• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.29-34
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• 2008

A large diameter sampler was developed to take undisturbed samples from not only soft ground but also sandy and weathered ground. The large diameter sampler which was developed in Korea Institute of Construction Technology(KICT-type large diameter sampler) was manufactured based on the principle of triple core barrel sampling. A specially designed cutting device was used to cut and contain various kinds of samples in the sampler during a sampling and retrieval procedure. By adjusting the stiffness of the spring located at the top of the sampler, the distance between the cutting shoe and auger can be controlled in accordance with the ground condition. In order to investigate the applicability of the developed sampler and compare the quality of the samples taken by the sampler with that by the traditional thin-walled tube sampler, samples were taken at various sites according to the ground condition. And a series of laboratory tests such as the unconfined compress ion test, triaxial compression test, oedometer test, large diameter Rowe cell consolidation test (D: 150 mm) were performed. The test results showed that the samples by the KICT-type large diameter sampler show higher quality than the samples by the thin-walled tube sampler. And the validity and applicability of the developed KICT-type large diameter sampler was confirmed accordingly.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.5-17
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• 2013

This study investigates the effect of thermal stress on axial load and pile settlement of PHC energy piles. A series of numerical analyses were performed by controlling major influencing parameters such as pile arrangement, pile spacing, end-bearing condition, soil condition and pile cap stiffness. It is found that the characteristics of pile-load transfer are significantly affected by seasonal operation mode (i.e., cooling and heating) throughout the year. Also, the axial load under thermal loading increases with increasing the pile spacing. The settlement of the pile in sand is larger than that in clay because of the thermal stress generated. It is also found that thermal stress highly influences on the end-bearing pile, corner pile and rigidity of pile cap.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.959-982
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• 2015

In this study, a non-stationary random earthquake Clough-Penzien model is used to describe earthquake ground motion. Using stochastic direct integration in combination with an equivalent linear method, a solution is established to describe the non-stationary response of lead-rubber bearing (LRB) system to a stochastic earthquake. Two parameters are used to develop an optimization method for bearing design: the post-yielding stiffness and the normalized yield strength of the isolation bearing. Using the minimization of the maximum energy response level of the upper structure subjected to an earthquake as an objective function, and with the constraints that the bearing failure probability is no more than 5% and the second shape factor of the bearing is less than 5, a calculation method for the two optimal design parameters is presented. In this optimization process, the radial basis function (RBF) response surface was applied, instead of the implicit objective function and constraints, and a sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm was used to solve the optimization problems. By considering the uncertainties of the structural parameters and seismic ground motion input parameters for the optimization of the bearing design, convex set models (such as the interval model and ellipsoidal model) are used to describe the uncertainty parameters. Subsequently, the optimal bearing design parameters were expanded at their median values into first-order Taylor series expansions, and then, the Lagrange multipliers method was used to determine the upper and lower boundaries of the parameters. Moreover, using a calculation example, the impacts of site soil parameters, such as input peak ground acceleration, bearing diameter and rubber shore hardness on the optimization parameters, are investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.55-69
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• 2011

The importance of unsaturated state in various geo-engineering problems has led to the advance of mechanical constitutive model emulating behavior of unsaturated soils in response to thermo-hydro-mechanical loading. Elasto-plastic mechanical constitutive model for unsaturated soil is formulated based on Bishop's effective stress. Effective stress and temperature are main variables in constitutive equation, and incremental formulation of constitutive relationship is derived to compute stress update and stiffness tensor. Numerical simulations involving coupled THM processes are conducted to discuss numerical stability and applicability of developed constitutive model: one-dimensional test, tri-axial compression test, and clay-buffering at high level radioactive waste disposal. Numerical results demonstrated that developed model can predict very complex behavior of coupled THM phenomena and is applicable to geo-engineering problems under various environmental conditions, as well as interpret typical behavior of unsaturated soils.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.35-43
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• 2012

Construction of sheet pile retaining walls in urban and coastal regions has resulted in sheet pile walls in close proximity to laterally loaded pile foundations. However, there is currently little information available in the literature to assist engineers for quantifying the response of sheet pile walls. This study provides a quantitative method for estimating sheet pile wall response due to loads imposed from a nearby laterally loaded pile. Three dimensional finite element analyses using commercial software, ABAQUS, were performed to assess the response of a sheet pile wall and nearby laterally loaded pile. The soils were modeled using Drucker-Prager constitutive model with associated flow rule, and the sheet pile wall and pile foundation were assumed to behave linear elastic. Four parameters were investigated: sheet pile wall bending stiffness, distance from the pile face to the wall, excavation depth in front of the sheet pile wall, and elastic modulus of the soil. Results from the analyses have been used to develop preliminary design charts and simple equations for estimating the maximum horizontal displacement and maximum bending moment in the sheet pile wall.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.139-145
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• 2010

