• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.329-333
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• 2006

Most of volcanic ash soils in South Korea are distributed in Jeju province which is an island placed on southern part of Korea and has steep slope mountain area. There are many soils containing high contents of organic matter (OM) derived from volcanic ash in Jejudo, also. Therefore, irrigation and drainage in volcanic ash soil different with general soil which has low OM content have to be applied with another management way, but studies searching appropriate methods for them are set on insufficient situation because the area of volcanic ash soil in South Korea is only 1.3% (130,000ha). This study was conducted for analysis of soil water content and irrigation quantity appropriate for crops cultivated in volcanic ash soil with high OM content. Although soils with different soil color have the same soil texture, soil water characteristics curve by soil color showed the difference of water retention capability by OM content. But, this characteristics classified with soil color could be unified by scaling technique with similitude analysis method which get dimensionless water content using a present water content, a residual water content and saturated water content (or water content at 10kPa). A relation of gravimetric soil water content (GSWC) and dimensionless water content by the results showed a form of power function. The dimensionless water content (DWC) express a relative saturation degree of present water content. This was also expressed by van Genuchten model which describe the relation between relative saturation degrees and matric potentials. These results on soil water characteristics curve (SWCC) of volcanic ash soil will be the basic of irrigation plan in area having high organic contents into soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.599-606
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• 2010

It has been reported that many slope failures in unsaturated soils are mainly caused by downward infiltration due to rainfall. The rainfall characteristics could be an important factor, and more predictable slope failures can be achieved by considering more reasonable rainfall conditions. So, a need exists that these trends of infiltration in weathered soils, which is commonly found in Korea, are assessed by considering rainfall conditions based on phenomenological approach. In this paper, numerical analyses of unsaturated soil slope under rainfall conditions are presented based on the soil-water characteristic curve in the laboratory and huff method. Then the performance of unsaturated weathered soil slopes was evaluated under various conditions after applying the effect of overburden pressure on SWCCs and fines contents. The results demonstrated that the rainfall conditions using Huff method can be very effective and the proper application on analysis is very important to enhance the prediction on unsaturated slope stability.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.211-214
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• 1999

To acknowledge the differences in soil physical properties of cultivated land derived from major parent rocks in Yeong-nam areas, we investigated Riley's projection sphericity(one of the morphological properties) of sand and made up Soil Moisture Characteristics Curve(SMCC). The averages in Riley s projection sphericity range from 0.63 to 0.67 in soils derived from Sedimentary rocks than 0.56 to 0.61 in soils derived from igneous rocks. In case of soils derived from igneous rocks, the Riley's projection sphericity is lower as the particle size get to be smaller. The differences of SMCC were larger in the fine loamy soils than in coarse loamy soils. The moisture retention was higher in the soils derived from Sedimentary rocks than in the soils derived from Igneous rocks. After we transformed the water retention into dimensionless scale value by available water ratio, the SMCC was nearly unchangeable in the tested soils except for fine loamy soils derived from Sedimentary rock, but was not correlated with soil texture or parent rocks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09a
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• pp.764-771
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• 2010

The stability analysis method of an unsaturated slope considering the suction stress was performed on the infinite sand slope. During drying and wetting processes, the Soil-Water Characteristics Curve (SWCC) of the sand with the relative density of 75% was measured using the automated SWCC apparatus. Also, the Suction Stress Characteristics Curve (SSCC) was estimated. Based on these results, the stability analysis of an unsaturated infinite slope was carried out considering the slope angle, the weathering zone and the relative change in friction angle as a soil depth. According to the result of slope stability analysis, the safety factors of slope were less than 1 when the slope angles were more than $50^{\circ}$. The safety factors of slope tend to increase with increasing the depth from the ground surface. Especially, the safety factors have a tendency to increase and decrease above near the ground water level due to the suction stress. The maximum safety factor of slope in this analysis was occurred at the Air Entry Value (AEV) of drying process. The influence range of suction stress above the ground water level can be found out and can be defined as the funicular zone which means the metric suction range from the air entry point to the point of residual volumetric water content.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.687-706
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• 2015

Methods commonly used to evaluate the improvement of lime-treated expansive soil include swelling characteristics and unconfined compressive strength. In the field, lime-treated expansive soils are in compacted unsaturated state. Soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) represent a key parameter to interpret and describe the behavior of unsaturated expansive soil. This paper investigates the use of SWCC as a technique to evaluate improvements acquired by expansive soil after lime treatment. Three different lime contents were considered 2%, 4% and 6% by dry weight of clay. Series of tests were performed to determine the SWCC for the different lime content under curing periods of 7 and 28 day. Correlations between key features of the soil water characteristic curves of lime treated expansive soils and basic engineering behavior such as swelling characteristics and unconfined compression strength were established. Test results revealed that initial slope ($S_1$), saturated water content ($w_{sat}$), and air entry value (AEV) play an important role in reflecting improvement in engineering behavior achieved by lime treatment.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.241-255
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• 2022

