• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.141-154
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• 2023

This study investigated the effect of water retention characteristics between aged and fresh Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) on the stability of the landfill. A series of transient numerical modeling for the slope of an MSW landfill was performed considering the variation of water retention characteristics due to leachate circulation. Four different scenarios were considered in this analysis depending on how to obtain hydraulic conductivity and the aging degree of materials. Unsaturated hydraulic properties of the MSW used for the modeling were evaluated through modified hanging column tests. Different water retention properties and various landfill conditions, such as subgrade stiffness, leachate injection frequency, and gas and leachate collection system, were considered to investigate the pore water distribution and slope stability. The stability analyses related to the factor of safety showed that unsaturated properties under those varied conditions significantly impacted the slope stability, where the factor of safety decreased, ranging between 9.4 and 22%. The aged materials resulted in a higher factor of safety than fresh materials; however, after 1000 days, the factor of safety decreased by around 10.6% due to pore pressure buildup. The analysis results indicated that using fresh materials yielded higher factor of safety values. The landfill subgrade was found to have a significant impact on the factor of safety, which resulted in an average of 34% lower factor of safety in soft subgrades. The results also revealed that a failed leachate collection system (e.g., clogging) could result in landfill failure (factor of safety < 1) after around 298 days, while the leachate recirculation frequency has no critical impact on stability. In addition, the accumulation of gas pressure within the waste body resulted in factor of safety reductions as high as 24%. It is essential to consider factors related to the unsaturated hydraulic properties in designing a landfill to prevent landfill instability.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.543-552
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• 2023

The design of foundations based on a deterministic approach may not be safe and reliable occasionally, since soils sometimes show considerable spatial variability, and thus, significant uncertainties in turn affect the estimation of footing bearing capacity. The design of footing on cohesionless stratums on the basis of reliability analysis has not received much attention. This paper performs two-dimensional random finite difference analyses of shallow strip footings on a spatially variable frictional soil considering correlation structure. Friction angle (ϕ) is considered as a log-normally distributed random variable and Monte Carlo Simulation is then performed to determine the statistical response based on the random fields. A new approach reliability-based safety factor is defined based on various reliability levels by considering the coefficient of variation of ϕ and correlation length in both the horizontal and vertical directions. The comparison of the probabilistic safety factor and the conventional one illustrates the limitations of the deterministic safety factor and provides insight into how the heterogeneity of soils properties affects the required safety factor. Results show that the conventional safety factor of 3 can be conservative in some cases, especially for soil with low values of mean ϕ and COV_ϕ.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.195-207
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• 2006

An efficient and accurate algorithm is proposed to estimate cable safety factor of suspension bridges satisfying prescribed reliability levels. Uncertainties in the structure and load parameters are incorporated. The proposed algorithm integrates the concepts of the inverse reliability method and deterministic method for assessing cable safety factors of suspension bridges. The unique feature of the proposed method is that it offers a tool for cable safety assessment of suspension bridges, when the reliability level is specified as a target to be satisfied by the designer. After the accuracy and efficiency of the method are demonstrated through two numerical examples, the method is used to estimate cable safety factors of suspension bridges with span length ranging from 2000 to 5000 m. The results show that the deterministic method overestimates cable safety factor of suspension bridges because of neglecting the parameter uncertainty effects. The actual cable safety factor of suspension bridges should be estimated based on the proposed method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.217-223
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• 2017

In order to assess risk as a basic step for securing safety, it requires to select risk factors and determine the frequency and the severity of the consequence of each risk factor. This research adopted common risk factors among well-known maritime risk assessment models, and proposed objective criteria to gauge the risk level of each risk factor. The starting points of risk evolution were chosen for criteria according to related studies and seafarers' experience. The rate of risk appearance over the criteria is named as the incidence of risk factor. Therefore, the total risk level is expressed as the combination of incidence of each risk factor and severity. This quantitative method would be applied to measuring and comparing the risk level of target maritime zones, and it would also be useful to survey which risk factor be focused for reducing the total risk of a certain maritime zone.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.485-497
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• 2013