An integrity testing for stone columns was attempted using crosshole S-wave logging. The method is conceptionally quite similar to the crosshole sonic logging (CSL) for drilled piers. The critical difference in the logging is the use of S-wave rather than P-wave, which is used in CSL, because swave is the only wave sensing the stiffness of slower unbounded materials than water. An electro-mechanical source, which can generate reversed Swave signals, was utilized in the logging. The stone column was delineated using the S-wave travel times across the stone column, the S-wave velocity profile of the crushed stone($V_{cs}$-profile) and that of surrounding soil($V_s$-profile). In the calculation of $V_{cs}$-profile of the crushed stone, its friction angle and Ko (coefficient of lateral earth pressure at rest) are recommended to be used. The calculation of the column diameter is not much affected by the values of friction angle and Ko.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.43-55
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• 2018

AGF (Artificial Ground Freezing) method is a temporary ground improvement method which can apply to all types of soil with the purpose of high stiffness and low hydraulic conductivity. However, the groundwater flow and the heterogeneity of the ground increase the uncertainty of the ice-column formation which hinders the reliability of this method. The effects of groundwater flow and layered heterogeneity on ice-wall integrity by AGF method were analyzed using finite element analysis program for a coupled thermo-hydro phenomena in the freezing ground. Groundwater flow changes circular ice-column into elliptical shapes and increases the time required for the formation of ice walls. The previous theoretical formula overestimated the completion time of the ice wall and the critical groundwater velocity by neglecting the thermal interaction between adjacent ice-columns. Numerical results presented the corrected formula and verified the proposed equation for the dimensionless ice-wall completion time. In the layered heterogeneous ground, the thickness of the layer with higher hydraulic conductivity and its relative magnitude were found to be important factors in the ice-wall completion time and critical velocity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.561-571
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• 2021

Cofferdams made of teel sheet piles are commonly utilized as support structures for excavation of sea-crossing bridge foundations. As cofferdams are often subject to tide variation, it is imperative to consider potential effects of tide on stability and serviceability of sheet piles, particularly, ultralong steel sheet piles (USSPs). In this study, a real USSP cofferdam constructed using new construction technology in Nanxi River was reported. The design of key parts of USSP cofferdam in the presence of tidal action was first introduced followed by the description of entire construction technology and associated monitoring results. Subsequently, a three-dimensional finite-element model corresponding to all construction steps was established to back-analyze measured deflection of USSPs. Finally, a series of parametric studies was carried out to investigate effects of tide level, soil parameters, support stiffness and construction sequence on lateral deflection of USSPs. Monitoring results indicate that the maximum deflection during construction occurred near the riverbed. In addition, measured stress of USSPs showed that stability of USSP cofferdam strengthened as construction stages proceeded. Moreover, the numerical back-analysis demonstrated that the USSP cofferdam fulfilled the safety requirements for construction under tidal action. The maximum deflection of USSPs subject to high tide was only 13.57 mm at a depth of -4 m. Sensitivity analyses results showed that the design of USSP cofferdam system must be further improved for construction in cohesionless soils. Furthermore, the 5th strut level before concreting played an indispensable role in controlling lateral deflection of USSPs. It was also observed that pumping out water before concreting base slab could greatly simplify and benefit construction program. On the other hand, the simplification in construction procedures could induce seepage inside the cofferdam, which additionally increased the deflection of USSPs by 10 mm on average.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.45-52
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• 2022

Because discontinuity in the rock mass and contact of soil-structure interaction exhibits coupled thermal-hydromechanical (THM) behavior, it is necessary to develop an interface element based on the full governing equations. In this study, we derive force equilibrium, fluid continuity, and energy equilibrium equations for the interface element. Additionally, we present a stiffness matrix of the elastoplastic mechanical model for the interface element. The developed interface element uses six nodes for displacement and four nodes for water pressure and temperature in a two-dimensional analysis. The fully coupled THM analysis for fluid injection into a fault can model the complicated evolution of injection pressure due to decreasing effective stress in the fault and thermal contraction of the surrounding rock mass. However, the result of hydromechanical analysis ignoring thermal phenomena overestimates hydromechanical variables.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-40
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• 2022

In this study, 3D coupled-consolidation numerical parametric study was conducted to predict the deformation mechanism of a 20 storey building sitting on (4×4) piled raft (with length of piles, L_p=30 m) to adjacent 6 m diameter (D) tunnelling in stiff clay. The influences of different tunnel locations relative to piles (i.e., z_t/L_p) were investigated in this parametric study. In first case, the tunnel was excavated near the pile shafts with depth of tunnel axis (z_t) of 9 m (i.e., z_t/L_p). In second and third cases, tunnels were driven at z_t of 30 m and 42 m (i.e., z_t/L_p = 1.0 and 1.4), respectively. An advanced hypoplastic clay model (which is capable of taking small-strain stiffness in account) was adopted to capture soil behaviour. The computed results revealed that tunnelling activity adjacent to a building resting on piled raft caused significant settlement, differential settlement, lateral deflection, angular distortion in the building. In addition, substantial bending moment, shear forces and changes in axial load distribution along pile length were induced. The findings from the parametric study revealed that the building and pile responses significantly influenced by tunnel location relative to pile.