• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.39-45
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• 2010

Soil plays a huge role in climate change, because even a tiny loss of 0.1% of carbon emitted into the atmosphere from European soils is the equivalent to the carbon emission of 100million extra cars on Europe's roads - an increase of about half of the existing car fleet. Soils contain around twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and three times the amount to be found in vegetation. Europe's soils are an enormous carbon reservoir, containing around 75billion tonnes, and poor management can have serious consequences. Soil degradation is accelerating across the EU, with negative effects on human health, ecosystems and climate change - and on economic prosperity and quality of life. Climate change is identified as a common element in many soil threats. Europe's soils urgently need better protection. The current trend of soil degradation needs to be reversed, and soil management practices must be improved if a high rate of soil carbon sequestration is to be achieved.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.845-857
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• 2015

The 3D numerical analysis is carried out to investigate the settlement behavior of flexible mat foundations subjected to vertical loads. Special attention is given to the improved analytical method (YS-MAT) that reflects the mat flexibility and soil spring coupling effect. The soil model captures the stiffness of the soil springs as well as the shear interaction between the soil springs. The proposed method has been validated by comparing the results with other numerical approaches and field measurements on mat foundation. Through comparative studies, the proposed analytical method was in relatively good agreement with them and capable of predicting the behavior of the mat foundations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.1155-1158
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• 2006

This paper presents a study on the construction condition and environmental effect of deep soil mixing. Construction condition means the difference in unconfined compressive strength with respect to the depth and location of samples. Environmental effect means alkalinity diffused from soil stabilizer. The experimental results indicate that the unconfined compressive strength vary with respect to the depth, and doesn't show consistency pattern. So, in field application we must decide a mixing ratio enough to satisfy the least unconfined compressive strength. The difference in unconfined compressive strength with respect to the location of samples is negligible. The generation of alkalinity from soil stabilizer is reduced by permeating in non-improved soil and it is expected that the diffusion of alkalinity has no environmental effect on soil and ground water.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.89-95
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• 2010

There is the freezing method as one of the ground improvement methods for excavating an underground tunnel, and due to its improved reliability, recently construction cases of applying this method into sandy soil grounds as well as cohesive soil grounds of cities have been reported. But, applying the freezing method into cohesive soil grounds could bring concerns of the expansion of the whole ground and the settlements from thawing of ground. In this study, the deformation strength characteristics of cohesive soil which received freezing and thawing hysteresis were examined using the sample collected from the site of cohesive soil ground applied with the freezing method and its structural characteristics were analyzed using an electronic microscope. And, the test with cohesive soil reconstituted from cohesive soil which received freezing and thawing hysteresis was carried out and its result was analyzed comparatively. The result of this test showed that the structure of natural clay was significantly changed due to freezing and thawing hysteresis.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.487-493
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• 2013

The effects of long-term fertilization on soil biological properties and microbial community structure in the plough layer in a rice paddy soil in southern Korea were investigated in relation to the continuous application of chemical fertilizers (NPK), straw based compost (Compost), combination these two (NPK + Compost) for last 40 years. No fertilization plot (Control) was installed for comparison. Though fertilization significantly improved rice productivity over control, the long-term fertilization of NPK and compost combination was more effective on increasing rice productivity and soil nutrient status than single application of compost or chemical fertilizer. All fertilization treatments had shown significant improvement in soil microbial properties, however, continuous compost fertilization markedly increased soil enzyme and microbial activities as compared to sole chemical fertilization. Results of microbial community structure, evaluated by EL-FAME (ester-linked fatty acid methyl esters) method, revealed big difference among Control, NPK, and Compost. However, both Compost and Compost+NPK treatments belonged to the same cluster after statistical analysis. The combined application of chemical fertilizer and organic amendments could be more rational strategy to improve soil nutrient status and promote soil microbial communities than the single chemical fertilizer or compost application.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.421-434
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• 2005

