• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2007.09a
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• pp.481-501
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• 2007

Excessive rainfalls due to climatic changes can trigger an increase in rainfall-induced slope failures that pose real threats to both lives and properties. Many high slopes in residual soils could stand at a steep angle, but failed during or after rainfall. Commonly, these slopes have a deep groundwater table and negative pore-water pressures in the unsaturated zone above the groundwater table contribute to the shear strength of soil and consequently to factor of safety of the slope. Stability assessment of slope under rainfall requires information on rate of rainwater infiltration in the unsaturated zone and the resulting changes in pore-water pressure and shear strength of soil. This paper describes the application of unsaturated soil mechanics principles and theories in the assessment of rainfall effect on stability of slope through proper characterization of soil properties, measurement of negative pore-water pressures, seepage and slope stability analyses involving unsaturated and saturated soils. Factors controlling the rate of changes in factor of safety during rainfall and a preventive method to minimize infiltration are highlighted in this paper.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.8 no.2 s.28
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• pp.95-104
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• 2006

Hysteresis is a common feature exhibited in hydraulic properties of an unsaturated soil. This study focuses on hysteresis observed in a compacted weathered granite subgrade soils based on the pressure plate laboratory tests. It was found that the Soil-Water Characteristics Curve of a soil is hysteretic and unique. The results also show that the wetting and drying curves predicted using the Fredlund and Xing model is quite close to the laboratory-measured results. For a specific matric suction, water content or coefficient of permeability on a wetting curve is always lower than those found on a drying curve.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2013

In this paper, in order to solve high water content of water sludge and promote its recycle, sludge mixtures with various mixing ratios were produced. Sludge mixture consisted of water sludge and weathered granite soil. Their physical properties and unsaturated characteristics (soil-water characteristic curve, and unsaturated permeability function) were investigated by laboratory tests. Experimental test results indicated that at a given matric suction volumetric water content of sludge mixture increased as water sludge content increased. Air entry values of sludge mixture increased from 0.9 kPa to 2.4 kPa with an increase in water sludge content or fine content. In addition, unsaturated permeability function, which is an important factor for performing infiltration analysis, was predicted using saturated permeability and soil-water characteristic curve of sludge mixture.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2008

The coefficient of permeability for a soil can be determined by the direct or the indirect method. The direct method of permeability can be performed either in the laboratory or in the field. The indirect method can be predicted from the soil-water characteristic curve. In this study, the coefficient of permeability for an unsaturated soil was determined by the modified apparatus of steady-state method (Klute, 1972) and was predicted from the equations of Brooks & Corey (1964) and van Genuchten (1980). The experimental results were compared with predicted coefficient of permeability and the applicability of the two equations (from Brooks & Corey, van Genuchten) was reviewed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.75-87
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• 2010

Incessant rainfalls in unsaturated soil raises pore water pressure and drops shear stress. Controlling pore water pressure in unsaturated soil prevents pressure increase and leads to slope stability. Laboratory experiment of pore water absorption in soil tank has been conducted for pore pressure decrease in soil slope under artifical rainfall supplied in varying rainfall indensities. Soil slope failure triggers the deepening of the wetting front to critical depth accompanied by decrease in matric suction induced by water infilteration. This paper addresses an experimental design for absorption pipe to prevent pore pressure increase in unsaturated soil slope from heavy rain. It is expected that absorption pipe will be widely used in unsaturated soil slope to strengthen slope stability.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.377-385
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• 2015

We constructed a model test apparatus to evaluate the dependence of the saturation velocity (V_s) in soils on rainfall intensity (I_R). The apparatus comprises a soil box, a rainfall simulator, and measuring sensors. The model grounds (60 cm × 50 cm × 15 cm) were formed by Joomunjin standard sand with a relative density of 75%. The rainfall simulator can control the rainfall intensity to reenact the actual rainfall in a soil box. Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) sensors and tensiometers were installed in the soils to measure changes in the volumetric water content and matric suction due to rainfall infiltration. During the tests, the soil saturation was determined by raising the groundwater table, which was formed at the bottom of the soil box. [Please check that the correct meaning has been maintained.] The wetting front did not form at the ground surface during rainfall because the soil particles were uniform and the coefficient of permeability was relatively high. Our results show that the suction stress of the soils decreased with increasing volumetric water content, and this effect was most pronounced for volumetric water contents of 20%-30%. Based on a regression analysis of the relationship between rainfall intensity and the average saturation velocity, we suggest the following equation for estimating the saturation velocity in soils: V_savg (cm/sec) = 0.068I_R (mm/hr).

