• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.5-22
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• 2017

The procedure that combines the result of infiltration analysis into stability analysis based on the limit equilibrium method is widely used to evaluate the impact of rainfall infiltration on slope stability. Accurate prediction of rainfall infiltration is essential to the prediction of landslides caused by rainfall, requires to obtain accurate unsaturated hydraulic properties of the soil. Among the unsaturated hydraulic characteristics of the soil, the importance of the soil-water characteristic curve describing the retained water characteristics of the soil is relatively well known and the measurement by test method to obtain the SWCC is gradually increasing. However, it takes a lot of time and expenses to experimentally measure the unsaturated conductivity characteristics of the soil. Therefore, it is common practice to estimate the hydraulic conductivity function from the SWCC. Although it is widely known that the SWCC has a great influence on rainfall infiltration, studies on the effect of the hydraulic conductivity function estimated from the SWCC on rainfall infiltration are very limited. In this study, we explained how the estimation model of the hydraulic conductivity function affects rainfall infiltration and slope stability analysis. To this end, one-dimensional infiltration analysis and slope stability analysis were conducted by using the data on the SWCC of weathered granite soil widely distributed in Korea. The applicability of each estimation model is discussed through review of the analysis results.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.23-30
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• 2012

This paper is research results of slope stability analysis associated with seepage infiltration for unsaturated soil in debris-flow occurrence slopes. Site investigations were carried out in two slopes, located at Inje in Kangwon province where debris flow occurred in 2006 and at Yangpyung in Kyeunggi province where it occurred in 2010. For unsaturated soil sampled at the zone of debris-flow initiation, soil water characteristic curves with tempe pressure cells and shear strength parameters with newly designed shear strength apparatus were obtained respectively. The commertially available software SEEP/W was used to analyze seepage infiltration in unsaturated soil, based on their properties obtained from test results and the actual rainfall data at the moment of debris flow occurrence, and slope stability analysis with the program of SLOPE/W, associated with results of seepage analysis, was performed to simulate slope failure. As results of this research, seepage infiltration to unsaturated soil due to intensive rainfall was found to cause increase of ground water table as well as degree of saturation. Through this research slope stability analysis for unsaturated soil, considering the actual rainfall characteristic, might be a reasonable method of investigating characteristics of debris flow behavior, in particular, the moment of debris flow occurrence.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.109-116
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• 2010

Infiltration and the rising level of groundwater caused by rainfall are a major cause of the landslide and sliding. In order to secure the safety factor of slope, the slope stabilization and reinforcement works are used to enhance consistency. Nailing, Slope Drainage method and the surface vegetation measures can be simultaneously applied in the Mass Nail method, which is also environmental friendly reinforcement method. To demonstrate the reinforcement effect of a strengthened slope by Mass Nail, the changes in water contents by rainfall were considered while performing Scale Model Test. As a result, safety factor of reinforced slope was about 1.4~2.3 times increased on the unstrength slope. In the case of increasing water content 10% to 22%, The maximum stress was reduced to 12%~24% at the average rate of 18% on the unstrength slope and the reinforced slope by the Mass Nail Method was reduced to 4%~23% at the average rate of 14%.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.541-552
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• 2019

In this study, landslide flume tests were performed to analyze characteristics of ground characteristics and landslide occurrence due to rainfall infiltration. As test materials, weathered granite soil and gneiss soil, the most frequent landslides in Korea, were used, and landslides were triggered by heavy rain (Intensity = 200 mm/hr). The measurement sensors were installed with 3 sets at toe, slope, top part and shallow (GL-0.2 m), middle (GL-0.4 m), and deep (GL-0.6 m) depth in the slope and measured at 10 second intervals. After landslide flume tests, the slope stability analysis was performed by applying the unsaturated soil theory based on the change of ground characteristics and compared with actual landslide occurrence from flume test. As a result of the analysis, factor of safety reflected the landslide occurrence from flume test and factor of safety decreased as rainfall infiltration, leading to slope failure. Finally we compared to the factor of safety below 1 and actual landslide occurrence time, the average difference was 1,600 seconds for weathered granite soil and 5,400 seconds for weathered gneiss soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.509-516
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• 2002

Rainfall-induced landslides in a weathered granite soil slope have mostly relative shallow slip surfaces above the groundwater table The pore-water pressure of soil above the groundwater table is usually negative. This negative pore-water pressure(or matric suction) has been found to make a large contribution to the slope stability. Therefore, the variation of in-situ matric suction profiles with time in a soil slope should be understood. In this study, a field measurement program was carried out from June to August, 2001 to monitor in-situ matric suctions and volumetric water contents in a weathered granite soil slope. The influence of climatic conditions on the variation of in-situ matric suctions could be found to decrease rapidly with depth. It could be found that decrement of matric suction induced by precipitation is affected not only by the amount and duration of rainfalls but also by the initial matric suction just prior to rainstorms. The soil-water characteristic from the field monitoring tends toward the wetting path of SWCC obtained from the laboratory test.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.331-337
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• 2015

