• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.5
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• pp.663-671
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• 2023

Freeze-thaw cycles induce strength loss at the frozen soil-concrete interface and deterioration of bonding, which causes construction engineering problems. To clarify the deterioration characteristics of the interface under the freeze-thaw cycle, a frozen soil-concrete sample was used as the research object, an interface scanning electron microscope test under the freeze-thaw cycle was carried out to identify the micro index information, and an interface shear test was carried out to explore the loss law of interface shear strength under the freeze-thaw cycle. The results showed that the integrity of the interface was destroyed, and the pore number and pore size of the interface increased significantly with the number of freeze-thaw cycles. The connection form gradually deteriorates from surface-to-surface contact to point-to-surface contact and point-to-point contact, and the interfacial shear strength decreases the most at 0-3 freeze-thaw cycles, with small decreases from to 3-8 cycles. After 12 freeze-thaw cycles, the interfacial shear strength tends to be stable, and shear the failure occurs internally in the soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.84-89
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• 2000

This study has been done to investigate the characteristics of the wall materials of a earthen house ; the core-wall of wood-frame house and the mud-wall of a all wall house. A series of tests was carried out to study the physical and mechanical properties of wall materials which were picked from existing earthen houses. The core-wall materials were composited sandy soil or clayey soil with low plasticity. The mud-wall materials were sandy soil with well compaction effect. It was confirmed that the wall materials were not always using the loess(called Hwang'o) but using the common soils which wee easily picked from the residential quarter.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.309-317
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• 2002

The mechanical characteristics of Light-Weighted Foam Soil(LWFS) are investigated in this research. LWFS is composed of the dredged soil from offshore, cement and foam to reduce the unit-weight and increase compressive strength. For this purpose, the unconfined compression tests and triaxial compression tests are carried out on the prepared specimens of LWFS with various conditions such as initial water contents, cement contents, curing conditions and confining stresses. The test results of LWFS indicated that the stress-strain relationship and the compressive strength are strongly influenced by the cement contents rather than the intial water contents of the dredged soils. On the other hand, the stress-strain relationship from triaxial compression test has shown strain-softening behavior regardless of curing conditions. The stress-strain behavior for the various confining stress exhibited remarkable change at the boundary where the confining stress approached to the unconfined compression strength of LWFS. In order to obtain the ground improvement of the compressive strength above 200kPa, the required LWFS mixing ratio is found to be 100%~160% of the initial water contents of dredged soil and 6.6% of cement contents.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.627-634
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• 2018

Soil stabilization is an essential engineering process to enhance the geotechnical properties of soils that are not suitable for construction purposes. This study focuses on using coconut coir, a natural fibre to enhance the soil properties. Lime, an activator is added to the reinforced soil to augment its shear strength and durability. An experimental investigation was conducted to demonstrate the effect of coconut coir fibers and lime on the consistency limits, compaction characteristics, unconfined compressive strength, stress-strain behaviour, subgrade strength and durability of the treated soil. The results of the study illustrate that lime stabilization and coir reinforcement improves the unconfined compressive strength, post peak failure strength, controls crack propagation and boosts the tensile strength of the soil. Coir reinforcement provides addition contact surface, improving the soil-fibre interaction and increasing the interlocking between fibre and soil and thereby improve strength. Optimum performance of soil is observed at 1.25% coir fibre inclusion. Coir being a natural product is prone to degradation and to increase the durability of the coir reinforced soil, lime is used. Lime stabilization favourably amends the geotechnical properties of the coir fibre reinforced soil.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2016

This paper presents the geotechnical characteristics of the soil mixed with various waste(waste soil) in the landfill. The physical and mechanical tests were conducted to find out the waste soil. The tests include the gradation, consistency tests, shear and compression and the consolidation tests using both the Rowe cell and the constant ration stress. The analyses of the test results show the waste soil belongs to the well graded sand(SW) in the laboratory and sand-gravel(SG) to fine sand(SF) in the field monitoring based on the unified classification soil system. The shear strength is increasing with increasing the shear displacement, however, the peak of the shear strength does not appear through the test and there is no distinct peak value of the strength obtained. The compression index(Cc) results in as increasing the amount of the sludge included and the compression index is proportional to the sludge included, which means more settlement is expected. The hydraulic conductivity of the waste soil ranges between $1.6{\times}10^{-5}cm/sec$ and $1.8{\times}10^{-7}cm/sec$.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.47-59
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• 2023

