• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.165-178
• /
• 2021

The influence of Soil-Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) fitting parameters for an unsaturated natural slope was evaluated through seepage and slope stability analysis as a function of rainfall. Soil samples were collected from the study area in Jirisan National Park and the physical and mechanical characteristics of unsaturated soil layers were measured in laboratory tests. The saturation depth was calculated via seepage analysis by changing fitting parameters α, the parameter related to the Air Entry Value (AEV) and n, the parameter related to the slope of the SWCC in the range of natural conditions. Slope stability analysis using the limit equilibrium method considered the calculated depth of saturation. Results from seepage analysis for various rainfall conditions indicate the saturation depth in the soil layer suddenly increased as the fitting parameter α decreased; the saturation time for the entire soil layer also decreased. Slope stability analysis considering the calculated depth of saturation shows that the slope safety factor rapidly decreased as the fitting parameter α decreased, whereas the variation in slope safety factor was very small when n increased. Hence, fitting parameter α has a large effect on saturation depth during rainfall and therefore on slope stability, whereas slope stability is relatively unaffected by the fitting parameter n.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.77-89
• /
• 2023

This study aims to establish the correlations between variables related to a slope during rainfall and factor of safety (FOS) and displacement using a coupling analysis method that is designed to consider both in rainfall conditions. With the recent development of measurement technologies, the approach of using the measurement data in the field has become easier. Particularly, they have been obtained in tests to determine the real-time safety and movement of a slope; however, a specific method has not been finalized. In addition, collected measurement data for recognizing the FOS and displacement in real-time with a specific relevance is difficult, and risks of uncertainty, such as in soil parameters and time, exist. In this study, the correlations between various slope-related variables (i.e., rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, angle of the slope, and mechanical properties including strength parameters of selected three types of soil; loamy sand, silt loam, sand) and the FOS and displacement are analyzed in order of seepage analysis, slope stability analysis and slope displacement analysis. Moreover, the methodology of coupling analysis is verified and a fundamental understanding of the factors that need to be considered in real-time observations is gained. The results show that the contributions of the abovementioned variables vary according to the soil type. Thus, the tendency of the displacement also differs by the soil type and variables but not same tendency with FOS. The friction angle and cohesion are negative while the rainfall duration and rainfall intensity are positive with the displacement. This suggests that understanding their correlations is necessary to determine the safety of a slope in real-time using displacement data. Additionally, databases considering rainfall conditions and a wide range of soil characteristics, including hydraulic and mechanical parameters, should be accumulated.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2016

The time distribution of rainfall is one of the most important considerations for evaluating soil slope stability. In order to study the rainfall-induced slope failure, the rainfall pattern has generally been assumed as uniform rainfall intensity for rainfall duration. However, it should be noted that the time distribution of the design rainfall method has a significant effect on the soil slope instability. The study implemented Mononobe, Huff, and uniform method as three types of time distribution method of the design rainfall to estimate the factor of safety of soil slopes by rainfall duration. As a result, the difference of soil suction and unsaturated hydraulic properties in a soil by rainfall pattern was found through the application of an appropriate time distribution method to numerical simulation for rainfall-induced slope stability.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.65-72
• /
• 2019

More than 64% of Korea's land is occupied by mountain regions, which have terrain characteristics that make it vulnerable to mountain disasters. The trails of Taebaeksan Mountain National Park-the region considered in this study-are located in the vicinity of steep slopes, and therefore, the region is vulnerable to landslides and debris flow during heavy storms. In this study, a slope stability model, which is a deterministic analysis method, was used to examine the potential occurrence of landslides. According to the soil classification of the detailed soil map, the specific weight of soil, effective cohesion, internal friction angle of soil, effective soil depth, and ground slope were used as the parameters of the model, and slope stability was evaluated based on the DEM of a 1 m grid. The results of the slope stability analysis showed that the more hazardous the area was, the closer the ratio of groundwater/effective soil depth is to 1.0. Further, many of the private houses and commercial facilities in the lower part of the national park were shown to be exposed to danger.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.53-64
• /
• 2009

Many slope failures are induced by rainfall infiltration. A lot of recent researches are therefore focused on rainfall-induced slope instability and the rainfall infiltration is recognized as the important triggering factor. The rainfall infiltrates into the soil slope and makes the matric suction lost in the slope and even the positive pore water pressure develops near the surface of the slope. They decrease the resisting shear strength. In Korea, a few public institutions suggested conservative slope design guidelines that assume a fully saturated soil condition. However, this assumption is irrelevant and sometimes soil properties are misused in the slope design method to fulfill the requirement. In this study, a more relevant slope stability evaluation method is suggested to take into account the real rainfall infiltration phenomenon. Unsaturated soil properties such as shear strength, soil-water characteristic curve and permeability for Korean weathered soils were obtained by laboratory tests and also estimated by artificial neural network models. For real-time assessment of slope instability, failure warning criteria of slope based on deterministic and probabilistic analyses were introduced to complement uncertainties of field measurement data. The slope stability evaluation technique can be combined with field measurement data of important factors, such as matric suction and water content, to develop an early warning system for probably unstable slopes due to the rainfall.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.13-20
• /
• 2005

