• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.235-253
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• 2018

Groundwater flow induced by cracks in a buried pipe causes ground loss in the vicinity of it which can lead to underground cavities and sinkhole problems. In this study, the ground collapse mechanism and the failure mode based on an aperture in the pipe located in cohesionless ground were investigated through a series of physical model studies. As the influence parameters, size of the crack, flow velocity in the pipe, groundwater level, ground cover depth and ground composition were adopted in order to examine how each of the parameters affected the behavior of the ground collapse. Influence of every experimental condition was evaluated by the final shape of ground failure (failure mode) and the amount of ground loss. According to the results, the failure mode appeared to be a 'Y' shape which featured a discontinuous change of the angle of erosion when a groundwater level was equal to the height of the ground depth. While in the case of a water table getting higher than the level of ground cover depth, the shape of the failure mode turned to be a 'V' shape that had a constant erosion angle. As the height of the ground depth increased, it was revealed that a mechanism where a vertically collapsed area which consisted of a width proportional to the ground height and a constant length occurred was repeated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.409-416
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• 2005

Design analysis for underground spaces requires evaluating stability related to tunnel collapses. A failure mode is one of the critical factors in the conventional methods of stability analysis. Therefore identification of failure modes is essential in securing safe construction in the phase of design analysis, instrumentation planning and implementation of reinforcing measures. In this study failure modes at the tunnel heading in granular soils are investigated using physical model tests and numerical simulation for various tunnel depths and ground surface inclinations. Test results indicated that the effect of depth and inclination of ground surface on a failure mode are significant. It is identified that, with an incase in depth, failure modes become localized in a region close to the tunnel. It is also known that an increase in the inclination of ground surface results in inclined and wide failure modes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.3
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• pp.253-263
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• 2024

Slope stability is generally paid more attention to in slope protection works, especially for slope containing weak layers. Two indexes of safety factor and failure model are selected to perform slope stability. Moreover, the finite element limit analysis method comprehensively combines the advantage of the limit analysis method and the finite element method obtaining the upper and lower bounds of the safety factor and the failure mode under the slope stability limit state. In this study, taking a waste dump containing a weak layer as an engineering background, the finite element limit analysis method is adopted to explore the potential failure mode. Meanwhile, the sensitivity analysis of slope stability is performed on geometrical and geotechnical parameters of the waste dump. The results show that the failure mode of the waste dump slope is two wedges if the weak layer is located on the ground surface (Model A), while the slope can be observed as three wedges failure if the weak layer is below the ground surface (Model B). In addition, both failure modes are highly sensitive to the friction angle of the weak layer and the shear strength of waste disposal, and moderately sensitive to the heap height, the dip angle and cohesion of the weak layer, while the toe cutting has limited effect on the slope stability. Moreover, the sensitivity to the excavation of the ground depends on the location of the weak layer and failure mode.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.197-207
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• 2005

Design analysis for underground spaces requires evaluating stability related to heading collapses. A failure mode is one of the critical factors in the conventional methods of stability evaluation. Identification of failure modes is, therefore, essential in securing safe construction. In this study failure modes at the tunnel heading in cohesionless soils are investigated using physical model tests for various tunnel depths and ground surface inclinations. Test results showed that the effect of depth and the inclination of ground surface on a failure mode are of significance. It is identified that, with an increase in depth, failure modes become localized in a region close to tunnel face. It is also known that an increase in the inclination of ground surface results in inclined an d wide failure modes. Numerical simulation of laboratory tests was performed, and shown that the numerical analysis is useful in identifying the heading failure modes, particularly for large underground spaces.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.2
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• pp.223-237
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• 2020

Transmission towers have come to represent one of the most important infrastructures in today's society, which may suffer severe earthquakes during their service lives. However, in the conventional seismic analyses of transmission towers, the towers are normally assumed to be fixed on the ground without considering the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the pile-supported transmission tower. This assumption may lead to inaccurate seismic performance estimations of transmission towers. In the present study, the seismic response and failure analyses of pile-supported transmission towers considering SSI are comprehensively performed based on the finite element method. Specifically, two detailed finite element (FE) models of the employed pile-supported transmission tower with and without consideration of SSI effects are established in ABAQUS analysis platform, in which SSI is simulated by the classical p-y approach. A simulation method is developed to stochastically synthesize the earthquake ground motions at different soil depths (i.e. depth-varying ground motions, DVGMs). The impacts of SSI on the dynamic characteristic, seismic response and failure modes are investigated and discussed by using the generated FE models and ground motions. Numerical results show that the vibration mode shapes of the pile-supported transmission towers with and without SSI are basically same; however, SSI can significantly affect the dynamic characteristic by altering the vibration frequencies of different modes. Neglecting the SSI and the variability of earthquake motions at different depths may cause an underestimate and overestimate on the seismic responses, respectively. Moreover, the seismic failure mode of pile-supported transmission towers is also significantly impacted by the SSI and DVGMs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.140-153
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• 2005

