• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.19 no.6 s.67
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• pp.44-49
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• 2005

This paper investigates strength characteristics and stress-strain behaviors of unreinforced and reinforced lightweight soils. Lightweight soil, composed of dredged soil, cement, and air-foam, was reinforced by a waste fishing net, in order to increase its compressive strength. Test specimens were fabricated by various mixing conditions, such as cement content, initial water content, air content, and waste fishing net; then, unconfined compression tests were carried out on these specimens. From the test results, it was shown that reinforced lightweight soil had different behavior after failure, even though it had similar behavior as unreinforced lightweight soil before failure. The test results also showed that stress became constant after peak strength in reinforced lightweight soil, while the stress decreased continuously in unreinforced lightweight soil. It was observed that the strength was increased due to reinforcing effect by the waste fishing net for most cases, except high water content greater than $218\%$. In the case of high water content, a reinforcing effect is negligible, due to slip between waste fishing net and soil particles. In reinforced lightweight soil, secant modulus (E50) was increased, due to the inclusion of waste fishing net.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.827-836
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• 2016

The rate of softening is an important factor to determine whether the failure occurs along localized shear band or in a more diffused manner. In this paper, strength loss and softening rate effect depending on sensitivity are investigated for weakly cemented clays, for both artificially cemented high plasticity San Francisco Bay Mud and low plasticity Yolo Loam. Destructuration and softening behavior for weakly cemented sensitive clays are demonstrated and discussed through multiple vane shear tests. Artificial sensitive clays are prepared in the laboratory for physical modeling or constitutive modeling using a small amount of cement (2 to 5%) with controlled initial water content and curing period. Through test results, shear band thickness is theoretically computed and the rate of softening is represented as a newly introduced parameter, ${\omega}_{80%}$. Consequently, it is found that the softening rate increases with sensitivity for weakly cemented sensitive clays. Increased softening rate represents faster strength loss to residual state and faster minimizing of shear band thickness. Uncemented clay has very low softening rate to 80% strength drop. Also, it is found that higher brittleness index ($I_b$) relatively shows faster softening rate. The result would be beneficial to study of physical modeling for sensitive clays in that artificially constructed high sensitivity (up to $S_t=23$) clay exhibits faster strain softening, which results in localized shear band failure once it is remolded.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.33-38
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• 2002

Concrete placed under cold weather has some defects such as the decrease of initial strength by hydration delay, strength unrecovery at unhardened concrete freezing, and structural failure and crack by expansion pressure. So, in this study, we tried to evaluate the JIS mortar which was made under cold weather using de-icing agency. In mortar test, the do-icing agency increased compressive strength under standard curing, and the de-icing agency made by NaNO$_2$ gave the highest strength. However, as pre-curing time under 21$^{\circ}C$ was short, the de-icing agency made by NaNO$_2$ and Ca[NO$_3$]$_2$ had the highest strength.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.649-655
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• 2010

Unsaturated compressive tests are performed to evaluate the effect of matric suction on the strength and the deformation characteristics for statically compacted natural kaolin in Korea. Under different conditions of the initial degree of saturation in kaolin, the relationship between suction and the degree of saturation at failure can be expressed by unique soil-water characteristic curve. These results demonstrate that the newly established constant water content type unsaturated shear strength test equipment can be used for estimating the relationship between suction and the compressive strength.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.53-64
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• 2005

For geotechnical design in practice, soils are, in general, assumed to behave as a linear elastic or perfect plastic material. More realistic geotechnical design, however, should take into account various factors that affect soil behavior in the field, such as non-linearity of stress-strain response, stress history, and water content. In this study, a series of laboratory tests including triaxial and resonant column tests were peformed with sands of various silt contents, relative densities, stress states, OCR and water contents. This aims at investigating effects of various factors that affect strength and stiffness of sands. From the results in this study, it is found that the effect of OCR is significant for the intermediate stress-strain range from the initial to failure, while it may be ignored for the initial stiffness and peak strength. For the effect of water content, it is observed that the initial elastic modulus decreases with increasing water content at lower confining stress and relative density At higher confining stresses, the effect of water content Is found to become small.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.73-85
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• 2002

This paper is focused on studying the undrained cyclic triaxial behavior of saturated Nak-dong River sand, using anisotropically consolidated specimens. A test of isotropically consolidated specimens was performed to compare the results of the anisotropically consolidated specimens. The cyclic shear stre3ngth of the sand under various combinations of initial static shear stress and relative density was considered. Failure was defined as a 5% double amplitude cyclic strain and a 5% residual axial strain for both reversal stress and no reversal stress conditions. Using this definition, the cyclic strength of the anisotropically consolidated specimens was affected by the initial static shear stress. For anisotropically consolidated Nak-dong River dense sand, the cyclic strength is greater than that of Toyolura silica sand but is smaller than that of Dogs Bay carbonate sand. By comparing the experimental and predictecl results, it was possible to predict the residual pore pressure of Nak-dong River sand using Hyodo's model with initial static shear stress subjected cyclic loading.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-62
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• 2022

