• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.96-104
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• 1981

In order to investigate the characteristics of the shear strength of the unsaturated cohesive soils which has mean characters of sand and clay widely used for banking, I selected soil samples from An-sung district and, against it, performed direct shear test and unconfined compression test changing grain size, compaction energy and moisture content and also performed triaxial compression test under optimum moisture content. The results are as follows; 1.As the passing percent of the No. 200 sieve increased from 23.6% to 56.1%, cohesion increased from 0. 202kg/cm2 to 0. 398kg/cm2 under the direct shear test and from 0.38 kg/cm2 to 1. 05kg/cm2 under the tria4al compression test, internal friction angle decreased from 44. 78$^{\circ}$ to 34. 34$^{\circ}$ under the direct shear test and from 31. 88$^{\circ}$ to 13. 31$^{\circ}$ under the triaxial compression test. 2.Cohesion showed it's maximum value around OMC and internal friction angle showed a tendency to increase according to the decrease of water content but it's increasing ratio was relatively slow. 3.Decreasing ratio of cohesion and internal friction angle was relatively sensitive according to the decrease of compaction energy. 4.The smaller of the vertical stress and the coarser of the grain size of samples, changing of the volume showed a tendency to increase and as the increase of water content, the shear displacement (dh) at failure shear stress ($\tau$f) showed maximum and the $\tau$f-dh curve was gentle. 5.To synthesize the results of the direct shear test and the triaxial compression test, cohesion showed higher under the triaxial compression test and internal friction angle showed a tendeney to appear higher under the direct shear test. It seems that we can get correspondent results by removing the side friction of mold with soils and adjusting the vertical stress and shearing speed under the direct shear test.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.21-28
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• 2010

Decomposed granite soil is the most common type of soils. The measurement of the stress-strain-strength behavior of anisotropic decomposed granite soils is very important for the deformation and stability analysis of slopes, retaining walls, excavations. A series of unsaturated-drained triaxial compression tests were performed to know unsaturated strength properties. The sample had three different angles of the axial (major principal) direction to the sedimentation plane (compaction plane): 0, 45 and 90 degrees. The compression strain of specimens subjected to an isotropic compression was strongly influenced by the sedimentation angle. In addition, the time dependence was independent of the sedimentation angle in relation to the deformation behavior during the secondary compression process. The effect of the sedimentation angle on the triaxial compression strength and deformation was clearly shown with low confining stress. The effect of the sedimentation angle on the compressive strength and deformation was more evident in saturated specimens. A new method of predicting the shear strength of unsaturated decomposed granite soils, considering compaction angles, was proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 2022

The unsaturated behavior of sandy silt (SM soil) was investigated experimentally. Special attention was given to the stress-strain behavior of unsaturated weathered soil (SM) prior to failure and behavior at failure under monotonic loading. A sandy silt (SM) weathered soil containing a certain amount of fine contents distributed in Korea, was chosen to form samples with different densities of Dr=25%, 60%, and 75%. and matric suctions. The isotopically Consolidated Drain test (CD-test) was performed to maintain a constant matric suction during the shearing process. Based on the experimental results, it was qualitatively identified that the higher the relative density, the greater the virtual friction angle (ϕ^b) value and AEV (Air Entry Value) were induced. Also it is found that the internal friction angle (ϕ') is more or less constant. even if the matric suction is increased.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2018

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to identify the road-subsidence mechanism in unsaturated sandy soils. METHODS : A series of soil chamber tests were conducted under various conditions. RESULTS : The cavity-expansion characteristics in unsaturated sandy soils due to seepage were affected by the outlet size, seepage intensity, relative density, and fine content. CONCLUSIONS : In unsaturated sandy soils, the cavity-expansion speed was affected by the outlet size, relative density, seepage intensity, and clay content; however, the cavity-expansion shape was very similar. As the outlet size and seepage intensity increased, the cavity-expansion speed increased. As the relative density increased, the cavity-expansion speed increased because of a sudden decrease in shear strength, resulting from the increased saturation (reduction of matric suction). The cavity expanded faster with the increasing clay content, up to a certain threshold. It expanded at a slower rate once it passed the threshold. Finally, it reached a stable state where the cavity did not expand due to seepage.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2014

