• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1073-1082
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• 2015

The behavior of the unsaturated soil slope can be influenced by the various factors such as the hydraulic characteristics, the mechanical characteristics, the coefficient of conductivity, the stratifications, the rainfall conditions i.e. the rainfall intensity, the rainfall pattern, the duration time of the rainfall and the antecedent rainfall etc. It is known that the slope failure is influenced greatly by the antecedent rainfall rather than the rainfall condition at the failure time, so the antecedent rainfall is supposed to be a very important factor in slope stability analysis among these factors. To predict and to prevent the slope failure by the rainfall, the distribution of the matric suction by the antecedent rainfall must be considered first of all and the slope stability analysis should be carried out by considering the successive rainfall characteristics. In this research, 3 samples with different quantity (5%, 10%, 20%) of silts were prepared and the SWCC (Soil-water characteristic curve) tests were carried out and the associated parameters were analyzed. After analyzing the distribution of the matric suction and the change of the mechanical characteristics such as the stress and the strength when applying the antecedent rainfall for one month and the successive intensive rainfall for 12 hours, the slope stability analyses were carried out numerically. And the influence of the antecedent rainfall for one month and the SWCC on the stability of a slope were compared and analyzed.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.555-571
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• 2023

Due to South Korea's concentrated summer rainfall, constituting 70% of the annual total, landslides frequently occur during the rainy season, necessitating accurate prediction methods to mitigate associated damage. In this study, a reduced-scale and full-scale slope was configured using weathered granite soil to find the possibility of establishing measurement management criterias through landslide reproduction. The experiment focused on matric suction, analyzing changes in ground properties and failure patterns caused by rainfall infiltration. Subsequently, an unsaturated infinite slope stability analysis was conducted. By calculating the failure time when the safety factor falls below 1 for each experiment, landslide prediction was demonstrated to be possible, approximately 17 minutes prior for the reduction-scale experiment and 6.5 hours for the full-scale experiment. These findings provide useful data for establishing Korean soil slope measurement management criteria that consider the characteristics of weathered granite soil.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2006

In Korea, most landslides occurred during the rainy season and had a shallow failure plane parallel to the slope. For these types of rainfall-induced failures, the most important factor triggering slope unstability is decrease in the matric suction of unsaturated soils with increasing saturation depth by rainfall infiltration. The saturation depth was readily estimated using modified Green-Ampt model proposed by Chu et al. (Chu Model) at present. But Chu Model involves some problems for application, because water-redistribution phenomena were not effected. So the modified Chu Model (MCGAM) which reflect water redistribution phono mens was developed. The results showed that the MCGAM had a better agreement with measured volumetric water contents than existing Chu Model.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.7 no.4 s.26
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• pp.103-112
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• 2005

Water content of sub-layer in pavement systems has a large effect on pavement performance. Many researchers lately make use of time-domain reflectometry(TDR) probes to measure the soil water content of sub-layer from field monitoring. The laboratory calibration test of TDR probe should be performed with soil field, because TDR probe can cause an error by type, gradation, density, and temperature of soil. This study performed the laboratory calibration test of TDR probe(CS616) with subgrade and subbase material in long term pavement performance(LTPP) sections. And the calibration equations of TDR probe(CS616) were then proposed. It was confirmed from the study that the data of TDR probe monitored in field could be used to estimate the freezing, unfrozen water content, and matric suction of soil.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2013

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation into the behavior of retaining wall subject to cycles of wetting and drying due to rainfall. The stress-pore pressure coupled finite element modeling strategy was first established for stimulating the wall behavior. A series of finite element analyses were then performed on a range of conditions including different rainfall and backfill conditions. The results indicated that the rainfall intensity was the primary influencing factor for the wall behavior. Also revealed was that the pre-rainfall condition determines the magnitudes and the distribution of matric suction which in fact has a significant impact on the behavior of wall during a major rainfall. This result demonstrates the importance of incorporating the pre-rainfall condition for numerical modeling of walls during heavy rainfall. Practical implications of the findings from this study are discussed in great detail.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.27-38
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• 2003

