• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.382-388
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• 2005

Soil vapor extraction(SVE) is an effective and cost efficient method of removing volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and petroleum hydrocarbons from unsaturated soils. However, soil vapor extraction becomes ineffective in soils with low gas permeability, for example soils with air permeabilities less than 1 Darcy. Prefabricated vertical drains(PVDs) have been used for dewatering fine-grained soils for more than 25 years. Incorporating PVDs in and SVE system can extend the effectiveness of SVE to lower permeability soils by shortening the air flow-paths and ultimately expediting contaminant removal. The objective of the work described herein was to effectively incorporate PVDs into a SVE remediation system and to demonstrate a PVDs enhanced SVE system at full scale. The finding from this research will facilitate the design of field PVD-SVE systems in terms by providing insight into the optimal spacing between PVDs, the radius of influence of the wells and the flow rates to be used to capture and extract gas phase contaminants.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2020

Freezing-thawing cycles have significant effect on soils engineering behavior in frozen areas. This effect is more considerable in fine-graded than coarse-grained soils. The objective of this study is improving soil durability and strength in continues freezing-thawing cycles. For getting this purpose mixture of Polyvinyl Acetate (PVAc) and Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether (EGBE) has been added to fine-grained soil and final prepared samples were tested at different freezing-thawing cycles. PVAc was mixed with 1%, 2% and 3% of soil weight. Half of PVAc weight was used as weight of EGBE. Freezing-Thawing cycles were exposed to samples and they were tested at different cycles. Results showed that adding mixture of PVAc+EGBE improved strength and durability of samples up to 10 freezing-thawing cycles. Unconfined compress strength tests were applied to samples and stress and strain of samples were tested on failure time. Behavior of samples was different at different percentages of mixture. Results showed that increasing amount of PVAc from 1% to 2% had more considerable effect on final stress than 2% to 3%. Using higher percentages of PVAc + EGBE mixture leaded to that samples carried more strain before collapsing. Another result gained from tests was that, freezing-thawing effect was more considerable after fourth cycles. It means differences between first and fourth cycles were more considerable than differences between fourth and tenth.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 2019

This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate the effect of palm oil on the selected basic physical-chemical and geotechnical properties of kaolin. The experimental findings are further compared with literature outcomes investigating similar properties of fine grained soils subjected to contamination by different types of oils. To this end, palm oil was mixed with oven dried kaolin samples-aiding oil's interaction (coating) with dry particles first, in anticipation to emphasize the effect of oil on the properties of kaolin, which would be difficult to achieve otherwise. Oil content was limited to 40% by dry weight of kaolin, supplemented at intervals of 10% from clean kaolin samples. Observations highlight physical particle-to-particle bonding resulting in the formation of pseudo-silt sized clusters due to palm oil's interaction as evinced in the particle size distribution and SEM micrographs. These clusters, aided by water repellency property of the oil coating the kaolin particles, was analyzed to show notable variations in kaolin's consistency-measured as liquid and plastic limits. Furthermore, results from compaction tests indicates contribution of oil's viscosity on the compaction behavior of kaolin - showing decrease in the maximum dry unit weight (${\gamma}_{d,max}$) and optimum moisture content ($w_{opt}$) values with increasing oil contents, while their decrease rates were directly and inversely proportional in ${\gamma}_{d,max}$ and $w_{opt}$ values with oil contents respectively. Comparative study in similar terms, also validates this lower and higher decrease rates in ${\gamma}_{d,max}$ and $w_{opt}$ values of the fine grained soils respectively, when subjected to contamination by oil with higher viscosity.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.65-74
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• 2003

Most of land reclamation projects are being implemented along the south and west coastal lines of the Korean Peninsula. The earth structures and in-ground LNG tank, and buildings can be constructed using artificial freezing method on the reclaimed land to control the uplift pressure caused by capillary forces. In this study, upon freezing a saturated soil in a closed-system from the top, a considerable frost heaving pressure was developed. Decomposed granite soils, silty soil, and sandy soil were used in the laboratory freeze test which is sometimes subjected to thermal gradients under closed-systems. A major concern has been the ability to predict the frost heaving pressure over the results of relatively short-term laboratory tests. The frost heaving pressure arising within the soil samples and the temperature of the samples inside were monitored with time elapse. The degree of saturation versus heaving pressure curve is presented for each soil sample and the maximum pressure is closely related to this curve. TDR apparatus was used to measure the volumetric water content by the measurement of unfrozen water contents of frozen soils. Unfrozen water increased in soils containing a high percentage of fine-grained particles. In fine-grained soils with strong attractive farces between soil grains and water molecules, additional water is attracted into the pores leading to further volume changes and ice segregation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.1400-1407
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• 2005

