• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.113-125
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• 1999

In this study the occurrence and mineralogical characteristics of clay minerals from the Munhyun-dong landslide area in Pusan city were examined by XRD, SEM, and chemical analyses. Several types of clay minerals such as halloysite, vermiculite, mica/vermiculite interstratified mineral, vermiculite/smectite interstratified mineral, kaolinite and illite are found abundantly in the area. The occurrence of clay minerals suggest that they have been formed by weathering of andesite which is the bedrock of the area. It is believed that halloysite was formed in the early stage of weathering, and vermiculite, mica/vermiculite interstratified mineral and mica/vermiculite interstratified mineral were formed in the middle stage, and finally, kaolinite was formed. The clay minerals occurring in the central part of the landsliding area and within the slip surface are dominated by expandable minerals such as halloysite, vermiculite and vermiculite/smectite interstratified mineral. These clay minerals expand by absorbing water and effectively decrease the shear resistance of the rock mass, and therefore, they could be an important factor for the landslide. The analyses of geology and mineralogical characteristics of the area suggest that the landslide was caused by combination of various factors including steep slope, heavy rainfall, abundant joints, alteration of the rocks, and occurrence of expandable clay minerals. The result of this study suggests that the investigation for the prevention of possible landslide must include the examination of clay mineralogy as well as the site geology.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.8 no.1 s.11
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• pp.40-50
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• 1999

A geotechnical research including observation of the movement of wall-structure, monitoring of groundwater, non-destructive geophysical investigation was conducted to workout a countermeasure to conserve the Muryong Royal Tomb which is the most extinguishable cultural property of the Baekje dynasty. Movement of the structure of Muryong Royal Tomb generally arises to the front chamber and its amplitude in a rainy season is twice of that in the dry season. It represents serious problem concerned about structural safety of the royal tomb in the rainy season. Movement of wall-structure is caused due to the rain infiltration through cracks in the quicklime layer within the soil mound on the top of the royal tomb and the change of the temperature inside of the tomb. Cracks found around the Muryong Royal Tomb are mostly spread in NW and SE of the tomb structure and it harmonizes with the direction of movement of wall-structure of the Muryong Royal Tomb. Counter-plans for safety and prevention of water-leakage that obstruct the movement of wall structures towards the direction of south are very important for the conservation of Muryong Royal Tomb. After getting rid of the cause of structural change by the restoration of the front chamber of the Muryong Royal Tomb, it needs to reinforce the quicklime layer for prevention of waterleak.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.277-286
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• 2002

Most of the problems in dealing with the tunnel construction are the uncertainties and complexities of the stress conditions and rock strengths in ahead of the tunnel excavation. The limitations on the investigation technology, inaccessibility of borehole test in mountain area and public hatred also restrict our knowledge on the geologic conditions on the mountainous tunneling area. Nevertheless an extensive and superior geophysical exploration data is possibly acquired deep within the mountain area, with up to the tunnel locations in the case of alternative design or turn-key base projects. An appealing claim in the use of artificial neural networks (ANN) is that they give a more trustworthy results on our data based on identifying relevant input variables such as a little geotechnical information and biological learning principles. In this study, error back-propagation algorithm that is one of the teaching techniques of ANN is applied to presupposition on Rock Mass Ratings (RMR) for unknown tunnel area. In order to verify the applicability of this model, a 4km railway tunnel's field data are verified and used as input parameters for the prediction of RMR, with the learned pattern by error back propagation logics. ANN is one of basic methods in solving the geotechnical uncertainties and helpful in solving the problems with data consistency, but needs some modification on the technical problems and we hope our study to be developed in the future design work.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 2013

Various elastic wave-based site investigation methods have been used to characterize subsurface ground because the dynamic properties can be correlated with various geotechnical parameters. Although the inherent spatial variability of the geotechnical parameters affects the P-wave propagation characteristics, ground heterogeneity has not been considered as an influential factor. Thus, the effect of heterogeneous ground on the travel-time shift and wavefront characteristics of elastic waves through stochastic numerical analyses is investigated in this study. The effects of the relative correlation lengths and relative propagation distances on the travel-time shift of P-waves considering various intensities of ground heterogeneity were investigated. Heterogeneous ground fields of stiffness (e.g., the coefficient of variation = 10 ~ 40%) were repeatedly realized in numerical finite difference grids using the turning band method. Monte Carlo simulations were undertaken to simulate P-wave propagation in heterogeneous ground using a finite difference method-based numerical approach. The results show that the disturbance of the wavefront becomes more significant with stronger heterogeneity and induces travel-time delays. The relative correlation lengths and propagation distances are systematically related to the travel-time shift.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.131-143
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• 2000

Several theoretical analyses are performed to predict the vertical load on embankment piles with cap beams. The piles are installed in a row in soft ground below the embankment and the cap beams are placed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the embankment. Two failure mechanisms such as the soil arching failure and the punching shear failure are investigated according to the failure pattern in embankment on soft ground supported by piles with cap beams. The soil arching can be developed when the space between cap beams is narrow and/or the embankment is high enough. In the investigation of the soil arching failure, the stability in the crown of the arch is compared with that above the cap beams. The factors affecting the load transfer in the embankment fill by soil arching are the space between cap beams, the width of cap beams and the soil parameters of the embankment fill. The portion of the embankment load carried by cap beams decreases with increment of the space between cap beams, while it increases with the embankment height, the width of cap beams, the internal friction angle and cohesion of the embankment fill. Thus, the factors affecting load transfer in embankment should be appropriately decided in order to maximize the effect of embankment load transfer by piles.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.261-271
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• 2003

