• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.671-683
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• 2017

Groundwater control is a significant issue in most underground construction. An estimate of the inflow rate is required to size the pumping system, and treatment plant facilities for construction planning and cost assessment. An estimate of the excavation-induced drawdown of the initial groundwater level is required to evaluate potential environmental impacts. Analytical and empirical methods used in current engineering practice do not adequately account for the effect of the jointed-rock-mass anisotropy and heterogeneity. The impact of geostructural anisotropy of fractured rocks on tunnel inflows is addressed and the limitations of analytical solutions assuming isotropic hydraulic conductivity are discussed. In this paper the unexcavated Zagros tunnel route has been classified from groundwater flow point of view based on the combination of observed water inflow and numerical modeling results. Results show that, in this hard rock tunnel, flow usually concentrates in some areas, and much of the tunnel is dry. So the remaining unexcavated Zagros tunnel route has been categorized into three categories including high Risk, moderately risk and low risk. Results show that around 60 m of tunnel (3%) length can conduit the large amount of water into tunnel and categorized into high risk zone and about 45% of tunnel route has moderately risk. The reason is that, in this tunnel, most of the water flows in rock fractures and fractures typically occur in a clustered pattern rather than in a regular or random pattern.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.159-170
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• 2021

Particle size of tailings in different areas of dams varies due to sedimentation and separation. Saturated hydraulic conductivity of high-stacked talings materials are seriously affected by void ratio and particle breakage. Conjoined consolidation permeability tests were carried out using a self-developed high-stress permeability and consolidation apparatus. The hydraulic conductivity decreases nonlinearly with the increase of consolidation pressure. The seepage pattern of coarse-particle tailings is channel flow, and the seepage pattern of fine-particle tailings is scattered flow. The change rate of hydraulic conductivity of tailings with different particle sizes under high consolidation pressure tends to be identical. A hydraulic conductivity hysteresis is found in coarse-particle tailings. The hydraulic conductivity hysteresis is more obvious when the water head is lower. A new hydraulic conductivity-void ratio equation was derived by introducing the concept of effective void ratio and breakage index. The equation integrated the hydraulic conductivity equation with different particle sizes over a wide range of consolidation pressures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.21-31
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• 2018

Bucket foundations are widely used in offshore areas due to their various benefits such as easy and fast installations. A bucket is installed using self-weight and the hydraulic pressure difference across the lid generated by pumping out water from inside the bucket. When buckets are installed in high permeable soil such as sands, upward seepage flow occurs around the bucket tip and interior, leading to a decrease in the effective stress in the soil inside the buckets. This process reduces the penetration resistance of buckets. However, the soil inside and outside the bucket can be disturbed due to the upward seepage flow and this can change the soil properties around the bucket. Moreover, upward seepage flow can create significant soil plug heave, thereby hindering the penetration of the bucket to the target depth. Despite of these problems, soil disturbance and soil plug heave created by suction installation are not well understood. This study aims to investigate the behavior of soil during suction installation. To comprehend the phenomena of soil plug heave during installation, a series of small-scale model tests were conducted with different testing conditions. From a series of tests, the effects of tip thickness of bucket, penetration rate, and self-weight were identified. Finally, soil properties inside the bucket after installation were approximated from the measured soil plug heave.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.5-17
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• 2022

The performance of the relief wells installed for the purpose of controlling seepage of the dam embankment is affected by various parameters such as diameter, spacing, penetration rate, permeability coefficient of the ground, thickness of the foundation layer. Therefore, when the relief wells are adopted for the purpose of reducing seepage pressure, these parameters should be sufficiently reviewed to determine the installation specifications of the relief wells. This study evaluated the effect of the length of the geosynthetics blanket on the performance of the relief wells installed in the downstream part of the dam embankment with blankets in the upstream and downstream part of the dam embankment as countermeasure methods to control seepage of the dam embankment. In the relationship between the length of the upstream and downstream blanket and the discharge, the discharge of the relief wells decreases as the length of the upstream blanket increases, and on the other hand, the discharge of the relief wells decreases as the length of the downstream blanket increases. In the upper and lower blanket length-spacing relationship, as the length of the upstream blanket increases, the spacing of the relief wells increases and as the length of the downstream blanket increases, the spacing of the relief wells decreases. Therefore, when installing the relief wells in parallel with the blanket, it was found that increasing the length of the upstream blanket is more efficient than increasing the length of the downstream blanket in order to minimize the discharge of seepage discharge and to ensure economic feasibility by wider installation of the relief wells.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2018

