• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.247-258
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• 2020

The shear strength of unsaturated soils, a research hotspot in geotechnical engineering, has great guiding significance for geotechnical engineering design. Although kinds of calculation models for the shear strength of unsaturated soil have been put forward by predecessors, there is still need for new models to extensively consider the nonlinear variation of shear strength, particularly for the nonlinear effect of the net normal stress on the shear strength of unsaturated soil. Here, the shear strength of unsaturated soils is explored to study the nonlinear effects of net normal stress with the introduction of a general nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) strength criterion, and the relationship between the matric suction (or suction stress) and degree of saturation (DOS) constructed by the soil-water characteristics curve (SWCC) of van Genuchten is also applied for unsaturated soil. Then, two calculation models (i.e., an envelope shell model and an effective stress model) are established for the shear strength of unsaturated soils under the nonlinear strength theory. In these two models, the curve of the shear strength of unsaturated soils versus the net normal stress exhibits a tendency to gently. Moreover, the proposed formulas have flexibility and convenience with five parameters (for the effective stress model) or six parameters (for the envelope shell model), which are from the M-C strength parameters of the saturated soil and fitting parameters of SWCC of van Genuchten. Thereafter, by comparison with the classical theory of the shear strength of unsaturated soils from some actual cases, the rationality and accuracy of the present models were verified.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.21-28
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• 2010

Decomposed granite soil is the most common type of soils. The measurement of the stress-strain-strength behavior of anisotropic decomposed granite soils is very important for the deformation and stability analysis of slopes, retaining walls, excavations. A series of unsaturated-drained triaxial compression tests were performed to know unsaturated strength properties. The sample had three different angles of the axial (major principal) direction to the sedimentation plane (compaction plane): 0, 45 and 90 degrees. The compression strain of specimens subjected to an isotropic compression was strongly influenced by the sedimentation angle. In addition, the time dependence was independent of the sedimentation angle in relation to the deformation behavior during the secondary compression process. The effect of the sedimentation angle on the triaxial compression strength and deformation was clearly shown with low confining stress. The effect of the sedimentation angle on the compressive strength and deformation was more evident in saturated specimens. A new method of predicting the shear strength of unsaturated decomposed granite soils, considering compaction angles, was proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.31-41
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• 2013

In this study, the properties of mudstone weathered soils related to landslides were analyzed at the area of landslide induced by heavy rainfall in Pohang. The soil tests were carried out to the soils obtained from landslide and non landslide sites, and the soil properties were investigated. The correlation between soil properties and landslides were analyzed using statistical technique, and then the soil factors were extracted from the correlation analysis. The correlation equation which can calculate the coefficient of permeability influenced on landslides was proposed using the soil factors. As the result of analysis, the porosity and unit weight of soils from the landslide area is smaller than those of soils from the non landslide area. The soils with poor grain size distribution and loose unit weight are prone to landslides because the soils have a large void ratio and a low unit weight. The permeability of soils from the landslide area is larger than that of soils from the non landslide area. According to the result of correlation analysis, the effective grain size, the saturated unit weight and silt and clay contents are evaluated as the influence factors. These factors were considered to estimate the coefficient of permeability of mudstone weathered soils.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.91-98
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• 2010

The effective thermal conductivity of porous materials is usually determined by porosity, water content, and the conductivity of the matrix. In addition, it is also affected by the internal structure of the materials such as the size, arrangement, and connectivity of the matrix-forming grains. Based on the structural models for multi-phase materials, thermal conductivities of soils and sands measured with varying the water content were analyzed. Thermal conductivities of dry samples were likely to fall in the region between the Maxwell-Eucken model with air as the continuous phase and the matrix as the dispersed phase ($ME_{air}$) and the co-continuous (CC) model. However, water-saturated samples moved down to the region between the $ME_{wat}$ model and the series model. The predictive inconsistency of the structural models for dry and water-saturated samples may be caused by the increase of porosity for water-saturated samples, which leads to decrease of connectivity among the grains of matrix. In cases of variably saturated samples with a uniform grain size, the thermal conductivity showed progressive changes of the structural models from the $ME_{air}$ model to the $ME_{wat}$ model depending on the water content. Especially, an abrupt increase found in 0-20% of the water content, showing transition from the $ME_{air}$ model to the CC model, can be attributed to change of water from the dispersed to continuous phase. On the contrary, the undisturbed soil samples with various sizes of grains showed a gradual increase of conductivity during the transition from the $ME_{air}$ model to the CC model.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.3C
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• pp.127-136
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• 2009