This study was conducted to suggest the ecological restoration methods of the decomposed granite cut-slope by organic soil amendment materials. Field test carried out for the cut-slope with organic soil amendment materials method and other three revegetation methods in Cheongwon. Test revegetation plants were Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne, Dactylis glomerata, Lespedeza cyrtobotrya, and Arundinella hirta. The result of this study can be summarized as follows; 1. The soil hardness, the soil acidity, and the soil humidity of organic soil amendment materials method were at a suitable value for plants growth. And it was better as compared with other three revegetation methods of cutting-rock slopes. 2. The result of toxic substance investigation, all items were at a suitable for standard law. 3. During one year after seeding, most plants germinated and especially Festuca arundinacea and Dactylis glomerata grows well. Seedling numbers were 336.7 per $m^2$(after 6 months), 183.3 per $m^2$(after 10 months), and 353.3 per $m^2$(after 6 months). Ten months later after seeding, plants showed 80% ground coverage. Visual rate, plant height, and growth rate were excellence, Also, high plant growth in spring better than autumn.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2006

Recently, the intensive rainstorm possibly induced by global warming plays a key role on the instability of railway adjacent slopes. The instability of slopes results as covering and loss of railway lines induced by slided soil mass. According to the site investigation on the failed slopes triggered by rainfall, low types of slope failure were observed: shallow, intermediate, gully erosion, and soil-rock interface failures. The observation reveals the different characteristics of slope failure depending on the thickness of soil layer, morphological features of slope, etc. Based upon the observations, flume tests were conducted to analyze the sliding mechanism of each failure. The variables of flume test are soil layer thickness, rainfall intensity, and morphology of slope under the constant condition of the percentage of fine, initial soil moisture content, slope angle and compaction energy. Test results show that shallow failure was mostly observed from the surface of the slope and caused by the soil erosion; in addition, compared to the other types of failure, the occurrence of initial erosion is late, however, the development of erosion is fast. In gully erosion failure, the collected water from the water catchment area helps erosion of the upper soil layer and transfer of residual corestone, which impedes the erosion process once the upper soil layers are eroded and corestone are exposed. The soil-rock interface failure shows the most fast initial erosion process among the failure types. Interestingly, the common feature observed from the different types of failure was the occurrence of the initial deformation near the toe of slopes which implies the existence of surbsurface flow along the downslope direction.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.26 no.4C
• /
• pp.239-245
• /
• 2006

The steep slopes have been increased of new roads, industrial site development and large scale residential development. The preservation administration and steep slope construction are currently investigated by many researchers in Korea. However, concrete retaining wall or reinforced soil (i.e. Block or Pannel) are being applied for the steep slope, which results in the front face form of the structure being limited. This research investigates the method that can make up afforestation environment-friendly circumstances during the construction of steep slope structure. It is considered that steep slope reinforced structure would be possible based on the monitoring results about earth pressure, horizontal displacement and consolidation quality generated during the construction of whole constructing reinforced structure. Also, there no problems in grassy surface, drainage, and deformation in spite of rainy season after construction period and until now. So that the seeding soil layer surface reinforced soil method could be adopt for steep slope reinforced structure and others.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.65 no.5
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2023

Due to climate change and aging of reservoirs, damage to embankment slopes is increasing. However, the safety diagnosis of the reservoir slope is mainly conducted by visual observation, and the time and economic cost are formidable to apply soil mechanical tests and slope stability analysis. Accordingly, this study presented a predicting method for the compaction and strength characteristics of the reservoir embankment soil using a portable static cone penetration test. The predicted items consisted of dry density, cohesion, and internal friction angle, which are the main factors of slope stability analysis. Portable static cone penetration tests were performed at 19 reservoir sites, and prediction equations were constructed from the correlation between penetration resistance data and test results of soil samples. The predicted dry density and strength parameters showed a correlation with test results between R² 0.40 and 0.93, and it was found to replace the test results well when used as input data for slope stability analysis (R² 0.8134 or more, RMSE 0.0320 or less). In addition, the prediction equations for the minimum safety factor of the slope were presented using the penetration resistance and gradient. As a result of comparing the predicted safety factor with the analysis results, R² 0.5125, RMSE 0.0382 in coarse-grained soil, R² 0.4182 and RMSE 0.0628 in fine-grained soil. The results of this study can be used as a way to improve the existing slope safety diagnosis method, and are expected to be used to predict the characteristics of various soils and inspect slopes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.14-22
• /
• 2008

The forest soil sediment disasters occurred in Jinbu-myeon Pyeongchang county were investigated characteristics by the aerial photograph analysis. After digitizing from aerial photographs, forest soil sediment disaster sites were classified into 695 collapsed sites, 305 flowed sites and 199 sediment sites. DEM (Digital Elevation Model) were generated from 1 : 5,000 digital topographic map. Factors of geography, hydrology, biology, and geology were analyzed using DEM, geologic map, and forest stand map with aerial photographs by GIS spatial analysis technique. The forest soil sediment disasters were mainly occurred from southeastern slope to southwestern slope. In collapsed sit es, the average slope degree is $28.9^{\circ}$, the average flow length is 163.5m, the average area of drainage basin is 897$m^2$. In case of flowed sites, the average slope degree, flow length, the area of drainage basin and confluence order is $27.0^{\circ}$, 175m, 2,500$m^2$ and 1, respectively. In sediment sites, the average slope, flow length, the area of drainage basin and confluence order is $12.5^{\circ}$, 2,50m, 25,000$m^2$ and 4, respectively. Also the forest soil sediment disasters were occurred most of collapsed sites in the afforest land after felling and igneous rocks composed of granite.