• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.45-51
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• 2012

The shear strength of weathered granite soils under unsaturated condition was evaluated by $K_0$ consolidated triaxial tests. Various matric suctions in the unsaturated triaxial tests were applied using suction-controlled triaxial test apparatus for weathered granite soils obtained in Daegu. Soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) laboratory tests for drying and wetting procedure were performed and van Genuchten curves were fitted by experimental results. The contribution of matric suction in unsaturated soils is directly correlated to effective stress and evaluated from SWCCs. The effective stresses were estimated from these SWCCs and the relationship between effective stress and unsaturated shear strength was determined. In the effective stress description, the unsaturated shear strength with respect to various suctions indicates unique relationship and almost the same as that of the saturated envelope.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.37-48
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• 2017

Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) has been widely used to estimate the shear strength and coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils. In general, it is divided into the drying path in which the water is discharged and the wetting path in which the water is permeated, and it has a hysteresis indicating different suctions at the same volumetric water content. In reality the field behavior of unsaturated soils is much closer to the wetting path during the infiltration. The drying path has been practically used for various analyses because obtaining the wetting path takes longer than the drying path. Although many approaches for estimating wetting path have been studied till now, these are complex and do not fit well. Therefore, a simple method for estimating wetting path based on empirical approach in this study is proposed in unsaturated soils, and a feasibility study is conducted as well.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.55-64
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• 2006

Shallow failures of slopes in weathered soils are caused by infiltration caused by prolonged rainfall. These failures are mainly triggered by the deepening of the wetting band accompanied by a decrease in suction induced by the water infiltration. In this paper, hysteresis on soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) of granite and gneiss weathered soils is investigated using transient flow analysis respectively. Each case was subjected to artificial rainfall intensities and time duration depending on the laboratory-based drying and wetting processes. The results show that the unsaturated seepage on weathered slopes are very much affected by the initial suction of soils and unsaturated permeability of the soils. In addition, a granite weathered soil has a lower air-entry value, residual matric suction, and wetting front suction and less hysteresis loop than a gneiss weathered soil.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.49-60
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• 2010

Unsaturated permeability function is an important factor in the design and analysis of various unsaturated soil structures. Generally the permeability characteristics decrease as the mat ric suction increases and the trend is similar to water retention characteristics of a soil. The permeability of unsaturated soils can be obtained directly by laboratory tests or indirectly by estimation methods from other soil properties. For unsaturated soils sampled from 7 areas in KOREA, SWCCs and unsaturated permeability functions were obtained by experimental tests. The unsaturated permeability results were also compared with the unsaturated permeability functions derived from the SWCCs theoretically. However, the current estimation models of unsaturated permeability function did not express the unsaturated permeability characteristics. Therefore, the FXK-M permeability function was modified to predict more accurate permeability functions for Korean weathered soils using a correction factor that can be calculated from the air-entry value of SWCC. The new estimation model resulted in good agreements for all tested soils.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.227-232
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• 1995

The model equations including scaling factors to estimate the soil water characteristics curve(SWCC) without direct measurement of soil water tension were developed. Scaling were applied to a data set of soil water content, soil water tension, particle size distribution, and OM contents of the 134 soil samples with the 10 soil textural classes. The capability of the model equations was tested on another 205 soil samples. The parameter, ${\theta}^*$, of soil water contents was used by scale transformation as follows : ${\theta}^*=[{\theta}i-{\theta}(1.5MPa)]$/$[{\theta}(10KPa)-{\theta}(1.5MPa)]$ Using ${\theta}^*$ a model equation to estimate SWCC, which was applicable to all textural classes, was developed as follows: $H(0.1MPa)=0.13{\cdot}({\theta}^*)^{-2.04}$. Other model equations to estimate the water content at the soil water tension of 10KPa [${\theta}(10KPa)$] and 1.5MPa [${\theta}(1.5MPa)$], which are required to ${\theta}^*$ were developed by using scale factors of sand(S) and silt(Si) content and organic matter content(OM) as foilows : ${\theta}(10KPa)=26.80-3.99ln[S]+2.36{\sqrt{[Si]}}+2.88[OM]$ ($R=0.81^{**}$) ${\theta}(1.5KPa)=15.75-2.86ln[S]+0.55{\sqrt{[Si]}}+0.70[OM]$ ($R=0.76^{**}$) The measured and estimated values of ${\theta}(1/30MPa)$ on the 205 soil samples were highly correlated on 1 : 1 corresponding line with $R=0.85^{**}$.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.33-42
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of soil grain size and its distribution on soil-water characteristic. To do this, soil-water characteristic tests were conducted on Saemangeum silt using the axis translation technique. For comparison, the test was also conducted on Jumunjin sand. Using the test results, the soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) of Saemangeum silt and Jumunjin sand were predicted by Van Genuchten model. By comparison and analysis between two SWCCs, the silt shows higher values of matric suction, water content, and air entry value than the sand. On the other hand, the sand has higher values of Van Genuchten model parameters of ${\alpha}$, $n$, $m$ than the silt. It indicates that the SWCC is significantly dependent on the structure of soils. In other words, if a soil has relatively high grain size and poor grain size distribution curve, the values of saturated volumetric water content, residual volumetric water content, and air entry value are small, and the variation of volumetric water content is high in accordance with the matric suction variation, and consequently it shows a narrow range of funicular region.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.117-127
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• 2008

The volumetric pressure plate extractor (VPPE) was modified for the measurement of shear wave velocity ($V_s$) at various levels of matric suction as well as soil water characteristic curve (SWCC). A non-destructive technique with a pair of bender element (BE) was employed in order to measure the $V_s$ and the corresponding maximum shear modulus ($G_{max}$) of unsaturated soil specimens. Three types of soil were collected from different road construction sites in Korea. For all test soils, the variations in $G_{max}$ with the various levels of water content and matric suction were investigated using the developed apparatus. Compared with the preceding results from the suction-controlled torsional shear (TS) testing system and in-situ seismic tests, the feasibility fur evaluating modulus characteristics of unsaturated compacted soils with the developed VPPE-BE system was assessed. It was confirmed that the newly developed system would be potentially helpful in modeling seasonal variation of modulus.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.329-333
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• 2006

Most of volcanic ash soils in South Korea are distributed in Jeju province which is an island placed on southern part of Korea and has steep slope mountain area. There are many soils containing high contents of organic matter (OM) derived from volcanic ash in Jejudo, also. Therefore, irrigation and drainage in volcanic ash soil different with general soil which has low OM content have to be applied with another management way, but studies searching appropriate methods for them are set on insufficient situation because the area of volcanic ash soil in South Korea is only 1.3% (130,000ha). This study was conducted for analysis of soil water content and irrigation quantity appropriate for crops cultivated in volcanic ash soil with high OM content. Although soils with different soil color have the same soil texture, soil water characteristics curve by soil color showed the difference of water retention capability by OM content. But, this characteristics classified with soil color could be unified by scaling technique with similitude analysis method which get dimensionless water content using a present water content, a residual water content and saturated water content (or water content at 10kPa). A relation of gravimetric soil water content (GSWC) and dimensionless water content by the results showed a form of power function. The dimensionless water content (DWC) express a relative saturation degree of present water content. This was also expressed by van Genuchten model which describe the relation between relative saturation degrees and matric potentials. These results on soil water characteristics curve (SWCC) of volcanic ash soil will be the basic of irrigation plan in area having high organic contents into soil.