In this paper, the finite element method is applied to investigate the effect of the lateral boundary in homogenous soil on the seismic response of a superstructure. Some influencing factors are presented and discussed, and several parameters are identified to be important for conducting soil-structure interaction experiments on shaking tables. Numerical results show that the cross-section width L, thickness H, wave propagation velocity and lateral boundaries of soil layer have certain influences on the computational accuracy. The dimensionless parameter L/H is the most significant one among the influencing factors. In other words, a greater depth of soil layer near the foundation should be considered in shaking table tests as the thickness of the soil layer increases, which can be regarded as a linear relationship approximately. It is also found that the wave propagation velocity in soil layer affects the numerical accuracy and it is suggested to consider a greater depth of the soil layer as the wave propagation velocity increases. A numerical study on a soil-structure experimental model with a rubber ring surrounding the soil on a shaking table is also conducted. It is found the rubber ring has great effect on the soil-structure interaction experiments on shaking table. The experimental precision can be improved by reasonably choosing the elastic parameter and width of the rubber ring.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.95-108
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• 2023

Soft soil ground is a crucial factor limiting the development of the construction of transportation infrastructure in coastal areas. Soft soil is characterized by low strength, low permeability and high compressibility. However, the ordinary treatment method uses Portland cement to solidify the soft soil, which has low early strength and requires a long curing time. Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is an emerging method to address geo-environmental problems associated with geotechnical materials. In this study, a method of bio-cementitious mortars consisting of MICP and cement was proposed to stabilize the soft soil. A series of laboratory tests were conducted on MICP-treated and cement-MICP-treated (C-MICP-treated) soft soils to improve mechanical properties. Microscale observations were also undertaken to reveal the underlying mechanism of cement-soil treated by MICP. The results showed that cohesion and internal friction angles of MICP-treated soft soil were greater than those of remolded soft soil. The UCS, elastic modulus and toughness of C-MICP-treated soft soil with high moisture content (50%, 60%, 70%, 80%) were improved compared to traditional cement-soil. A remarkable difference was observed that the MICP process mainly played a role in the early curing stage (i.e., within 14 days) while cement hydration continued during the whole process. Micro-characterization revealed that the calcium carbonate filling the pores enhanced the soft soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.149-158
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• 2022

Ladle furnace (LF) slag, waste from the steel-making process, was incorporated to improve the compressive strength of soil cement. LF slag was mixed to replace the cement in the soil-cement samples with wt% ratio 20:0, 15:5, and 10:10 of cement and slag, respectively. LF slag in the range of 5, 10, and 20 wt% was also separately added to the 20-wt% cement-treated soil samples. The soil-cement mixed LF slag samples were incubated in a plastic wrapping for 7, 14, and 28 days. The strength of soil cement was highly developed to be higher than the standard acceptable value (0.6 MPa) after incorporating slag into soil cement. The mixing of LF slag resulted in more hydration products for bonding soil particles, and hence improved the strength of soil cement. With the LF slag mixing either a replacement or additive materials in soil cement, the LF slag to cement ratio is considered to be less than 1, while the cement content should be more than 10 wt%. This is to promote a predominant effect of cement hydration by preventing the partially absorbed water on slag particles and keeping sufficient water content for the cement hydration in soil cement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.76-79
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• 2004

This research was carried out to evaluate role of supplementary reagents, such as phosphate and SDS, to remove hydrophobic organic contaminant from soils during the EK-Fenton process. The $H_2O$$_2$ stability improved due to the role as stabilizer of phosphate and SDS during the EK-Fenton process. Furthermore, although pH in region near cathode was 8.2 after test, $H_2O$$_2$ stability improved due to transportation of SDS in the region near cathode. Therefore, in tests using phosphate and SDS as supplementary reagent, the efficiency of phenanthrene treatment improved through the EK-Fenton process using longer reaction time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.397-404
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• 2001

Sand pile is one of the widely used ground improvement methods. Sand pile improved ground will have composite ground effects, even though the primary purpose is the accelerated consolidation. However, the consolidation of sand pile improved ground as a composite ground is substantially under developed. This study investigate the effect of composite ground for relatively low volume displacement sand piles. Plate bearing tests and earth pressure cell measurements are performed. It turned out that the contribution of sand pile as a load bearing mechanism is not substantial. However the bearing capacity of the surrounding clayey soil is increased by sixty percent, and it cause the stiffness change during consolidation. Therefore it is expected that, the effect of increased stiffness of sand pile improved ground is influenced by change of ground stiffness.