground surface adjacent to the embankment are greatly influenced by strength of improved pile, and moisture content, and especially the ratio of replacement area.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.5-12
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• 2011

Numerous studies on the improvement of low strength for soft ground have been performed. EPS, light weight filling material, is used at the study site for stability on consolidation settlement. However, several problems such as settlement of pavement layer and damage of curb occurs. The elevation is lower 1 m than that of designed value by consolidation. It is caused by excessive load during construction. In this study, problems due to overloading on the soft ground where the EPS is used were analyzed and some cases for reasonable improvement method were described. From the results, instructions for design and construction are suggested.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.29-39
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• 2007

In this study, the centrifugal tests were fulfilled to analyze the displacement characteristics caused by the embankment construction on soft ground. Embankment of height, undrained shear strength and with or without geotextile were selected to evaluate the displacement characteristics of soft ground by embankment. As a result, the replacement section without geotextile showed the parabola shape. The replacement section with geotextile showed the trapezoidal shape which represents the uniform settlements. The replacement angle is increasing nearly lineally with increasing the height of embankment and G-level. The position, where the maximum horizontal displacement occurred, was between $0.24H_0$ and $0.35H_0$ and was at $0.3H_0$ on the average. In the case of with and without geotextile, the relationship between the maximum settlement of ground(S) and maximum horizontal displacement(${\delta}_m$) was ${\delta}_m$ = 0.60S, ${\delta}_m$ = 0.54S, respectively.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2011

Soil deformations such as settlement, heaving and lateral flow have frequently happened on marine reclaimed soft grounds due to embankment filling or banking. The electrical resistivity survey was applied to investigate on ground surface such soil deformation without disturbance of ground. A test embankment was performed to assess soil deformation in marine reclaimed soft grounds, where was located at Sihwa area in western coast of Korean peninsula. The soft ground was composed of clayey sediments. After embankment filling, the boundary of soil deformation affected by the filling could be investigated with application of the electrical resistivity survey. The result of electric resistivity survey shows that the extent of deformation is about 5 m laterally to the southern direction of embankment and about 5~6 m vertically in depth, which is about 1-1.2 times of embankment height. This shows that the electric resistivity survey can be applied to interpret the ground deformation in a soft ground region.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.60-72
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• 1992

This study aims at predicting the behavior of saturated soft clayey foundation subjected to earth structure loads such as tidal dike, embankment etc. by using Biot's consolidation equation coupled with elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. To validate the computer program developed b author, a case study was performed for the site of Kwang-yang steel works improved by sand drain, where since the beginning of the works, field measurements(settlement, lateral displacement and excess pore water pressure) had been accurately achieved. Comparisons between numerical results and observation values were carried out. The main results obtained are summarized as follows : 1. Settlement and lateral displacement between numerical and observation values show satisfactory accordance. 2. As for the exess pre water pressure, numerical results appear to be larger than observation values, which may be due to the existence of sand seams which were not found during soil investigation. 3. Useful data available for failure prediction of soft foundation can be secured by examining lateral displacement, settlement, exess pore water pressure and stress paths.