The factor of safety is the most common measure of the safety margin for slopes. When the traditionally defined factor is used in kinematic approach of limit analysis, calculations can become elaborate, and iterative methods have to be used. To avoid this inconvenience, the safety factor was defined in terms of the work rates that are part of the work balance equation used in limit analysis. It was demonstrated for two simple slopes that the safety factors calculated according to the new definition fall close to those calculated using the traditional definition. Statistical analysis was carried out to find out whether, given normal distribution of the strength parameters, the distribution of the safety factor can be approximated with a well-defined probability density function. Knowing this function would make it convenient to calculate the probability of failure. The results indicated that the normal distribution could be used for low internal friction angle (up to about $16^{\circ}$) and the Johnson distribution could be used for larger angles ${\phi}$. The data limited to two simple slopes, however, does not allow assuming these distributions a priori for other slopes.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.327-335
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze the load distribution and contact safety factor for the power take off (PTO) gear of a 71 kW class agricultural tractor. In this study, a simulation model of the PTO gear-train was developed using Romax DESGINER. The face load factor and contact safety factor were calculated using ISO 6336:2006. The simulation time was set at 2,736 hours considering the lifetime of the tractor, and the simulation was performed for each PTO gear stage at the engine rated power conditions. As a result of the simulation, the face load factors for the driving gear at the PTO 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd stages were 1.644, 1.632, and 1.341, respectively. The contact safety factors for the driving gear at the PTO 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd stages were 1.185, 1.216, and 1.458, respectively. As the PTO gear stage was increased, the face load factor decreased, and the contact safety factor increased. The load distributions for all the PTO gears were concentrated to the right of the tooth width. This causes stress concentrations and shortens the lifespan of the gears. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the face load factor and the contact safety factor with macro-geometry and micro-geometry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.1302-1308
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• 2010

This study the change of the safety factor before and after the reinforcement were compared by performing the parameter research based on the limit equilibrium analysis regarding the same cross section after carrying out the safety factor before the reinforcement on the virtual section in order to observe the change of the safety factor of the slop reinforced with the slope planting reinforced earth, and the variation of the safety factor according to the increase of the length of the reinforcement materials and the change of the slope height was analyzed. As the result, the reinforcement effect was insignificant at no more than 0.6 of L/H, the reinforcement length ratio when the reinforcement length was increased, as the increase of the safety factor was slow comparing with the non-reinforced slope. At 3.0m of the slope height, reinforcement on the slope is not necessary, and at 3.0m to 5.0m of the slope height, the inclination was not influencing at no less than 0.6 of L/H. At 5.0m to 9.0m of the slope height, the safety factor was mostly secured on the slope at 0.8 of L/H and the over-reinforced slope appeared at no less than 1.0 of L/H. Also, the safety factor increased as the slope height increases and the slope gets steeper till 0.8 of L/H, but the slope steepness affects more on the increase of the safety factor than the reinforcement material, as the reinforcing force by the reinforcement material became steady.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2011

Soil nailing method was often designed by the slope stability analysis based on limit equilibrium. However, in the case of shorten length of nails, although the calculated factor of safety is within the design factor of safety, the horizontal displacement of soil nailed walls occurred above the allowable limit. In this study, relationship between the load and factor of safety, and relationship between the load and displacement ratio based on the test results were analysed. From the analysed results, the relationship between factor of safety and displacement ratio was estimated. For the mobilized horizontal displacement of the walls within the serviceability limit corresponding to the displacement of less than 0.3% displacement ratio, the calculated factor of safety by limit equilibrium analysis had to satisfy above 1.35. Also, although the minimum factor of safety is estimated above 1.35, the maximum horizontal displacement is often mobilized above 0.3% of excavation height. Therefore, it is necessary to perform the numerical analysis of soil nailed walls in the case of low shear strength or high excavation.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.333-341
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• 2014

The construction of roads, tunnels, and bridges results in changes to the local terrain that may influence the ground safety factor, which represents the stability of geotechnical structures. In this study, we assessed construction sites that had collapsed as a result of terrain change, and then simulated variation in the ground safety factor with respect to terrain change caused by road construction. We assumed steep slopes to simulate changes in terrain in a mountainous area and assumed that earthworks took place for road construction by cutting a platform into the slope and altering the slope angle of the terrain both above and below the road. We calculated values of the ground safety factor through a stability analysis of the slope both above and below the road, and examined the variation in the safety factor of the above- and below-road slopes with respect to changes in road width. We found that if the slope angle was the same above and below the road, then the change in the ground safety factor during/after road construction occurred in the slope below the road, and if the slope angle above the road differed from that below, then the change occurred in both the above- and below-road slopes. Furthermore, the ground safety factor was essentially constant for road widths exceeding 2-6 m, depending on both above- and below-road slope angle. The findings of this study can be used to guide the management of construction sites and to assess changes in ground stability during road construction work, particularly in the early stages of earthworks, when the road width is narrow.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.58-62
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• 2017

In this paper, we studied the structural design for safety improvement of the winch mount of the armored recovery vehicle. From the finite element analysis using the safety factor of the original winch mount, the results determined that the safety factor was very low, namely 1.14 at $-15^{\circ}$ when towing the maximum force. For considering the usage and safety, the safety factor needs to increase to between 1.4 and 1.6. To improve the safety factor, a re-design, such as shape modification and strengthening the welded zone, was performed. After the improvement of the structural design, the safety factor of the improved mount was calculated at 1.78, an increase of about 56.1% from that of the original mount.