• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.195-208
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• 2023

The nodular diaphragm wall (NDW) is a novel type of foundation with favorable engineering characteristics, which has already been utilized in high-rise buildings and high-speed railways. Compared to traditional diaphragm walls, the NDW offers significantly improved vertical bearing capacity due to the presence of nodular parts while reducing construction time and excavation work. Despite its potential, research on the vertical bearing characteristics of NDW requires further study, and the investigation and visualization of its displacement pattern and failure mode are scant. Meanwhile, the measurement of the force component acting on the nodular parts remains challenging. In this paper, the vertical bearing characteristics of NDW are studied in detail through the indoor model test, and the displacement and failure mode of the foundation is analyzed using particle image velocimetry (PIV) technology. The principles and methods for monitoring the force acting on the nodular parts are described in detail. The research results show that the nodular part plays an essential role in the bearing capacity of the NDW, and its maximum load-bearing ratio can reach 30.92%. The existence of the bottom nodular part contributes more to the bearing capacity of the foundation compared to the middle nodular part, and the use of both middle and bottom nodular parts increases the bearing capacity of the foundation by about 9~12% compared to a single nodular part of the NDW. The increase in the number of nodular parts cannot produce a simple superposition effect on the resistance born by the nodular parts since the nodular parts have an insignificant influence on the exertion and distribution of the skin friction of NDW. The existence of the nodular part changes the displacement field of the soil around NDW and increases the displacement influence range of the foundation to a certain extent. For NDWs with three different nodal arrangements, the failure modes of the foundations appear to be local shear failures. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the performance and behavior of NDWs, which will aid in their effective utilization and further research in the field.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.199-210
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• 2004

In this study, the physical and mechanical properties of the weathered shale soils distributed in the Hwasun area have been measured in the laboratory. The physical and mechanical properties of the weathered shale soils in the study area as follows: the specific gravity is 2.66 to 2.68, the liquid limit is 36.39 to 36.92(%), the plastic limit is 18.53 to 19.48(%), the plasticity index is 17.44 to 17.86 and soil classification is CL. The maximum dry unit weight and optimum moisture content as calculated by compaction test is 22.5 to 23% and 1.58 to $1.61t/\textrm{m}^3$, respectively. The result of direct shear testing show that cohesion in saturated and unsaturated conditions increases according to the increase of dry unit weight. Internal friction angle in an unsaturated condition increases with an increase of dry unit weight, but in a saturated condition, it increases after decreasing. When compares with engineering characteristics of tile weathered shale soils in the Daegu area (Kim et al., 1995), specific gravity is found to be similar, but the liquid and plastic limit of soil samples in this study area is slightly higher than those of soil samples in the Daegu area.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.61-76
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• 1998

Various kinds of reinforced soil methods have been developed by many researchers or companies for their economic merits mainly. These methods have generally used sandy soils which have high permeability as embanking or backfill material. That is because, if poor embanking materials, especially like a clayey soil which has very low permeability, are used in a reinforced soil embanking, and if excessive pore water pressure is produced by external factors, the friction resistance between reinforcing members and Boils decrease, as a result possible damage or collapse of the body of a reinforced embankment. In fact, clayey Boils can also be used as a embanking materials with reinforcement which has high permeable capacity, and are expected to be able to dissipate the excess pore water pressure effectively. In this study reinforcing effects have been examined through a serries of direct shear tests in which clayey soils are reinforced with nonwoven geotextiles of which permeability is very high and tensile strength is relatively weaker than geogrids which are usually used in reinforced soil wall. Even though such nonwoven geotextile are used as reinforcement of high saturated clayey soils. the test results show the possibility that nonwoven geoteztiles could be used as a reinforcement for reinforced soil walls effectively.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.57-65
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• 2011

