• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.55-65
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• 2019

Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is to estimate potential soil loss and has benefit in use with its simplicity. The equation is composed of five factors, one of the factors is the slope length and steepness factor (LS factor) that is for topographic property of fields to estimate potential soil loss. Since the USLE was developed, many equations to compute LS was suggested with field measurement. Nowadays the factor is often computed in GIS software with digital elevation model, however it was reported that the factor is very sensitive to the resolution of digital elevation model. In addition, the digital elevation model of high resolution less than 3 meter is required in small field application, however these inputs are not associate with the empirical models' backgrounds since the empirical models were derived in 22.1 meter field measurements. In the study, four equation to compute LS factor and two approaches to determine slope length and steepness were examined, and correction factor was suggested to provide reasonable precision in LS estimations. The correction factor is computed with field area and cell size of digital elevation model, thus the correction factor can be adapted in any USLE-based models using LS factor at field level.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6C
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• pp.331-338
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• 2008

Soil nailing is used as a method of slope stabilization and excavation support. The design method of soil nail are based on experience or assumption of interaction between soil and reinforcement. Most design methods simply considers the tension of reinforcement for analysis of slope stabilization. Soil nails interact with soils under combined loading of shear and tension. Jewell & Pedley suggested a design equation of shear force with bending stiffness and discussed that the magnitude of the maximum shear force is small in comparison with the maximum axal force. However, they have used a very conservative limiting bearing stress on nails. This paper discusses that the shear strength of soil nails should not be disregarded with proper bearing stresses on nails. The modified FHWA design method was proposed by considering shear forces on nails with bending stiffness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.110-120
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• 2009

The hipped roof on the research building, which was constructed 51.9m above sea level on a hillock by Korea National University of Education in June 1999, is composed of four inclined planes which are 12m in breadth, 8m in length and have a 30 degree gradient. For the roof vegetation, the yellow earth collected from around the building was laid on top. It was designed to supply the soil on the slope with water for a considerable period by making rainfall pool at the edges. In order to prevent the soil on the slope from being swept away, 31 sorts of grass seeds were imported from Germany and sown in the soil. At the present day, 10 years after the seeds began to sprout and inhabit the settled slope, 30 individual plant species were identified in the period between April 2008 and March 2009. Out of 31 species were seeded on the slanted, soiled roof, only 8 were still alive. It was confirmed that the Artemisia Princeps var, Chrysantheum, Prunella Vulgaris and Lespedeza Cuneata have been the major species inhabiting the east, west, south and north inclined planes respectively. The Phragmites Communis was inhabiting the edge of the roof where the water supply was adequate, while the Dianthus Barbatus was primarily inhabiting the south-east side of the roof. As a whole, 26 identifiable plants and 4 unidentified plants were observed on the inclined planes of the hipped roof. In consideration of the plant distribution on the slope, it was confirmed that the selection of seeds may have had an effect on the slope vegetation. As for the yellow earth laid on the roof, it was discovered that about 2~3cm thickness around the ridge was swept away, but the rest of the slope was in relatively good condition. Accordingly, it has been proven that vegetations can be applied to hipped roofs by using ordinary plants without any special structural measures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.5-15
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• 2015

In this study, rainfall-induced slope stability and coupling effect are investigated using hydro-mechanical finite element model. This model is developed by formulating constitutive and coupled balance equations and is verified by comparing the numerical results with field matric suction. The homogeneous soil layer (soil column) and soil slope are modeled by this model, and the results of variation in matric suction, mean effective stress, porosity, displacement, factor of safety are compared with those of staggered analysis. It is found that the vertical and horizontal displacement from coupling analysis considering change in porosity is larger than that of staggered analysis. The displacement and matric suction from coupling analysis by rainfall infiltration can affect slope instability, which shows a progressive failure behavior. The lowest factor of safety is observed under short-term rainfall. This results confirm the fact that coupling analysis is needed to design soil slope under severe rain condition.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.351-362
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• 2009