The objective of this study is the development and verification of the 4-electrode resistivity probe (4ERP) for the estimation of electrical properties of the saturated soils. The 4ERPs with wedge and plane types are manufactured to obtain the electrical resistivity without polarization at the electrodes by using Wenner array. The wedge type is for the penetration into the soil samples and the plane type is for the installation into the cells used for the laboratory tests. The consolidation tests are carried out by using 6 types of glass beads and 3 types of sands in size. The test results show that the electrical resistivity increases with a decrease in the porosity, and the constant m used in Archie's law is dependent on the particle shape rather particle size. The one dimensional liquefaction tests show that the porosity obtained by the 4ERP is similar to that determined by the volume fraction. The penetration of the 4ERP into the large scale calibration chamber produces the resistivity profiles. This study demonstrates that the 4ERP may effectively estimate the porosity of the saturated soils.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.70-78
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• 1998

This study was conducted to investigate the adsorption-desorption characteristics of herbicide paraquat on clay minerals, humic materials, and soils under the laboratory conditions. Adsorption time of paraquat on clay minerals was faster than organic materials and soils. Adsorption amount on montmorillonite, 2:1 expanding-lattice clay mineral, was largest among the adsorbents tested. The adsorption capacity of paraquat was approximately 21 % of cation exchange capacity in soils, 45.1 % in kaolinite, and 80.6% in montmorillonite. Humic materials, humic acid and fulvic acid isolated from soil II, adsorbed larger amount of paraquat than kaolinite and soils. Distribution of tightly bound type of paraquat was larger in clay mineral and soils but loosely bound type was larger in humic acid and fulvic acid. In oxidized soil, the adsorption amount of paraquat was decreased to 85.1-95.5% of original soils. Distribution of unbound and loosely bound type of paraquat was decreased in oxidized soil but tightly bound type was increased. The competition cations decreased paraquat adsorption on humic materials and soils but not affected on montmorillonite. No difference was observed as the kinds of cations. In cation-saturated adsorbents, the adsorption amount was decreased largely in humic materials and soils but decreased a little in montmorillonite. The tightly bound type of paraquat in all adsorbents was not desorbed by pH variation, sonication, and cation application but loosely bound type was desorbed. However, the desorption amount was different as a kinds of adsorbents and desorption methods.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.129-144
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• 2010

The earth pressure acting on the vertical shaft is less than that acting on the retaining wall due to three dimensional arching effect. Thus, it might be essential to estimate the earth pressure actually acting on the shaft when designing the vertical shaft. In this paper, large-sized model tests were conducted as Part II of companion papers to verify the newly suggested earth pressure equation proposed by Kim et al. (2009: Part I of companion papers) that can be used when designing the vertical shaft in cohesionless soils as well as in c-$\phi$ soils and multi-layered soils. The newly developed model test apparatus was designed to be able to simulate staged shaft excavation. Model tests were performed by varying the radius of vertical shaft in dry soil. Moreover, tests on c-$\phi$ soils and on multi-layered soils were also performed; in order to induce apparent cohesion to the cohesionless soil, we add some water to the dry soil to make the soil partially-saturated before depositing by raining method. Experimental results showed a load transfer from excavated ground to non-excavated zone below dredging level due to arching effect when simulating staged excavation. It was also found that measured earth pressure was far smaller than estimated if excavation is done at once; the final earth pressure measured after performing staged excavation was larger and matched with that estimated from the newly proposed equation. Measured results in c-$\phi$ soils and in multi-layered soils showed reduction in earth pressures due to apparent cohesion effect and showed good matches with analytical results.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.454-459
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• 2009