Experimental and discrete element methods were used to investigate the effects of triple joints lengths and triple joint angle on the failure behavior of rock mass under uniaxial compressive test. Concrete samples with dimension of 20 cm × 20 cm × 5 cm were prepared. Within the specimen, three imbedded joint were provided. The joint lengths were 2 cm, 4cm and 6 cm. In constant joint lengths, the angle between middle joint and other joints were 30°, 60°, 90°, 120° and 150°. Totally 15 different models were tested under compression test. The axial load rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. Concurrent with experimental tests, the models containing triple joints, length and joint angle are similar to the experiments, were numerical by Particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC2D). Loading rate in numerical modelling was 0.05 mm/min. Tensile strength of material was 1 MPa. The results show that the failure behaviors of rock samples containing triple joints were governed by both of the angle and the length of the triple joints. The uniaxial compressive strengths (UCS) of the specimens were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. Furthermore, it was shown that the compressive behavior of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by decreasing the joint length. Along with the damage failure of the samples, the acoustic emission (AE) activities are excited. There were only a few AE hits in the initial stage of loading, then AE hits rapidly grow before the applied stress reached its peak. In addition, every stress drop was accompanied by a large number of AE hits. Finally, the failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both methods i.e., the experimental testing and the numerical simulation methods.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.281-290
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• 2022

The direct shear test is commonly used to evaluate the shear behavior of frozen soil-structure interfaces under normal stress. However, failure criteria, such as the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, are needed to obtain the unconfined shear strength. Hence, the punch shear test, which is usually used to estimate the shear strength of rocks without confinement, was examined in this study to directly determine the adfreezing strength. It is measured as the shear strength of the frozen soil-structure interface under unconfined conditions. Different soils of silica sand, field sand, and field clay were prepared inside the steel and concrete ring structures. Soil and ring structures were frozen at the target temperature for more than 24 h. A punch shear test was then conducted. The test results show that the adfreezing strength increased with a decrease in the target temperature and increase in the initial water content, owing to the increase in ice content. The adfreezing strength of field clay was the smallest when compared with the other soil specimens because of the large amount of unfrozen water content. The field sand with the larger normalized roughness showed greater adfreezing strength than the silica sand with a lower normalized roughness. From the experiment and analysis, the applicability of the punch shear test was examined to measure the adfreezing strength of the frozen soil-structure interface. To find a proper sample dimension, supplementary experiments or numerical analysis will be needed in further research.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.545-557
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• 2024

A real-case incident occurred where a 9-meter-high segment of a pre-fabricated concrete separation wall unexpectedly collapsed. This collapse was triggered by improperly depositing excavated soil against the wall's back, a condition for which the wall segments were not designed to withstand lateral earth pressure, leading to a flexural failure. The event's analysis, integrating technical data and observational insights, revealed that internal forces at the time of failure significantly exceeded the wall's capacity per standard design. The Lattice Discrete Particle Model (LDPM) further replicates the collapse mechanism. Our approach involved defining various parameter sets to replicate the concrete's mechanical response, consistent with the tested compressive strength. Subsequent stages included calibrating these parameters across different scales and conducting full-scale simulations. These simulations carried out with various parameter sets, were thoroughly analyzed to identify the most representative failure mechanism. We developed an equation from this analysis that quickly correlates the parameters to the wall's load-carry capacity, aligned with the simulation. Additionally, our study examined the wall's post-peak behavior, extending up to the point of collapse. This aspect of the analysis was essential for preventing failure, providing crucial time for intervention, and potentially averting a disaster. However, the reinforced concrete residual state is far from being fully understood. While it's impractical for engineers to depend on the residual state of structural elements during the design phase, comprehending this state is essential for effective response and mitigation strategies after initial failure occurs.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.958-966
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• 1994

The postbuckling compressive strengths of $[0/90/\pm\theta]_s$ composite laminated cylindrical panels with various fiber angles and width-to-length ratios are characterized by the nonlinear finite element method. For the iteration and load-increment along the postbuckling equilibrium path a modified arc-length method in which the effect of failure can be considered is introduced. In the progressive failure analysis the maximum stress criterion and complete unloading model are used. Present finite element results show good agreement with experiments for $[0_3/90]_s$ cylindrical panel and $[0/\pm45/90/]_s$ plate. The postbuckling compressive strength of $[0/90/\pm\theta]_s$ composite laminated cylindrical panel is independent of the initial buckling stress but high in the panel with large value of the bending stiffness in axial direction. In the several cylindrical panels, it is observed that the prebuckling compressive failures occur and result into the collapse before the buckling.