The causes of landslides are dependant on rainfall events and the soil characteristics of a slope. For the conventional slope stability, the slope stability analysis has been carried out assuming the saturated soil theory. But, in order to clearly explain a proper soil slope condition by rainfall, the research should be performed using the unsaturated soil mechanism suitable for a soil slope in the field. In the study, by using two major categories of soils in Korea, such as granite and gneiss weathered soils, landslide model test and finite element method have been compared with the difference of seepage and soil stability analysis. The hydraulic conductivity of gneiss weathered soil is slower than that of granite weathered soil, and the gneiss weathered soil contains much finer soils than the granite weathered soil. It was confirmed that the instability of the slope was progressing slowly due to the slow rate of volumetric water content of the surface layer.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.5-16
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• 2002

A hydrogeomechanical numerical model is presented to evaluate rainfall impacts on groundwater flow in slopes and slope stability. This numerical model is developed based on the fully coupled poroelastic governing equations for groundwater flow in deforming variably saturated geologic media and the Galerkin finite element method. A series of numerical experiments using the model developed are then applied to an unsaturated slope under various rainfall rates. The numerical simulation results show that the overall hydromechanical slope stability deteriorates, and the potential failure nay initiate from the slope toe and propagate toward the slope crest as the rainfall rate increases. From the viewpoint of hydrogeology, the pressure head and hence the total hydraulic head increase as the rainfall rate increases. As a result, the groundwater table rises, the unsaturated zone reduces, the seepage face expands from the slope toe toward the slope crest, and the groundwater flow velocity increases along the seepage face. From the viewpoint of geomechanics, the horizontal displacement increases, and the vertical displacement decreases toward the slope toe as the rainfall rate increases. This may result from the buoyancy effect associated with the groundwater table rise as the rainfall rate increases. As a result, the overall deformation intensifies toward the slope toe, and the unstable zone, in which the factor of safety against shear failure is less than 1, becomes thicker near the slope toe and propagates from the slope toe toward the slope crest. The numerical simulation results also suggest that the potential tension failure is likely to occur within the slope between the potential shear failure surface and the ground surface.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.33-41
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• 2017

In this study, the increment effect of safety factor according to increasing of horizontal permeability coefficient is analyzed when geocell is installed on the slope for protection. To evaluate the horizontal permeability and reinforcement effect, the laboratory tests such horizontal permeability test were conducted. According to the laboratory test results, as the porosity rate of geocell increases, the coefficient of horizontal permeability is also increased. And also, regardless of the different types of filled materials, the coefficient of horizontal permeability is improved in a geocell reinforced ground compare with the non-reinforced ground. Laboratory test results and the rainfall intensity were applied to the numerical modeling of slope for seepage analysis and stability analysis of slope by using Soilworks, numerical analysis program. As a result of the slope stability analysis, it is confirmed that the installed geocell on the slope facilitates the drainage of water on the surface of slope. Hence, the ground water elevation is suppressed. Therefore, the safety factor of the slope is increased by the increasing of the internal friction angle, apparent cohesion, and coefficient of horizontal permeability by reinforcing the slope with geocell.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.105-120
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• 1991