Rainfall-induced landslides are caused by reduction of effective stress and shear strength due to rainfall infiltration. In order to analyze the susceptibility of landslides, the statistical analysis approach has been used widely but this approach has the limitation which cannot take into account of landslide triggering mechanism. Therefore, the physically based model which can consider the process of landslide occurrence was proposed and commonly used. However, the most previous physically based model analyses evaluate and consider the strength characteristics for saturated soil only in the susceptibility analysis. But the strength parameters for unsaturated soil such as matric suction should be considered with the strength parameters for saturated soil since the shear strength in unsaturated soil also plays important role in the stability of slope. Consequently this study suggested the modified physically based slope model which can evaluate strength characteristics for both of saturated and unsaturated soils. In addition, this study evaluated the thickness of saturated part in slope with rainfall intensity and hydraulic characteristics of slope on the basis of physically based model. In order to evaluate the feasibility, the proposed model was applied to practical example in Jinbu area, Gangwon-do, which was experienced large amount of landslides in July 2006. The ROC graph analysis was used to evaluate the validation of the model, and the analysis results were compared with the results of the previous analysis approach.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.335-344
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• 2003

This study is focused to the physical and shear strength properties of the weathered limestone soils distributed in Changsung and Hwasun area, Chonnam province. Disturbed soil was used as soil samples. To grasp the physical and shear strength properties of weathered limestone soil, specific gravity test, atterberg limit, grain size distribution and direct shear test were conducted in the laboratory. The physical and shear strength properties of the weathered limestone soil in the study areas are as follows. The range of specific gravity (Gs) is 2.78 to 2.80, liquid limits (LL) 37 to 38 (%), plasticity index (PI) 13.7 to 15.4, and soil classification CL. The range of strength parameters by direct shear test (vd, $1.5t/\textrm{m}^3$) is 3.07 to 4.4 ($t/\textrm{m}^2$) of cohesion and 34.8 to $42.4^{\circ}$ of internal friction angle in unsaturated soils. As a result of comparing with the weathered granite soils (Yang, 1997: Mun, 1998: Park, 1998), it is considered that physical properties of the weathered limestone soils in this study are different from the weathered granite soils. On the other hand, internal friction angle of shear parameters is found to be similar.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.47-56
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• 2013

There are many technical problems, which can not be resolved by the concept of saturated soil mechanics. Unsaturated soils show an apparent cohesion due to negative pore pressure and relatively lower permeability due to entrapped air compared to saturated soils. The determination of engineering properties of soils with various moisture content is very important to evaluate shear strength and stability of natural and engineered soils. So various researches should be made on unsaturated soils. Especially, sandy soils are widely distributed near Nakdong river, one of the four rivers where Restoration Projects were carried out. Many structures such as dams, flood control facilities, detention facilities and reservoirs have been built in this area. In this study, unsaturated triaxial compressive tests were conducted on sands or silty sands at Nakdong river in order to provide their fundamental characteristics for design and construction of geotechnical structures. As a result of the tests, the maximum deviator stress increased as the confining stress and matric suction increased. The cohesion increased non-linearly as the matric suction increased, but the angle of internal friction was marginally changed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2019

Shallow failures occur frequently in both engineered and natural slopes in expansive soils. Rainfall infiltration is the most predominant triggering factor that contributes to slope failures in both expansive soils and clayey soils. However, slope failures in expansive soils have some distinct characteristics in comparison to slopes in conventional clayey soils. They typically undergo shallow failures with gentle sliding retrogression characteristics. The shallow sliding mass near the slope surface is typically in a state of unsaturated condition and will exhibit significant volume changes with increasing water content during rainfall periods. Many other properties or characteristics change such as the shear strength, matric suction including stress distribution change with respect to depth and time. All these parameters have a significant contribution to the expansive soil slopes instability and are difficult to take into consideration in slope stability analysis using traditional slope stability analysis methods based on principles of saturated soil mechanics. In this paper, commercial software VADOSE/W that can account for climatic factors is used to predict variation of matric suction with respect to time for an expansive soil cut slope in China, which is reported in the literature. The variation of factor of safety with respect to time for this slope is computed using SLOPE/W by taking account of shear strength reduction associated with loss of matric suction extending state-of-the art understanding of the mechanics of unsaturated soils.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1113-1117
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• 2009

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.181-194
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• 1999

Both the chemical components and the physical and mechanical properties of the compacted and undisturbed weathered granite soils were estimated to investigate the influences of the degree of weathering and saturation on the shear strength. The weathered granite soils used in this study were taken from six different sites in Korea. The results showed that the shear strength of weathered granite soil decreased with increasing the degree of weathering and saturation. Under the normal stresses less that 40kPa, the shape of Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope followed curved or hyperbolic relationship and a half of cohesion value obtained by the common shear test was observed. Using the Sueoka's method, the values of CWI were ranged from 21.5 to 31.26 which can be characterized as a completely weathered granite soil. Large decrease in shear strength and remarkable variation in dilatancy were observed in saturated granite soil compared to unsaturated soil. It was also found that the shear strength of undisturbed weathered granite soil of Pungam site can be expressed approximately by the equation of ${(\tau)_{sat}= 1.0(\tau)_{unsat}-12.48}$ and this equation can be extended to the other sites considered in this study.