A new technique is presented to detect unstable slope behavior, based on Hotelling's T² analysis of pore pressure and water content obtained during flume tests using granitic and gneissic weathered soils. Three sets of pore pressure-water content values were simultaneously obtained during each test, and T² statistics at the 90.0% and 95.0% confidence levels were calculated based on the correlations between values. The results show that unsuccessful detection of some local failures of the flume slope depended on the sensor position. In the case of global slope failures, anomalous behavior was detected between several hundred and several thousand seconds before the event as T² statistics exceeded the confidence interval 90%. Hotelling's T² analysis provides a single control criterion because it enables correlations between diverse measured values within the same slope; the criterion also includes stepwise criteria for a forecasting and warning system based on confidence levels.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.71-77
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• 2014

Heavy rainfall induces many disasters including slope failure and infrastructure collapse. In this point of view, rainfall-simulated centrifugal model test can be a reasonable tool to evaluate the stability of geotechnical structure. In order to obtain the displacements of a model in centrifugal model test, in general, LVDT and laser displacement sensor are used. However, when the rainfall is simulated, the LVDT has the problem of excessive infiltration into the model ground, and the laser displacement sensor provides the measuring result with inaccuracy due to the dispersion of the laser radiation. Hence, in this study, horizontal displacement sensor for rainfall-simulated centrifugal model test was developed. This sensor produced with a thin elastic steel plate and gave the accurate relationship between the displacement and the strain.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.13-27
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• 2023

The model production for large-scale (lateral length ≥ 2.0 m) capillary barrier (CB) model tests is time and cost-intensive. To address these limitations, the framework of a small-scale CB (SSCB) model test under the lateral no-flow condition has been established. In this study, to validate the experimental methodology of the SSCB model test, a series of seepage analyses on the SSCB model test and engineered slopes in the same and additional test conditions was performed. First, the seepage behavior and diversion length (L_D) of the CB system were investigated under three rainfall conditions. In the seepage analysis for the engineered slopes with different slope angles and sand layer thicknesses, the L_D increased with the increase in the slope angle and sand layer thickness, although the increase rate of the L_D with the sand layer thickness exhibited an upper limit. The L_D values from the seepage analysis agreed well with the results estimated from the laboratory SSCB mode test. Therefore, it can be concluded that the experimental methodology of the SSCB model test is one of the promising alternatives to efficiently evaluate the water-shielding performance of the CB system for an engineered slope.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

The objective of this research was to experimentally test the effect of tillage methods on the reduction of runoff, non-point source (NPS) pollution load, sediment and discharge under a rainfall simulation. We used the runoff plots of $5m{\times}30m$ ($L{\times}W$) in size. Experimental treatments were conventional tillage (CT), CT-rice straw bundle (CT-RSB) and two no-till (NT) plots; slope of 3 % or 8 % ; and rainfall intensity of 30 mm/hr. The rainfall simulation was conducted to three times. The time to initial runoff from NT plots was less than that from CT plots regardless of the slope and it was delayed about 65~90 % compared to that of CT plot. And sediment discharge of 8 % slope reduced to 55 % compared to CT plot. But the sediment discharge was not occurred at 3 % slope. The NT and CT-RSB methods have a great possibility of reducing runoff and NPS pollution loads. Runoff rate of NT plots was significantly lower than those of CT plot. The average NPS pollution loads of the NT plots and CT-RSB plot reduced about 55~80 % and 2.1~40 % compared to those of the CT plots, respectively. It was also shown that runoff and NPS pollution loads reduction by NT method could be very significant and contribute to improve the water quality of streams in agricultural regions. It was concluded that the use of NT method on agricultural fields could reduce soil erosion and muddy runoff significantly and help improve the water quality and aquatic ecosystem.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.237-246
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• 2021

With climate change, debris flow has been increasing due to the collapse and erosion of shallow slopes caused by extreme rainfall. It is preferred to an economical and eco-friendly method rather than reinforcement of soil slopes with the earth anchor or nailing method. In this study, a soil improvement agent was developed by utilizing insitu soil, leaf mold, and used harbal medicine to help sufficient vegetation. In addition, to prevent surface erosion, shear strength of the soil was increased by using micro cement and hemihydrate gypsum as additives. The optimum mix ratio of the mixture is determined by increasing the shear strength by checking the erosion progress of the ground surface layer due to rainfall through an laboratory test. The safety factor of soil slope has been improved on the slope surface reinforced by the improvement agent, and the strength of erosion has been increased, making it efficient to cope with heavy rain during wet season.