Numerical simulations by three-dimensional Particle Flow Code($PFC^{3D}$, Itasca) considering distinct element method (DEM) were carried out for prediction of triaxial compression test with sand material. The effect of scale conditions for numerical model and distinct material on final prediction results was analyzed by numerical models under various scale conditions, and following observations were made from the numerical experiments. It is very useful to model the initial material condition without any porosity conversion from 2-D to 3-D DEM. Numerical experiments have shown that in all cases considered, 3D distinct element modeling could provide good agreement on stress-strain behavior, volume change and strength properties with laboratory testing results. It was important thing to assess reasonable scale ratio of numerical model and distinct elements for saving calculation time and securing calculation efficiency under condition with accuracy and appropriateness as numerical laboratory. As results of DEM simulations under various scale conditions, most of results show that shear strength properties as cohesion and internal friction angle are similar in condition of $D_{mod}/D_{gmax}$ < 10. It shows that 3-D distinct element method could be used as efficient tool to assess strength properties by numerical laboratory technique.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.427-438
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• 2023

We carried out a geological survey to classify the types of mass movement in Danyang Geopark (where various rock types are distributed) and analyzed the mechanical and hydraulic characteristics of landslide materials using a series of laboratory tests. Debris flows occurred in areas of limestone/marble, shale, and porphyroblastic gneiss, and limestone/marble landslides were distinguished from the others through the presence of karren topography. Soil tests showed that soil derived from weathered gneiss, which has a higher proportion of coarse grains, has a higher friction angle, lower cohesion, and larger hydraulic conductivity than soils from areas of limestone/marble, and shale. Rock failure mass movements occurred in areas of phyllite, sandstone, and conglomerate and were subdivided into plane failure, block-fall, and boulder-fall types in areas of phyllite, sandstone, and conglomerate, respectively. The shear strength of phyllite is much lower than that of the other types of rock, which have similar rock quality. The slake durability index of the conglomerate is similar to that of the other rock types, which have similar degrees of weathering, but differential weathering of the matrix and clasts was clearly observed when comparing the samples before and after the test. This study can help establish appropriate reinforcement and disaster prevention measures, which depend on the type of mass movement expected given the geological characteristics of an area.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.37-46
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• 2023

Dynamic soil properties are essential factors for predicting the detailed behavior of the ground. However, there are limitations to gathering soil samples and performing additional experiments. In this study, we used an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict dynamic soil properties based on static soil properties. The selected static soil properties were soil cohesion, internal friction angle, porosity, specific gravity, and uniaxial compressive strength, whereas the compressional and shear wave velocities were determined for the dynamic soil properties. The Levenberg-Marquardt and Bayesian regularization methods were used to enhance the reliability of the ANN results, and the reliability associated with each optimization method was compared. The accuracy of the ANN model was represented by the coefficient of determination, which was greater than 0.9 in the training and testing phases, indicating that the proposed ANN model exhibits high reliability. Further, the reliability of the output values was verified with new input data, and the results showed high accuracy.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.16 no.4 s.50
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• pp.359-371
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• 2006

In this study, the soil characteristics are analyzed using the result of various soil tests as an object of the soil layer of natural slopes in landslides areas composed with gneiss, granite, and the tertiary sedimentary rock. To investigate the soil characteristics according to landslide and non landslide areas, soils are sampled from Jangheung, Sangju and Pohang. The landslides at three areas are occurred due to heavy rainfall in same time. The geology of Jangheung area, Sangju area and Pohang area is gneiss, granite, and the tertiary sedimentary rock, respectively. On the basis of the landslide data and the result of soil test, the soil characteristics at the landslide area and the differentiation between landslide area and non landslide area are analyzed. However soil characteristics have a little differentiation to geological condition, the uniformity coefficient and the coefficient of gradation of soils at the landslide area is larger than those of soils at the non landslide area. Also, the proportion of fine particle of soils at the landslide area is higher. The plastic limit of soils sampled from the granite and the sedimentary rock regions is larger than that sampled from the gneiss region. However the liquid limit is irrelevant to the geological condition. Also, the consistency of soils at the landslide area is smaller. The natural moisture content of soils in the sedimentary rock regions is larger than that of the granite and gneiss. It is mainly influenced by mineral composition, soil layer structure, weathering condition, and so on. The soils sampled from landslide area have higher porosity and lower density than those from non landslide area. It means that the soils of landslide area have poor particle size distribution and loose density. Therefore, the terrain slope with poor distribution and loose density is vulnerable to occur in landslides. Also, landslides are occurred in the terrain slope with high permeability. The permeability is mainly influenced by the soil characteristics such as particle size distribution, porosity, particle structure, and the geological origins such as weathering, sedimentary environment. Meanwhile, the shear strength of soils is little difference according to the geological condition. But, the internal friction angle of soils sampled from the landslide area is lower than that of soils from the non landslide area. Therefore, the terrain slope with low internal friction angle is more vulnerable to the landslide.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.5-16
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• 2018

