• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.17-26
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• 2020

The soft ground in the southwest coastal area composed of marine clay is greatly influenced by sediment composition, particle size distribution, particle shape, adsorption ions and pore water characteristics, tide and temperature. In addition, the geotechnical properties are very complex due to stress history, change in pore water, dissolution process and gas formation. In this study, the physical and mechanical properties of the soft ground were evaluated through field tests and laboratory tests to investigate the strength increase characteristics according to consolidation on the soft ground in the southwest coast. In addition, in order to understand the consolidation behavior of soft ground such as subsidence, pore water pressure, horizontal displacement of soil by embankment load, measuring instruments such as pore water pressuremeter, settlement gauge, inclinometer and differential settlement gauge was installed, and a piezocon penetration test was carried out step by step to confirm the increase in shear strength of the ground. Through this, it was confirmed that the shear strength of the ground is increased according to the stages of filling. In addition, by evaluating the properties of consolidation behavior, strength increase and consolidation prediction by empirical methods and theories were compared to analyze the characteristics of strength increase rate and consolidation behavior in consideration of regional characteristics.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

In this study, a circular pipe can be installed by suction pressure for construction on soft ground with a low-water level. A series of laboratory-scale model tests were conducted in sandy ground to comprehend the suction pressure of the circular pipe in low-water levels. For repeated tests on saturated sandy soil, a container was mounted with three vibration generators on the floor. A repetitive vibration was applied using the vibration system for ground compaction. In the model tests, different diameters and thicknesses on saturated sandy soil with a water depth were considered. The result showed that the suction pressure increased with increasing penetration depth of the circular pipe. Moreover, the suction pressure required to penetrate the pipe decreased with increasing diameter. In the low-water level, the total suction pressure measured at the top lid increased because additional suction pressure is required to lift the water column. On the other hand, this led to a decrease in suction pressure to penetrate the circular pipe because the weight of the water column is applied as a dead load. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the water level to design the required suction pressure accurately.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.411-429
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• 2022

Instrumentations are essential in NATM tunnels, however measuring instruments are installed and applied without performance verification procedures due to insufficient research on methods, procedures, regulations, etc. to verify the reliability of the measuring instruments. In this study, domestic and foreign regulations relating to the verification and calibration of instruments were investigated and necessities for accreditation standards were proposed. In order to identify the causes of the defects, an external inspection was performed on rock bolt stressmeter and rod extensometer, which are measuring instruments with relatively complex structures. For verifying the performance of these instruments, verification devices were developed that can load step-by-step and the causes of defects were identified in measuring instruments of nine domestic manufacturers. Through the performance test, a number of measuring instruments were found to be defective. It was important to test the performance of the instruments in the state of a finished product and accordingly performance inspection methods and procedures were proposed. The results of this study are expected to help preparing related regulations for verifying instrument performance and selecting instruments in the field.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.95-104
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• 2006

For the interests in the economical and safe design of foundation system, the concern on the piled raft or disconnected piled raft foundation system is increasing now. In this study, the behavior and the effects of the disconnected piled raft foundation not studied actively in this country were examined using the triaxial compression tests in place of laboratory model tests. The triaxial test samples were prepared with Jumunjin standard sand and the carbon rods, which simulate the ground soil and piles respectively. After the sample in which carbon rods were arranged was laid inside the triaxial chamber, the confining pressure was applied and then loading test was conducted. To analyze the reinforcing effects of the disconnected piled raft foundation, a few number of tests were carried out by changing the number, the diameter and the length of the model piles. As a result of this study, in the disconnected piled raft foundation system, even though the number of pile is few and the diameter of pile is small, the settlement of the foundation system decreased greatly.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.209-222
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• 2024

The Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) shield Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is widely used for underground tunnel construction for its advantages, such as eliminating the need for additional facilities compared to the slurry shield TBM, which requires Slurry Treatment Plant (STP). During EPB shield TBM excavation, a soil conditioning technique is employed to enhance the physical properties of the excavated soil by injecting additives, thus broadening the range of applicable ground conditions to EPB shield TBMs. This study explored the use of xanthan gum, a type of biopolymer, as an alternative to the commonly used polymer additive. Biopolymers, derived from biological sources, are fully biodegradable. In contrast to traditional polymers such as polyacrylic acid, which contain environmentally harmful components, xanthan gum is gaining attention as an eco-friendly material due to its minimal toxicity and environmental impact. Test conditions with similar workability were established through slump tests, and the rheological characteristics were assessed using a laboratory pressurized vane shear test apparatus. The experiments demonstrated that, despite exhibiting similar workability, the peak strength in the flow curve decreased with increasing the content of xanthan gum. Consequently, a correlation between the xanthan gum content and peak strength was established. Replacing the traditional polymers with xanthan gum could enable stable EPB shield TBM operation by reducing equipment load, in addition to offering environmental benefits.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.59-78
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• 2024

In tunnel construction, the stability is evaluated by the settlement of adjacent structures and ground, but the shear strain of the ground is the main factor that determines the failure mechanism of the ground due to the tunnel excavation and the change of the operating load, and can be used to review the stability of the tunnel excavation and to calculate the reinforcement area. In this study, a twin tunnel excavation was simulated on a soft ground in an urban area through a laboratory model test to analyze the behavior of the twin tunnel excavation on the adjacent pile grouped foundation and adjacent ground. Both the displacement and the shear strain of ground were obtained using a close-range photogrammetry during laboratory model test. In addition, two-dimensional finite element numerical analysis was performed based on the model test. The results of a back-analysis showed that the maximum shear strain rate tends to decrease as the horizontal distance between the pillars of the twin tunnel and the vertical distance between the toe of the pile group and the crown of the tunnel were decreased. The impact of the second tunnel on the first tunnel and pile group was decreased as the horizontal distance between the pillars of the twin tunnel was increased. In addition, the vertical distance between the toe of the pile group and the crown of the tunnel had a relatively greater impact on the shear strain results than the horizontal distance of the pillars between the twin tunnels. According to the results of the close-range photogrammetry and numerical analysis, the settlement of adjacent pile group and adjacent ground was measured within the design criteria, but the shear strain of the ground was judged to be outside the range of small strain in all cases and required reinforcement.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.85-93
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• 2021

The seventy percentage of Korean Peninsular is covered by the mountainous area, and the depth of west sea and south sea is relatively shallow. Therefore, a large scale land reclamation from the sea has been implemented for the construction of industrial complex, residental area, and port and airport facilities. The common problem of reclaimed land is consisted of soft ground, and hence it has low load bearing capacity as well as excessive settlement upon loading on the ground surface. The hollow concrete block has been used to reinforce the loose and soft foundation soil where the medium-high apartment or one-story industrial building is being planned to be built. Recently the earthquakes with the magnitude of 4.0~5.0 have been occurred in the west coastal and southeast coastal areas. Lee (2019) reported the advantages of hollow concrete block reinforced shallow foundation through the static laboratory bearing capacity tests. In this study, the dynamic behavior of hollow concrete block reinforced sandy ground with filling the crushed stone in the hollow space has been investigated by the means of shaking table test with the size of shaking table 1000 mm × 1000 mm. Three types of seismic wave, that is, Ofunato, Hachinohe, Artificial, and two different accelerations (0.154 g, 0.22 g) were applied in the shaking table tests. The horizontal displacement of structure which is situated right above the hollow concrete block reinforced ground was measured by using the LVDT. The relative density of soil ground are varied with 45%, 65%, and 85%, respectively, to investigate the effectiveness of reinforcement by hollow block and measured the magnitude of lateral movement, and compared with the limit value of 0.015h (Building Earthquake Code, 2019). Based on the results of shaking table test for hollow concrete block reinforced sandy ground, honeycell type hollow block gives a large interlocking force due to the filling of crushed stone in the hollow space as well as a great interface friction force by the confining pressure and punching resistance along the inside and outside of hollow concrete block. All these factors are contributed to reduce the great amount of horizontal displacement during the shaking table test. Finally, hollow concrete block reinforced sandy ground for shallow foundation is provided an outstanding reinforced method for medium-high building irrespective of seismic wave and moderate accelerations.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.855-867
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• 2018