There are a number of approaches to in situ remediation that are used at contaminated sites for removing contaminants from the contaminated zone without excavating the soil. These include soil flushing, dual phase extraction, and soil vapor extraction. Of these techniques, soil flushing is the focus of the investigation in this paper. The concept of using prefabricated vertical drains(PVDs) for remediation of contaminated sites with fine-grained soils is examined. The PVD system is used to shorten the drainage path or the groundwater flow and promote subsurface liquid movement expediting the soil flushing process. The use of PVDs in the current state of practice has been limited to soil improvement. The use of PVDs under vacuum conditions is investigated using sample soil consisting of silty sand.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.76-86
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• 2007

For the purpose of ground improvement by means of soil flushing systems. Incorporated technique with prefabricated vertical drains have been used for dewatering from fine-grained soils. The laboratory model tests were performed by using the flushing tracer solutions for silty soils and recorded the tracer concentration changes with the elapsed time and flow rates. A mathematical model for prediction of contaminant transport using the PVD technology has been developed. The clean-up times for the predictions on both soil condition indicate more of a sensitivity to the dispersivity parameter than to the extracted flow rate and vertical velocity parameters. Based on the results of the analyses, numerical analysis indicate that the most important factor to the in-situ soil remediation in prefabricated vertical drain system is the effective diameter of contaminated soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.301-311
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• 2020

In this study, shear strength behavior of fine-grained soils was investigated under unsaturated conditions. The samples in the unsaturated state were subjected to a net normal stress (σ-u_a) of 40 kPa and different matric suctions (u_a-u_w) of 50, 100 and 150 kPa. The matric suction values applied in the triaxial tests were selected according to the bubbling pressures determined from the SWC curves. The study was carried out on prepared re-constituted cylindrical samples by uniaxial consolidation of soil slurries. First, consolidated drained (CD) triaxial compression tests were performed on the saturated samples and the cohesion and angle of internal friction were determined. After that, drained triaxial compression tests under matric suctions were performed on the unsaturated samples. In order to obtain unsaturated test results, cohesion and internal friction angle values of saturated samples were used. The nonlinear surface representing the shear strength surface was approximated consisting of two planes (double planar surface). The reason for the nonlinear behavior of some soils is that the amount of sand content contained in it is relatively high and the bubbling pressure/permanent water content value is relatively low.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.371-382
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• 2024

Measurement or prediction of compression index (C_c) of soils is essential for assessment of total and differential settlement of structures. It is a well-known fact that this parameter is controlled by several index identifiers of soil including initial void ratio, Atterberg limits, overconsolidation ratio, specific gravity, etc. Many studies in the past proposed relationships for prediction of C_c based on different index properties. Therefore, this study aims to present a comparison of previously proposed equations for estimation of C_c. Data from literature was compiled, and a total of 90 and 623 test results on remolded and undisturbed specimens were used to question the validity of previously proposed equations. Nevertheless, the modeling ability of 7 and 12 equations for estimation of C_c of remolded and undisturbed soils were questioned by use of compiled data. Moreover, new empirical relationships based on initial void ratio and toughness limit for prediction of C_c was proposed by use of nonlinear multivariable regression and evolutionary based regression analyses. The results are promising-the performances of models established are quite acceptable, which are verified by statistical analyses.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.533-542
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• 2019

Geosynthetic reinforced soil method in coarse-grained soils has been widely used in last decades. Two effective factors on soil-geosynthetic interaction are confining stresses and loading rate in clay. In terms of methodology, one pull-out test with four different strain rates, namely 0.75, 1.25, 1.75 and 2.25 mm/min, and three different normal stresses equal to 20, 50, and 80 kg have been performed on specimens with dimensions of 30×30×17 cm in the saturated, consolidated condition. The obtained results have demonstrated that activation of geosynthetic strength at contact surface depends on the applied stress. In addition, the increase in normal stress would increase the shear strength at contact surface between clay and geogrid. Moreover, it is concluded that the strain rate increment would increase the shear strength.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.52-61
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• 2000

Permeability is important factor in the geotechnical problems, such as seepage discharge and dissipation of excess pore water pressure. The Kozeny-Carman equation works well for graded soils but serious discrepancies are found in clays. Major factor for these discrepancies is the tortuous flow path and unequal pore size. To estimate the permeability of fine grained soils, a permeability equation in which swelling potential is coupled with Kozeny-Carman equation is proposed in this study. To verify proposed equation, a series of variable head permeability test was carried out for steel making slag and sludge mixed with bentonite. The coefficients of permeability which is measured in the laboratory is compared with the values by the proposed equation. From the comparison, it is shown that the proposed equation can predict the coefficient of permeability of clays with satisfaction. As steel making slag and sludge is industry waste, it is reused as material of road foundation and cement but the rate of use is low. It mixed sodium-bentonite with high swelling property and permeability decrease effect. Then, Admixture investigates reuse possibility as liner of waste fill.