In the current study, the engineering behaviour of prebored and precast steel pipe piles was examined from a series of full-scale field measurements by conducting static pile load tests, dynamic pile load tests (EOID and restrike tests) and Class-A and Class-C1 type numerical analysis. The study includes the pile load - settlement relations, allowable pile capacity and shear stress transfer mechanism. Compared to the allowable pile capacity obtained from the static pile load tests, the dynamic pile load tests and the numerical simulation showed surprisingly large variations. Overall among these the restrike tests displayed the best results, however the reliability of the predictions from the numerical analysis was lower than those estimated from the dynamic pile load tests. The allowable pile capacity obtained from the EOID tests and the restrike tests indicated 20.0%-181.0% (avg: 69.3%) and 48.2%-181.1% (avg: 92.1%) of the corresponding measured values from the static pile loading tests, respectively. Furthermore, the computed results from the Class-A type analysis showed the largest scatters (37.1%-210.5%, avg: 121.2%). In the EOID tests, a majority of the external load were carried by the end bearing pile capacity, however, similar skin friction and end bearing capacity in magnitude were mobilised in the restrike tests. The measured end bearing pile capacity from the restrike tests were smaller than was measured from the EOID tests. The present study has revealed that if the impact energy is not sufficient in a restrike test, the end bearing pile capacity most likely will be underestimated. The shear stresses computed from the numerical analysis deviated substantially from the measured pile force distributions. It can be concluded that the engineering behaviour of the pile is heavily affected if a slime layer exists near the pile tip, and that the smaller the stiffness of the slime and the thicker the slime, the greater the settlement of the pile.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.383-392
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• 2016

This study is to evaluate the physical and mechanical properties on the Ipseok-dae columnar joints of Mt. Mudeung National Park. For these purposes, physical and mechanical properties as well as discontinuity property on the Mudeungsan tuff, measurement of vibration and local meteorology around columnar joints, and ground deformation by self-weight of columnar joints were examined. For the physical and mechanical properties, average values were respectively 0.65% for porosity, 2.69 for specific gravity, 2.68 g/cm³ for density, and 2411 m/s for primary velocity, 323 MPa for uniaxial compressive strength, 81 GPa Young's modulus, and 0.25 for Poisson's ratio. For the joint shear test, average values were respectively 3.15 GPa/m for normal stiffness, 0.38 GPa/m for shear stiffness, 0.50 MPa for cohesion, and 35° for internal friction angle. The JRC standard and JRC chart was in the range of 4~6, and 1~1.5, respectively. The rebound value Q of silver schmidt hammer was 57 (≒ 90 MPa). It corresponds 20% of the uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock. The maximum vibration value around the Ipseok=dae columnar joints was in the range of 0.57 PPV (mm/s)~2.35 PPV (mm/s). The local meteorology of surface temperature, air temperature, humidity, and wind on and around columnar joints appeared to have been greatly influenced the weather on the day of measurement. For the numerical analysis of ground deformation due to its self-weight of the Ipseok-dae columnar joints, the maximum displacement of the right ground shows when the ground distance is approximately 2 m, while drastically decreased by 2~4 m, thereafter was insignificant. The maximum displacement of the middle ground shows when the ground distance is approximately 0~2 m, while drastically decreased by 3~10 m, thereafter was insignificant. The maximum displacement of the left ground shows when the ground distance is approximately 5~6 m, while drastically decreased by 6~10 m, thereafter was insignificant.