The characteristics and prediction model of the shear strength of unsaturated residual granite soils were studied in this paper. In order to investigate the influence of the net normal stress on the shear strength, unsaturated triaxial tests and SWCC tests were carried out by varying the net normal stress. Experimental data for unsaturated shear strength tests were compared with predicted shear strength envelopes obtained from existing prediction models. It was shown that the soil-water characteristic curve and the shear strength of the unsaturated soil varied with the change of the net normal stress. Therefore, to achieve a truly descriptive shear strength envelope for unsaturated soils, the effect of the normal stress on the contribution of matric suction to the shear strength has to be taken into consideration. In this paper, a modified prediction model f3r the unsaturated shear strength was proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.109-122
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• 2002

The water content of soil near the ground subgrade varies seasonally, and dynamic deformational characteristics of soil are affected by the variation of water content. Contrary to previous studies which used various specimens of different compaction moisture contents, the influences of water content and capillary Pressure on dynamic deformational characteristics of soil were investigated using the given specimen controlling the matric suction. RC/TS(resonant column and torsional shear) testing equipment was modified so that it can control water content with changing capillary pressure(matric suction). RC/TS tests were performed on subgrade soil collected in the KHC(Korea Highway Corporation) test road. In the field, the cross-hole tests were performed and the water contents were measured at the same site to verify the feasibility and applicability of RC/TS test results. As water content decreased, the tendency of increasing shear moduli in field was well matched with laboratory test results.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.13-26
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• 2023

This study examined the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), considering the volume change, using wetting curves on the field monitoring data of a wireless sensor network. Special attention was given to evaluating the landslide vulnerability by deriving a matric suction suitable for the actual site during the wetting process. Laboratory drying SWCC and shrinkage laboratory tests were used to perform the combined analysis of landslide and debris flow. The results showed that the safety factor of the wetting curve, considering the volume change of soil, was lower than that of the drying curve. As a result of numerical analyses of the debris flow simulation, more debris flow occurred in the wetting curve than in the drying curve. It was also found that the landslide analysis with the drying curve tends to overestimate the actual safety factor with the in situ wetting curve. Finally, it is confirmed that calculating the matric suction through SWCC considering the volume change is more appropriate and reasonable for the field landslide analysis.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.4C
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• pp.185-191
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• 2010

Volumetric pressure plate extractor (VPPE) can be used for measurement of the soil-water characteristic curve in the laboratory using the axis-translation technique. The volume of extracted water from the soil specimen in VPPE can be measured continuously during the test without stoppage of air pressure for the measurements. However, the water volume measurement in VPPE using an air trap, a ballast tube, a burette, and a vacuum device so as to maintain a constant pore-water pressure in the soil specimen, is quite complicated and tedious. In order to improve the measuring problems of VPPE, a modified volumetric pressure plate extractor (MVPPE) was developed and tested on residual soil specimens. In addition, the modified apparatus can measure the volume of the extracted water using both Method A and Method B of ASTM D 6836-02 depending on the range of matric suction. Measuring principles and the improvements of MVPPE and typical results obtained from the tests are discussed in the paper.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.91-103
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• 2009

Slope failure depends upon the climatic features related to related rainfall, structural geology and geomorphological features as well as the variation of the mechanical behaviors of soil constituting a slope. In this paper, among many variables, effects of soil layer thickness on the slope failure process, and variations of matric suction and volumetric water content were observed. When the soil layer is relatively thick, the descending wetting front decreases matric suction and the observed matric suction reaches to "0" value. When the wetting front reaches to the impermeable boundary, the bottom surface of steel soil box, ascending wetting front was observed. This observation can be postulated to be the effects of various sizes of pores. When macro size pores exist, the capillary effects can be reduced and infilling of pore will be limited. The partially filled pores would be filled with water during the ascending of the wetting front, which bounces from the impermeable boundary. This assumption has been assured from the observation of variation of the volumetric water contents at different depth. When the soil layer is thick (thickness = 20 cm), for granular material, erosion is a cause triggering the slope failure. It has been found that the initiation of erosion occurs when the top soil is fully saturated. Meanwhile, when the soil layer is shallow (thickness = 10 cm), slope slides as en mass. The slope failure for this condition occurs when the wetting front reaches to the interface between the soil layer and steel soil box. As the wetting front approaches to the bottom of soil layer, reduction of shear resistance along the boundary and increase of the unit weight due to the infiltration occur and these produce complex effects on the slope failure processes.