In this research, laboratory tests were conducted on clayey sand (SC) to analyze its physical properties, compaction/permeability characteristics, and stress-strain behavior. The main objective was to determine the transitional fines content at which the mechanical properties of sand transition to those of clay, resulting in a change in the geotechnical behavior of the material. Additionally, to assess the practical applicability of SC soil, field data from a soft ground improvement site with significant settlement issues were collected. The settlement characteristics derived from laboratory tests and numerical simulations were then compared and analyzed in relation to the actual settlement data obtained from the field, aiming to evaluate the suitability of the SC soil as a compaction target layer. The laboratory tests and compaction analysis showed that the SC soil exhibited a distinct change in mechanical properties, shifting from sandy behavior to clayey behavior when the fines content exceeded 25%. This transition in mechanical behavior was found to be closely correlated with the content of clay particles within the material. Through numerical simulations of the soft ground site, it was verified that the use of clayey sand with a fines content exceeding the transitional level as a compaction target layer resulted in settlements that closely aligned with the measured settlements, with an average agreement of 91.2%. Based on these findings, it is deemed advisable to incorporate clayey sand with a fines content exceeding the transitional level as part of the compaction target layer in the design of soft ground improvements.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1017-1025
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• 2013

The monolithically coupled finite element analysis for a deformable unsaturated soil slope is performed to investigate matric suction distribution on a soil slope subjected to rainfall infiltration, which can consider the hydraulic-mechanical characteristics for the analysis. The soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC) are experimentally determined to estimate three types of hydraulic properties of domestic areas. Based on the physical properties, the distribution of matric suction is investigated by considering the major factors, such as soil conditions, rainfall intensities, and slope angles. It is found from the results of this study that the matric suction rapidly decreases with an increase in rainfall intensity, regardless a slope angle. The slope surface is more easily saturated when its saturated hydraulic conductivity is smaller than rainfall intensity, and for the case of multi-layered soil slope, hydraulic characteristics of slope surface has a significant influence on matric suction distribution.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.17-26
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• 2018

This study systematically examines the changes in the compressive and tensile strength of soil cement reinforced by natural hair fiber, which is regularly produced from human. Extensive experimental tests of various test specimens have been carried out in a laboratory. Several factors are considered, including the soil type, amount of cement, amount of fiber, fiber length, loading type, and curing age. The test results indicate that both the compressive and tensile strengths are significantly affected by the fiber, either increasing or decreasing depending on the conditions. The increase in tensile strength is significant in the sand-based soil cement due to the tensile resistance of the fiber which is interlocked with the surrounding soil or cement particles. The natural fiber provides a larger strain to failure due to its extensibility, which allows greater deformation. Based on the test results, natural hair fibers can be an effective and environmentally friendly way to improve soil ground subjected to tensile loading, such as an embankment slope, road subgrade, or landfill, thus reducing the cost for cement and waste treatment. The study results provide a useful information of better understanding the mechanical behavior of natural hair fiber in soil cement and the practical use of waste materials in civil engineering. The findings can be practically applied for improving earth structures under tensile loading.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4C
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• pp.247-253
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• 2008

This paper investigates the mechanical characteristics of waste tire powder-added lightweight soil in which dredged soils, waste tire powder and bottom ash were reused. In this study, 5 groups of soil samples were prepared with varing contents of waste tire powder ranged from 0% to 100% at 25% intervals by the dredged soil weight. The mixed soil samples were subjected to unconfined compression and elastic wave tests to investigate their unconfined compressive strengths and dynamic properties. Test results showed that the unconfined compressive strength and unit weight decreased as the waste tire powder contents increased, but axial strain at failure increased. Also stress-strain relationship of waste tire powder-added lightweight soil showed a ductile behavior rather than a brittle behavior. The result of elastic wave tests indicated that the higher waste tire powder content, the lower elastic wave velocity and the lower shear modulus (G).

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.75-83
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• 2002

This paper is to investigate the mechanical characteristics of light-weighted soils (LWS) consisting of expanded polystyrene(EPS), dredged clays and cement by using both uniaxial and triaxial compression tests. The mechanical characteristics of the compressive strength of LWS are analysed with varying initial water contents of dredged clays, EPS ratio, cement ratio, and curing stress. In the triaxial compression state, it is found that the compressive strength of LWS containing EPS is independent on the effective confined stress. As the EPS ratio decreases($A_E$<2%) and cement ratio increases($A_c$>2%), the behavior characteristics of triaxial compressive strength-strain relationship is similar to that of cemented soil which decreases rapidly in compressive strength after ultimate compressive strength. For the applications of LWS to ground improvements which require the compressive strength of up to 200kPa, the optimized EPS ratio and initial water content of dredged clay are estimated to be 3~4% and 165~175%, respectively. Also, the ultimate compressive strength under both triaxial test and uniaxial compression states are almost constant for a cement ratio of up to 2% and then critical cement ratio of this LWS shall be 2%.