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.71-79
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• 2011

In this study, the variation of wetting front and ground water level at the embankment constructed in the Saemangeum area were predicted considering rainfall duration times and the slope stability analysis of the embankment was carried out according to prediction results of wetting front and ground water level. The embankment was formed by dredging soils. A suction stress, a cohesion and a frictional angle of dreding soils measured by soil tests were applied to estimate the unsaturated soil properties. According to the analysis results of the wetting front and the ground water level for various rainfall duration time, the wetting front began to descend from the upper part of embankment at the beginning time of rainfall and after 1 hour of rainfall duration time. After that, the ground water level continued to ascend as the rainfall duration time was getting longer. After rainfall, the ground water level was distributed at a certain depth, and the ground water level was gradually descending as time goes by. According to the slope stability analysis of the embankment considering the variation of the wetting front and the ground water level, the safety factor of slope was rapidly reduced as the rainfall began to infiltrate into the ground, and the minimum safety factor of slope was estimated after 24 hours of rainfall duration time. Meanwhile, the safety factor of slope was increased with regaining the matric suction in the ground after rainfall.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.158-164
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• 2008

Abstract Infiltration of rainfall that may lead to reduce resistance force due to reduction of matric suction and to increase driving force due to increase of self weight makes the slope fail. There are many specifications to make slope stable based on factor of safety. Although result of slope stability analysis satisfy the specifications, slope failures triggered by rainfall are frequently occurred in reality because slope stability analysis cannot consider uncertainty of each soil properties. This is why conventional analysis has limitation and development of alternative method is needed. So it is suggested to adopt the reliability analysis rather than design based on factor of safety into designing safer structure. Through the evaluation of handicaps for the factor of safety based design, calculation of soil properties by site investigation, and reliability analysis considering distribution of each soil properties, distribution of failure probability in railway slope is obtained. Then, Risk assessment of slopes in Korean railway is executed from the results. Damage loss and incoming loss are considered as the loss. Using these results, it is possible to make proper countermeasure or efficient maintenance.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.135-143
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• 2005

This paper presents a case history of a geosynthetics-reinforced segmental retaining wall, which collapsed during a severe rainfall immediately after the completion of the wall construction. In an attempt to identify possible causes for the collapse, a comprehensive investigation was carried out including physical and strength tests on the backfill, stability analyses on the as-built design based on the current design approaches, and slope stability analyses with pore pressure consideration. The investigation revealed that the inappropriate as-built design and the bad-quality backfill were mainly responsible for the collapse. This paper describes the site condition including wall design, details of the results of investigation and finally, lessons learned. Practical significance of the findings from this study is also discussed.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.33-44
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• 1998

Preliminary study has been conducted to analyse the co-relation between shallow landslides frequently occurring in rainy seasons and the water infiltration into the slope. The change of stress state due to partial saturation of a soil and hence the reduction of its shear strength have been reviewed. The variation of the safety factor of an infinite planar slope in accordance with various water infiltration scenarios has been estimated by limit equilibrium method to explain the mechanism of shallow slope failure. Numerical analysis under the same condition as those of some models dealt with in the previous method has been carried out by using FLAC, a finite difference program, and the results have been compared with the ones obtained by limit equilibrium method. Both results proved to be identical, which implies the ability of the numerical approach to the problems related to the stability analysis of unsaturated slope with the irregular geometry. Further improvement, however, should be made to apply the present analysis procedure to general slopes since it deals with a simple one.