When a weak zone exists ahead of tunnel face, the stress in the adjacent area would increase due to the longitudinal arching effect and the stability of the tunnel is affected. Therefore, it is critical to prepare a countermeasure through the investigation of the frontal weakness zone of the excavated face. Although there are several researches to predict the existence of weak zone ahead of tunnel face, such as geophysical exploration, numerical analysis and tunnel support, lack of studies on the relaxation zone depending on the width or distance from the vulnerable area. In this study, the impact of the weak zone on the formation of the relaxation zone was investigated. For this purpose, a series of laboratory test were carried out varying the width of the weak zone and the separation distance between tunnel face and weak zone. In the model test, sand with a water content of 3.8% was used to form a model ground. The model weak zone was constructed with dry sand curtains. The tunnel face was adjusted to allow a sequential excavation of upper and lower half part. load cells were installed on the bottom of the foundation and the tunnel face and measuring instruments for displacement were installed on the surface of the model ground to measure the vertical stress and surface displacements due to tunnel excavation respectively. The test results show that the width of weak zone did not affect the ground settlement while the ground subsidence drastically increased within 0.25D. The vertical stress and horizontal stress increased from 0.5D or less. In addition, the longitudinal arching effect is likely within the 1.0D zone ahead of the tunnel face, which may reduce the vertical stress in the ground following tunneling direction.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.97-109
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• 2009

One of the main causes of asphalt rutting is high temperature of the pavement. Nevertheless, there has been few research on lowering the pavement temperature for reducing rutting. This study investigated the performance characteristics of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement, which is known to have a temperature reducing effect. The purpose of this study is to quantify the temperature reducing effect of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement and its effect of reducing rutting through Accelerated Pavement Testing(APT). Additionally, the possibility of reducing the thickness of the pavement in comparison to general dense grade pavement by analyzing structural layer coefficient of moisture retaining pavement. A total of three test sections consisting of two moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement sections and one general dense-grade porous asphalt pavement section were constructed for this study. Heating and spraying of water were carried out in a regular cycle. The loading condition was 8.2 ton of wheel load, the tire pressure of $7.03kgf/cm^2$, and the contact area of $610cm^2$. The result of this experiment revealed that the temperature reducing effect of the pavement was about $6.6{\sim}7.9^{\circ}C$(average of $7.4^{\circ}C$) for the middle layer and $7.9{\sim}9.8^{\circ}C$(average of $8.8^{\circ}C$) for surface course, resulting in a rutting reduction of 26% at the pavement surface. Additionally, the structural layer coefficient of moisture retaining pavement measured from a laboratory test was 0.173, about 1.2 times that of general dense grade pavement. The general dense-grade porous asphalt pavement test section exhibited rutting at all layers of surface course, middle layer, and base layer, while the test sections of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement manifested rutting mostly at surface course only.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.619-628
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• 2001

In building construction, openings of the story-height deep beams are usually required for accessibility and service lines such as air conditioning ducts, drain pipes and electric units. It is known that the main parameters affecting the load bearing capacity of deep beams with web openings are size, shape, location and reinforcements of openings. However, there have been no pertinent theories and national design codes for predicting ultimate shear strength of reinforced concrete deep beams with web openings. In this study, the shear behavior of simply supported reinforced concrete deep beams with web openings subject to concentrated loads has been scrutinized experimentally. A total of 34 specimens, the geometry of openings, its reinforcements and shear span to depth ratio, being taken as the experimental variables, has been cast and tested in the laboratory. The effects of these structural parameters on the shear strength and crack initiation and propagation have been carefully checked and analyzed. From the tests, it has been observed that the failures of all specimens were due to shear mechanism and the ultimate strength of specimens varies according to the location of openings, by which the formation of compression struts between the loading points and supports are deterred. All of the test results of specimens have been compared with the formulas proposed by previous researchers. The results were closely coincident with the formulas given by Ray and Kong's equation except for some X series specimens having a larger dimension of openings beyond the geometric limits of proposed equations.