A condition evaluation procedure for the pavement foundations using multi-load level Falling Weight Deflectometer(FWD) deflections is presented in this paper. A dynamic finite element program incorporating a stress-dependent material model, was used to generate the synthetic deflection database. Based on this synthetic database, the relationships between surface deflections and critical responses, such as stresses and strains in base and subgrade layers, have been established. FWD deflection data, Dynamic Cone Penetrometer(UP) data, and repeated load resilient modulus testing results used in developing this procedure were collected from the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) and North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) database. Research effort focused on investigation of the effect of the FWD load level on the condition evaluation procedures. The results indicate that the proposed procedure can estimate the pavement foundation conditions. It is also found that structurally adjusted Base Damage Index (BDI) and Base Curvature Index (BCI) are good indicators for the prediction of stiffness characteristics of aggregate base and subgrade respectively. A FWD test with a load of 66.7 kN or less does not improve the accuracy of this procedure. Results from the study for the nonlinear behavior of a pavement foundations indicate that the deflection ratio obtained from multi-load level deflections can predict the type and quality of the pavement foundation materials.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.5-16
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• 2017

When a lateral load is applied to a short pile whose embedded depth is relatively smaller than its diameter, an overturning failure occurs. To investigate the behavior of laterally loaded short piles, several model tests in laboratory scales had been carried out, however the behavior of large moment carrying piles for electric poles, traffic sign and road lamp, etc. have not been revealed yet. This paper deals with the real-scale load tests for 750 mm diameter short piles. To simulate the actual loading condition, very large moment was mobilized by applying lateral loads to the location 8 m away from the pile head. Three load tests changing the pile embedded lengths to 2.0 m, 2.5 m, and 3.0 m were carried out. The test piles overturned abruptly with very small displacement and rotation before the failures. These brittle failures are in contrast with the ductile failures shown in the former model tests with the relatively smaller moment to lateral load ratio. Comparisons of the test results with three existing methods for the estimation of the ultimate lateral capacity show that the method assuming the rotation point at pile tip matches well when the embedded depth is small, however, as the embedded depth increases the other two methods assuming the inversion of soil pressure with respect to rotation points in pile length match better.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2005

This research is aimed at investigating the ground characterization of the Cheongju granite area using the geophysical methods. Test site was chosen from the building site in Chungbuk University, Chongju, Chungbuk province. Furthermore, geophysical methods are employed on the outcrops in the east to map the distribution of fault and intrusion and reveal the degree of weathering. The subsurface structure mapped from seismic re-fraction survey mainly consists of two units of weathered soil and rock. Threshold of the units were determined on the basis of seismic velocity of 800 m/s, supported from the standard classification table. From the results of standard penetrating test(SPT), these units are found to show medium-high and high density, respectively. Weathering soil is subdivided in unsaturated layer and saturated layer with thresholds of seismic velocity (500 m/s) and resistivity (200 ohm-m). In particular, unsaturated layer is again classified into dry and wet portions using the GPR section. The boundary between unsaturated and saturated weathering soils corresponds to the groundwater table at depth of approximately 5～6.2 m, which is well correlated with the one from drill-core data. However, bedrock is not delineated by geophysical methods. In the GPR section, fault and intrusion observed on the outcrop are revealed not to extend to the building site. With respect to weathering degree, the outcrop characterized by low resistivity and velocity corresponds to the grade of 'completely weathered' from the geotechnical investigations.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.207-221
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• 2016

As greater numbers of fill dams and reservoirs become old, the risks of damage or embankment collapse increases. However, few studies have considered the deterioration and hazard classification of the internal core layers of fill dams. This study reports the results of geotechnical investigations of 13 earth-cored fill dams in Korea, based on no-water borehole drilling, Standard Penetration Test, and 2D and 3D electrical resistivity surveys along with in situ and laboratory testing. High-capacity no-water boring minimized core layer disturbance while providing continuous core sample recovery. The results allow the classification of potential hazards related to the existing core layers based on both visual inspection of the recovered samples and the results of engineering surveys and tests. Four types of potential hazard are classified: locally fluidized core with a high water content, rapid water inflow to a borehole, cores with granular materials, and relatively low stiffness of core. Among these, the locally fluidized core is the most critical hazard that requires remedial action because it is related to the potential internal flow path and internal erosion. The other three hazard types are of medium importance and require careful monitoring and regular inspection. Of note, there was no correlation between age and core deterioration. The results are expected to aid the safe management and potential upgrading of aging cored fill dams.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.17-29
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• 2016

A debris flow analysis model has been developed to simulate the erosion and entrainment of soil layer. Special attention is given to the model which represents strength softening behaviour of soil layer due to velocity of deformation. The 3D FE analysis by Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) model is conducted to simulate the debris flow. The model is validated using published data on laboratory experiment (Mangeny et al., 2010). It has been definitely shown that proposed model is in good agreement with the results of laboratory data. Futhermore, the FE analysis is conducted to ensure capability of simulating the real scale debris flow. The result of Ramian watershed, Korea shows that the debris flow has increased the volume and speed and it is in good agreement with field investigation. Based on this, it is confirmed that proposed model shows good agreement of the behavior of the actual and analytical debris flow.