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, semi-distributed model, first divides the watershed into multiple subwatersheds, and then extracts the basic computation element, called the Hydrologic Response Unit (HRU). In the process of HRU generation, the spatial information of land use and soil maps within each subwatershed is lost. The SWAT model estimates the HRU topographic data based on the average slope of each subwatershed, and then use this topographic datum for all HRUs within the subwatershed. To improve the SWAT capabilities for various watershed scenarios, the Spatially Distributed-HRU (SD-HRU) pre-processor module was developed in this study to simulate site-specific topographic data. The SD-HRU was applied to the Hae-an watershed, where field slope lengths and slopes are measured for all agricultural fields. The analysis revealed that the SD-HRU pre-processor module needs to be applied in SWAT sediment simulation for accurate analysis of soil erosion and sediment behaviors. If the SD-HRU pre-processor module is not applied in SWAT runs, the other SWAT factors may be over or under estimated, resulting in errors in physical and empirical computation modules although the SWAT estimated flow and sediment values match the measured data reasonably well.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.289-299
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• 2008

Based on the case study on the causes for the failure of cutting slope composed of weathered rock and soil, the factors influencing the design of a cutting slope have been examined, This type of rock and soil is widely distributed on the region whose parent rock is granite. To analyze the stability of the cutting slope, the following series of progress has been conducted: (1) ground characterization by geological survey and ground investigation, (2) the safety factor examination by limit equilibrium analysis and numerical analysis and (3) the comparison and analysis of rainfall and failure history. As a result, the main factors to cause the failure is determined to be the decrease of shear strength in the upper parts whose ground condition is weakened during localized heavy rain. Moreover, the analysis indicates the failure is also closely related to the groundwater inflow path. On the base of this investigation, a reinforcement method is proposed to ensure the stability of the cutting slope.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1997.09a
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• pp.137-146
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• 1997

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.271-280
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• 2002

A probabilistic approach to identify the effects of uncertainties of soil strength parameters on searching a critical slip surface with the lowest reliability is introduced. In general construction field, it is impossible for the engineer to always gather a variety of statistical information of soil strength parameters for which lots of laboratory and in-situ soil testing are required and to use it with enough statistical knowledge. Thus, in order that the engineer may easily understand the probabilistic concept for the slope stability analysis, this study proposes a combined procedure to incorporate the engineering probabilistic tools into the existing deterministic slope stability analysis methods. Using UTEXAS 3, a slope stability analysis computer program developed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (U.S. COE), this study provides the results of this probabilistic slope stability analysis in terms of probability of failure or reliability index. This probabilistic method f3r slope stability analysis appears to yield more comprehensive results of slope reliability than does existing deterministic methods with safety factors alone.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.353-362
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• 2019

Soil-rock mixture (S-RM) is an inhomogeneous geomaterial that is widely encountered in nature. The mechanical and physical properties of S-RM are important factors contributing towards different deformation characteristics and unstable modes of the talus slope. In this paper, the equivalent substitution method was employed for the preparation of S-RM test samples, and large-scale triaxial laboratory tests were conducted to investigate their mechanical parameters by varying the water content and confining pressure. Additionally, a simplified geological model based on the finite element method was established to compare the stability of talus slopes with different strength parameters and in different excavation and support processes. The results showed that the S-RM samples exhibit slight strain softening and strain hardening under low and high water content, respectively. The water content of S-RM also had an effect on decreasing strength parameters, with the decrease in magnitude of the cohesive force and internal friction angle being mainly influenced by the low and high water content, respectively. The stability of talus slope decreased with a decrease in the cohesion force and internal friction angle, thereby creating a new shallow slip surface. Since the excavation of toe of the slope for road construction can easily cause a landslide, anti-slide piles can be used to effectively improve the slope stability, especially for shallow excavations. But the efficacy of anti-slide piles gradually decreases with increasing water content. This paper can act as a reference for the selection of strength parameters of S-RM and provide an analysis of the instability of the talus slope.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.520-525
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• 2001

It's strongly recommended to check upon the slope stability of soil nearby railroad, since the freezing-thawing repeat in long term may cause decrease of slope stability. The study is, therefore, focused on the strength characteristic transformation of soil, measuring it experimentally, throughout physical and mechanical tests operated by the freezing-thawing repeat tests. The sampling of weathered soil used for the embankment materials along the domestic railway lines are classified by parent-rock, and then collected after it in the first hand. It tells that Uniaxial strength and axial strain were decreased simultaneously as the frequency of freezing-thawing repeat increased and its range was reduced into 25～85 percentage off comparing to uniaxial strength of unfreezing-soils when about 100 times of freezing-thawing repeats occurred. Following the result of direct shear tests, the cohesion of freezing-soil with freezing-thawing repeats shows 11∼60 percentage less than that of unfreezing-soil but the change of internal friction angle of the soil is extremely slight, enough to ignore. As a result. it could be found that strength characteristic transformation has highly correlated with freezing-thawing repeat.