This study was performed to investigate the minimum safety factor of embankment in consideration of seismic coefficient by the psuedo-static analysis The variables were cohesion, the internal friction angle, angle of slope, height of seepage, height of embankment, depth of replacement The results obtained were compared with those by Fellenius method, simplified Bishop method and Janbu method. The results were summarized as follows: 1.The increasing rate of the minimum safety factor with the increasing of cohesion appeared larger in Fellenius method and Bishop method than in Janbu method. And that with the increasing of the internal friction angle appeared the lowest value in Janbu method. The minimum safety factor was influenced larger on the internal friction angle than on cohesion. 2.The variation of the minimum safety factor with the height of seepage at 0m and 5 m was nearly similar to Fellenius method, Bishop method and Janbu method. On the other hand, it was decreased suddenly at 25 m. 3.The minimum safety factor with the height of embankment was decreased remarkably under 10 m with the increasing of seismic coefficient. But, it was decreased slowly more than 10 m. As the height of embankment was low, the influence of cohesion appeared larger. 4.In heigher case of the depth of replacement, the phenomenon of reduction of the minimum safety factor appeared remarkably with seismic coefficient increased. And in lower case of the depth of replacement, the minimum safety factor was similar in Fellenius method and Bishop mehtod. But it appeared larger in Bishop method and Janbu method than in Fellenius method with the depth of replacement increased. 5.As the cohesion and the internal friction angle were large, the phenomenon of reduction of the minimum safety factor with the increasing of seismic coefficient appeared remarkably. Also, the influence of seismic coefficient in minimum safety factor appeared larger with the soil parameter increased. 6.When the seismic coefficient was considerated, investigation of the structural body on the slope stability appeared profitably in Fellenius method and Janbu method than in Bishop method.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.13-27
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• 2014

Catchments soil erosion, one of the most serious problems in the mountainous environment of the world, consists of a complex phenomenon involving the detachment of individual soil particles from the soil mass and their transport, storage and overland flow of rainfall, and infiltration. Sediment size distribution during erosion processes appear to depend on many factors such as rainfall characteristics, vegetation cover, hydraulic flow, soil properties and slope. This study involved laboratory flume experiments carried out under simulated rainfall in a 3.0 m long ${\times}$ 0.8 m wide ${\times}$ 0.7 m deep flume, set at $17^{\circ}$ slope. Five experimental cases, consisting of twelve experiments using three different sediments with two different rainfall conditions, are reported. The experiments consisted of detailed observations of particle size distribution of the out-flow sediment. Sediment water mixture out-flow hydrograph and sediment mass out-flow rate over time, moisture profiles at different points within the soil domain, and seepage outflow were also reported. Moisture profiles, seepage outflow, and movement of overland flow were clearly found to be controlled by water retention function and hydraulic function of the soil. The difference of grain size distribution of original soil bed and the out-flow sediment was found to be insignificant in the cases of uniform sediment used experiments. However, in the cases of non-uniform sediment used experiments the outflow sediment was found to be coarser than the original soil domain. The results indicated that the sediment transport mechanism is the combination of particle segregation, suspension/saltation and rolling along the travel distance.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

This study analyzes contaminant movement under transient flow in a rubble mound revetment offshore waste landfill barrier system that prevents contaminant runoff. The barrier system consists of bottom layer and side barrier. For the bottom layer system, impermeable clay layer is used. For the side barrier system, the HDPE barrier sheet (primary element) plays the main role, and the intermediate protection layer (supplementary element) is responsible for the barrier. Seepage, advection, dispersion numerical analysis was carried out using SEEP / W and CTRAN / W programs. As a result, under abnormal conditions considering the fluctuation in tidal range, the volume and direction of the flow velocity vector of the pore water change with time and the dispersion concentration of the contaminant changes. When comparing the case of 2 m tidal range and 8 m tidal range, the larger the tide value, the higher the concentration of contaminant under abnormal conditions. It was found that the rate of change of the concentration of the contaminant changed depending on the change in the tidal range, and as a result, the outflow of the pollutant was smaller than that in the steady flow state.