• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2023

Due to climate change and aging of reservoirs, damage to embankment slopes is increasing. However, the safety diagnosis of the reservoir slope is mainly conducted by visual observation, and the time and economic cost are formidable to apply soil mechanical tests and slope stability analysis. Accordingly, this study presented a predicting method for the compaction and strength characteristics of the reservoir embankment soil using a portable static cone penetration test. The predicted items consisted of dry density, cohesion, and internal friction angle, which are the main factors of slope stability analysis. Portable static cone penetration tests were performed at 19 reservoir sites, and prediction equations were constructed from the correlation between penetration resistance data and test results of soil samples. The predicted dry density and strength parameters showed a correlation with test results between R² 0.40 and 0.93, and it was found to replace the test results well when used as input data for slope stability analysis (R² 0.8134 or more, RMSE 0.0320 or less). In addition, the prediction equations for the minimum safety factor of the slope were presented using the penetration resistance and gradient. As a result of comparing the predicted safety factor with the analysis results, R² 0.5125, RMSE 0.0382 in coarse-grained soil, R² 0.4182 and RMSE 0.0628 in fine-grained soil. The results of this study can be used as a way to improve the existing slope safety diagnosis method, and are expected to be used to predict the characteristics of various soils and inspect slopes.