• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.57-64
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• 2007

Since matric suction of unsaturated soil was related to soil and ground water contaminations, it is very important to analyze its mechanism that was represented by shear characteristics. In three phases of soil, a little air makes the condition of unsaturated soil on contract or shrinkage surface between water and air. Capillarity and suction in pore of unsaturated soil cause surface tension and surface force so it makes negative pore water pressure and increases effective stress as a result. Therefore, negative pore water pressure in partially saturated soil affects the soil structure and degree of saturation and it is important to evaluate accurately unsaturate flow and behavior. In this study, the shear strength characteristics of the seven sandy soils were investigated using consolidated drained triaxial tests with special emphasis on the effects of the negative pore pressure and the matric suction. These tests involved shearing under either a constant net confining pressure and varying matric suction or under a constant matric suction and varying net normal stress.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.35-52
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• 2009

A significantly thick zone of steep slopes is commonly encountered above groundwater table and the soils within this zone are unsaturated with negative pore-water pressures (i.e., matric suction). Matric suction contributes significantly to the shear strength of soil and to the factor of safety of unsaturated slopes. However, infiltration during rainfall increases the pore-water pressure in soil resulting in a decrease in the matric suction and the shear strength of the soil. As a result, rainfall infiltration may eventually trigger a slope failure. Therefore, understanding of shear strength characteristics of saturated and unsaturated soils under shearing-infiltration (SI) conditions have direct implications in assessment of slope stability under rainfall conditions. This paper presents results from a series of consolidated drained (CD) and shearing-infiltration (SI) tests. Results show that the failure envelope obtained from the shearing-infiltration tests is independent of the infiltration rate. Failure envelopes obtained from CD and SI tests appear to be similar. For practical purposes the shear strength parameters from the CD tests can be used in stability analyses of slopes under rainfall conditions. The SI tests might be performed to obtain more conservative shear strength parameters and to study the pore-water pressure changes during infiltration.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.30 no.B
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• pp.3-10
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• 2010

The numerical study was conducted using the equation of Vanapalli et al.(1996) related shear strength of unsaturated soils. Angle of shearing resistance(${\Phi}^b$) and angle of internal friction(${\Phi}^{\prime}$) appear identically in lower suction range, but angle of shearing resistance(${\Phi}^b$) has non-linearity as suction increases. Nevertheless, the numerical study was conducted using angle of shearing resistance(${\Phi}^b$) in even lower suction range because of limit of program function. However, behavior of real ground on applying numerical study can be analysed wrong by it. Therefore in this paper numerical analysis on applying the equation of Vanapalli et al.(1996) and ${\Phi}^b$ has been compared about unsaturated slope considering continuous rainfall.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.679-686
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• 2010

Mechanical characteristics of bottom ash produced in coal-fired power plant are investigated to utilize as light-weight fill materials. Triaxial compression test, water retention test, and unsaturated direct shear test were conducted for weathered soil (WS), reclaimed bottom ash (RBA), and screened bottom ash (BA). RBA had larger frictional angle and lower effective cohesion than those of WS. Water retention charactersitics of RBA and BA existed within distributions of soil-water characteristic curves for domestic weathered soils. Unsaturated shear strength of RBA was similar to that of WS at matric suctions of 50 kPa and 100 kPa. As a conclusion, bottom ash can be used as fill materials to replace the conventional construction materials by.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.673-678
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• 2010

In this paper, the limit load of granular materials was evaluated considering unsaturated shear strength. The unsaturated shear strength parameters were estimated using the results from triaxial compression test and soil-water characteristic curves test. In addition, the limit load of different rates of materials was compared. Also, two important design parameters, yield and failure load were defined utilizing 2-D nonlinear finite element analysis respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.89-98
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• 2008

In this study, the behaviour of an unsaturated soil was analyzed by performing $K_0$ consolidated triaxial tests. Unsaturated triaxial tests were performed with matric suctions for weathered soils and stress paths under consolidation and stress-strain relationships under shear were obtained. As a result, the $K_0$ value decreased as the matric suction increased. Besides, both isotropic and $K_0$ conditions had similar shear strength envelopes at the same matric suction. Especially, strength parameters could be obtained by stress variables used in the critical state theory more reasonably than by those of Mohr circles at failure.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.4D
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• pp.571-576
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• 2011

In general, conventional road pavements are designed under the assumption that the shear strength of geomaterials are under saturated state. In reality, however, most of the pavement geomaterials exists under the unsaturated state. To deal with this gap between saturated and unsaturated conditions, in this paper, unsaturated shear strength was estimated using the results from the triaxial compression test and soil-water characteristics curves. Then, yield loads were assessed using 2-Dimensional finite element method with the selected nonlinear elastic model and the Mohr-Coulomb yield criteria. In addition, various unsaturated condition and surface layer effects on the yield load of granular materials were identified. Therefore, the results demonstrated would provide a possibility to estimate bearing capacity of paved or unpaved roads using unsaturated soil mechanics.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.221-232
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• 2020

In many tropical regions, soil structures often fail under constant loads as a result of decreasing matric suction due to water infiltration. Most of the previous studies have been performed by infiltrating water in the soil specimen by keeping shear stress constant at 85-90% of peak shear strength in order to ensure specimen failure during water infiltration. However, not many studies are available to simulate the soil behavior when water is infiltrated at lower shear stress and how the deformations affect the soil behavior if the failure did not occur during water infiltration. This research aimed at understanding both the strength and deformation behavior of unsaturated soil during the course of water infiltration at 25%, 50% and 75% of maximum deviatoric stress and axial strain by keeping them constant. A unique stress-strain curve expresses the transient situation from unsaturated condition to failure state due to water infiltration is also drawn. The shearing-infiltration test results indicate that the water infiltration reduces matric suction and increase soil deformation. This research also indicates that unsaturated soil failure problems should not always be treated as shear strength problems but deformation should also be considered while addressing the problems related to unsaturated soils.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2018

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to identify the road-subsidence mechanism in unsaturated sandy soils. METHODS : A series of soil chamber tests were conducted under various conditions. RESULTS : The cavity-expansion characteristics in unsaturated sandy soils due to seepage were affected by the outlet size, seepage intensity, relative density, and fine content. CONCLUSIONS : In unsaturated sandy soils, the cavity-expansion speed was affected by the outlet size, relative density, seepage intensity, and clay content; however, the cavity-expansion shape was very similar. As the outlet size and seepage intensity increased, the cavity-expansion speed increased. As the relative density increased, the cavity-expansion speed increased because of a sudden decrease in shear strength, resulting from the increased saturation (reduction of matric suction). The cavity expanded faster with the increasing clay content, up to a certain threshold. It expanded at a slower rate once it passed the threshold. Finally, it reached a stable state where the cavity did not expand due to seepage.