In this study, sieve analysis testing was performed on weathered granite soil from Yecheon (eastern South Korea) before and after water washing in accordance with the sieve analysis regulations of KS F 2302. The changes in particle separation and particle size distribution after washing with water were analyzed. Image analysis using an optical microscope revealed that soil particles were separated into smaller particles by water washing. The change in the particle size distribution curve was assessed using five index values. The increase in the fine particle fraction (<0.075 mm) was 13.67%, the increase in the 0.075-0.25 mm fraction was 19.44%, and the mean particle diameter (D₅₀) decreased by 0.663 mm. In addition, the maximum passage width (B_M) of the particle size distribution curve increased by 21.08% for the #30 sieve, and the moving area (A) of the particle size distribution curve was 69.28%·mm. These results suggest that washing with water is an effective way to prevent underestimation of the fine particle content in soil.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.E1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2008

Relationship between the optimum soil water content and clay content on soil samples from mid-latitude European forest was tested. Soil samples from 4 different experimental sites (two forest sites in the Netherlands and a Danish forest) were collected, and analyzed for the soil physical and chemical characteristics. Water retention curves for the soil samples were determined according to the standard procedure ISO 11274, and pF decreased with increase in soil water contents. NO is simultaneously produced and consumed by microbiological processes, which comprise of nitrification and denitrification. NO consumption and production rates were determined from the soil samples and compared to their corresponding water retention curves in order to find the optimum soil water content and matric potential for maximum NO release from mid-latitude soils. NO consumption rate coefficient (k) in Hollandse Hout was significantly lower than those in other soil sites. Maximum NO production was observed at an intermediate soil moisture ($0.2{\sim}0.3kg/kg$) in all the soil samples. Resulting from the NO consumption and production rates for the soils, the empirical NO fluxes of the different soils were calculated in the laboratory.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.47-58
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• 2014

To investigate the unsaturated characteristics of the tailings obtained from the waste dump at Imgi mine, matric suction and volumetric water content were measured in both drying and wetting processes using Automated Soil-Water Characteristics Curve Apparatus. Based on the measured result, Soil Water Characteristic Curves (SWCC) were estimated by van Genuchten model. According to the unsaturated soil classification method, the tailings of the waste dump correspond to clayey sand. As a result of Suction Stress Characteristic Curve (SSCC) by Lu and Likos model, SSCC has a shape of S which is similar to SWCC. The hysteresis phenomenon occurred in SSCCs, which means the suction stress of drying path is larger than that of wetting path in the same effective degree of saturation. The effective stress of unsaturated soil is equal to that of saturated soil when matric suction is less than Air Entry Value (AEV). However, the effective stress of unsaturated soil is larger than that of saturated soil when matic suction is more than AEV. Meanwhile, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity by van Genuchten model decreased with increasing matric suction, and the hydraulic conductivity of drying path is larger than that of wetting path.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.139-146
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• 2002

The characteristics and prediction model for the shear strength of unsaturated residual soils was studied. In order to investigate the influence of the net normal stress on the shear strength, unsaturated triaxial tests and SWCC tests were carried out varying the net normal stress, and the experimental data for unsaturated shear strength tests were compared with predicted shear strength envelopes using existing prediction models. It was shown that the soil - water characteristic curve and the shear strength of the unsaturated soil varied with the change of the net normal stress. Therefore, to achieve a truly descriptive shear strength envelope for unsaturated soils, tile effect of the normal stress on the contribution of matric suction to the shear strength has to be taken into consideration. In this paper, a modified prediction model for the unsaturated shear strength was proposed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.966-972
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• 2009

Soil-aggregate system in pavement foundations exist in unsaturated conditions. However, change in water content on foundation layers due to joint and structural cracks during rainfall may cause problems like layer deformations or partial settlements. Therefore, a need exist to evaluate the infiltration and drainage capacity of soil-aggregate foundation system under both saturated and unsaturated conditions. To do that, a laboratory soil-water characteristic curve and permeability under unsaturated conditions are assessed to establish hydraulic properties of geomaterials and limited numerical analysis are performed respectively. As a result, it was found that suction profiles and drainage process was greatly influenced by the initial suction of soil-aggregate system at the time of infiltration, soil water characteristics curves, and hysteresis effects.