In order to identify the effect of soil salinity on saturated hydraulic conductivity in reclaimed paddy soils, we established the soil columns uniformly packed with soils collected at every 20 cm up to 60 cm from the reclaimed paddy area with high and low salinity which has been cultivated rice plants for the last 30 years. The soil textures were sandy loam and loamy sand for high-salinity and low-salinity topsoils, respectively. For high-salinity and low-salinity soils the ECes were ranged from 25.2 to $37.8dS\;m^{-1}$ and 3.0 to $3.4dS\;m^{-1}$ while the ESPs were ranged from 7.70 to 20.84 % and from 5.12 to 11.33 %, respectively. The bulk densities of the soil columns were adjusted to $1.15{\pm}0.03g\;cm^{-3}$. The results of the soil column experiments shows that the stabilized saturated hydraulic conductivity of low-salinity soil was $0.62cm\;hr^{-1}$ at the topsoil while there were little water flow at the bottom of the soil columns packed with high-salinity soils. After removal of $Na^+$ ions with $1N\;NH_4OAc$ from the high-salinity soil, Ksat of the saline soil was drastically increased to $0.23cm\;hr^{-1}$. Soil columns of high-salinity topsoil treated with four different concentration of NaCl influent after removal of soluble and exchangeable cations with $1N\;NH_4OAc$ show Ksat in the range of $0.1{\sim}0.15cm\;hr^{-1}$ and the Ksat slightly decreased as the concentration of NaCl influent was increasing. Conclusively, we could assume that $Na^+$ can be significantly contributed to the saturated hydraulic conductivity in newly reclaimed sandy soil.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.259-267
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• 2006

Hydraulic conductivity is the rate of water flux on hydraulic gradient. The van Genuchten Mualem (VGM) model is frequently used for describing unsaturated state of soils, that is composed with the function of soil water potential and soil water content and requests various parameters. This study is to get the value of VGM parameters used Rosetta computer program based on neural network analysis method and to calculate VGM parameters. VGM parameters included Ko(effective saturated hydraulic conductivity), ${\theta}r$(residual soil water content), ${\theta}s$(saturated soil water content), L, n and m. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity at 10 kPa was calculated by using Rosetta program. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of 17 soil series at 1, 3, 5, 7 kPa were also obtained by applying saturated hydraulic conductivity by disk tension infiltrometer based on Gardner and Wooding's equation. Water flow at the water potential of 3 kPa was very low except Namgye, Hagog, Baegsan, Sangju, Seogcheon, Yesan soil series. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity at 1 kPa showed the highest value for Samgag soil series and was in order of Yesan, Hwabong, Hagog and Baegsan soil series. Those of Gacheon, Seocheon and Ugog soil series were very low. When the value by VGM was compared with the value by disc tension infiltrometer, there was a tendency with exponential function to soils without gravel but there was no tendency to soils including gravel. Conclusively, it would be limited that VGM model for unsaturated hydraulic conductivity analysis applies to Korean agricultural land including gravel and having steep slope, shallow soil depth.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.31-39
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• 2006

In this study, modified triaxial compression tests were carried out to investigate the characteristics of shear strength of unsaturated dredged soils. The variation of shear strength generally depends on more matric suction than drained conditions, and then is gradually converged in matric suction 100kPa. It indicates that the effective angle of internal friction and effective cohesion in unsaturated conditions increase due to degree of saturation, namely, matric suction than those of saturated conditions. Therefore, it shows that apparent friction angle, ${\phi}^b$ due to the variation of matric suction to evaluate reasonable shear strength parameters in unsaturated soils should be considered.