During the tunnel construction the major failure mode can be categorized as: tunnel failure just after the tunnel excavation without support, failure after application of shotcrete and finally failure after setting the concrete lining. The failure mode just after the tunnel excavation without support, can be further classified as : bench failure, crown failure, face failure, full face failure, failure due to weak strata and failure due to overburden. Moreover the failure after application of shotcrete is classified as heading face failure, settlement of shotcrete support, local failure of shotcrete lining and invert shotcrete. To find out the major causes of tunnel collapse, the investigation was done in case of the second phase of Seoul subway construction. The investigation results depicted that the major causes of tunnel collapse were due to the weak layer of rock/fault and sudden influx of ground water from the tunnel crown. While the investigation results of the mountain road tunnels construction have shown that the major causes of tunnel failure were inadequate analysis of tunnel face mapping results, intersection of faults and limestone cavities. In this paper some recent measurement in order to mitigate such tunnel collapse are presented

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.175-187
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• 2003

The earth pressure acting on the cylindrical retaining wall in cohesionless soils is different from that on the retaining wall in plane strain condition due to three dimensional arching effect. Accurate estimation of earth pressure is required for the design of vertical cylindrical retaining wall. Failure modes of the ground behind vertical shaft are dependent on ground in-situ stress conditions. Failure modes are actually divided into two modes of cylindrical failure mode and funnel-shaped mode with truncated cone surface. Several researchers have attempted to estimate the earth pressure on cylindrical wall for each failure mode, but they have some limitations. In this paper, several equations for estimating the earth pressure on cylindrical wall in cohesionless soils are investigated and new formulations for two failure modes are suggested. It rationally takes into account the overburden pressure, wall friction, and force equilibriums on sliding surface.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.445-457
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• 2020

An ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission system has the advantages of low circuitry loss, high bulk capacity and long-distance transmission capabilities over conventional transmission systems, but it is easier for this system to cross fault rupture zones and become damaged during earthquakes. This paper experimentally and numerically investigates the seismic responses and collapse failure of a UHV transmission tower-line system crossing a fault. A 1:25 reduced-scale model is constructed and tested by using shaking tables to evaluate the influence of the forward-directivity and fling-step effects on the responses of suspension-type towers. Furthermore, the collapse failure tests of the system under specific cross-fault scenarios are carried out. The corresponding finite element (FE) model is established in ABAQUS software and verified based on the Tian-Ma-Qu material model. The results reveal that the seismic responses of the transmission system under the cross-fault scenario are larger than those under the near-fault scenario, and the permanent ground displacements in the fling-step ground motions tend to magnify the seismic responses of the fault-crossing transmission system. The critical collapse peak ground acceleration (PGA), failure mode and weak position determined by the model experiment and numerical simulation are in relatively good agreement. The sequential failure of the members in Segments 4 and 5 leads to the collapse of the entire model, whereas other segments basically remain in the intact state.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.6 s.59
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• pp.400-410
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• 2005

During excavation of shallow tunnels in soft ground, failure mechanism around the tunnel face have major influence on the stability of tunnels. In this paper, a series of laboratory tests under plane strain condition on the small scale of a shallow tunnel considering unsupported tunnel length has been performed. The results have shown that tunnel failure mechanism changes from failure mode 1 to failure mode 2 as unsupported tunnel length increases. By comparing the experimental and the numerical results, the loosening pressure for the shallow tunnel and progressive failure have been investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.207-220
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• 1999

Model tests were performed to investigate the failure modes in embankments on soft ground supported by piles with cap beams. In the model tests, Jumunjin standard sand was placed on simulated cap beams and soft ground. The cap beams are placed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the embankment. The colored sand and the Jmniin standard sand were placed one after the other above cap beams and soft ground to make lateral stripes with 3mm thickness in the embarkment. The colored sand was prepared by coating the Jumunjin sand with black lead powder. The photographs illustrate the two characteristic modes of failure in embarkments. One is the soil arching failure and the other is the punching shear failure. The failure mode depends on the height of embankment and the space between cap beams. That is, if the embankment is high enough compared with the space between cap beams, it will fail in arching failure. On the other hand if the embarkment is relatively low or the space between piles is too wide, it will fail in punching shear failure. The soil arching develops in embarkment as a semicylindrical arch with a thickness equal to the width of the cap beam. And the soil wedge developed above the cap beams remains intact during both arching and punching failures. The boundary of punching shear failure of the displaced soil mass can be defined on the basis of observation of the photographs.