• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1591-1597
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• 2012

Adherend samples were made from unsaturated polyester and woven and mat glass fibers by the hand layup and vacuum methods. The mechanical properties of the adhesive, composite adherends, and terminal-joint and secondary-joint specimens were determined experimentally. Combinations of the experiment results and the bonding theory were used in this study. The maximum and average shear stresses were calculated based on the maximum tensile force and geometry parameters of the joint specimens. The results of the maximum and average shear stresses were compared and evaluated for six joints. The results showed that the grinding and grind/acetone joint had the highest strength among three types of terminal-joints. Similarly, the mat-mat and mat-woven joints had the highest strength among three types of secondary-joints with the same value. Conversely, no treatment and woven-woven bonding had very low strength. In each case, failure occurred always at two ends and then moved toward the middle area of the overlap length.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.326-332
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• 2000

The effects of sizing agent on the final mechanical properties of the glass fiber/unsaturated polyester composites were investigated by contact angle measurements at room temperature. In this work, glass fibers were coated by poly(vinyl alcohol), polyester, and epoxy type sizing agent and each property was compared. Contact angles of the sized glass fiber were measured by the wicking method based on Washburn equation using deionized water and diiodomethane as testing liquids. As an experimental result, the surface free energy calculated from contact angle showed the highest value in case of the glass fiber coated by epoxy sizing agent. From measurements of interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and fracture toughness ( $K_{IC}$ ) of the composites, it was found that the sizing treatment on fibers could improve the fiber/matrix interfacial adhesion, resulting in growing the final mechanical properties. This was due to the enhanced surface free energy of glass fibers in a composite system.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.23-32
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• 2008

This paper presents the results of numerical investigation on the stability of reinforced earth wall during rainfall. A series of limit-equilibrium based slope stability analyses within the framework of unsaturated shear strength, coupled with transient seepage analyses, were conducted with due consideration of rainfall characteristics in Korea. It is shown that the factor of safety of the reinforced wall during rainfall decreases with time due to decreases in the suction in the reinforced as well as retained zones. Also revealed is that the decrease in the factor of safety depends not only on the backfill soil type but also on the rainfall characteristics. Practical implications of the findings were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2011

The hypothesis on effective stress of unsaturated soil is validated by $K_0$ consolidation results of triaxial tests for the compacted residual soil. The stress characteristic curve (SSCC) can describe unsaturated soil behavior on water contents, which was defined from shear strength or from soil water characteristic curves. In this study, it was found that the stress path of $K_0$ consolidation can also define the SSCC. The effective stress was defined by SSCC. $K_0$ paths for various matric suctions could be described as a unique line by effective stress. The measured values of $K_0$ were interpreted by effective stress as a constant with respect to matric suction. Since the SSCC from $K_0$ consolidation agrees with that from the shear strength, the SSCC from soil water retention curve could describe effective stress behavior consistently on both $K_0$ consolidation path and stress at failure. The effective stress based on SSCC can describe the entire unsaturated behavior from consolidation to failure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.37-48
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• 2017

Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) has been widely used to estimate the shear strength and coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils. In general, it is divided into the drying path in which the water is discharged and the wetting path in which the water is permeated, and it has a hysteresis indicating different suctions at the same volumetric water content. In reality the field behavior of unsaturated soils is much closer to the wetting path during the infiltration. The drying path has been practically used for various analyses because obtaining the wetting path takes longer than the drying path. Although many approaches for estimating wetting path have been studied till now, these are complex and do not fit well. Therefore, a simple method for estimating wetting path based on empirical approach in this study is proposed in unsaturated soils, and a feasibility study is conducted as well.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2008

It has been recognized that the behaviour of unsaturated soil plays an important role in geomechanics. However, up to now, only a few experimental data are available for the technical difficulties related to both volume changes and suction measurements. In this study, the volume changes of unsaturated compacted silty soil were monitored with proximeter during various triaxial compression tests, which gave a realistic estimation in the volume changes of unsaturated soil sample. From the test results, the behaviours of wetting-induced collapses are observed during the drainage/water absorption tests. Under exhausted-drained conditions during shearing, the shear strength increases with an increasing initial suction. On the other hand, the volume changes become small with an increase in the initial suction. And, the volumetric strain during shearing is independent of the confining pressure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.1029-1037
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• 2008

The finite element analysis of transient water flow through unsaturated soils was used to investigate effects of hydraulic characteristics, initial relative degree of saturation, methods to consider boundary condition, and rainfall intensity and duration on water pressure in slopes. The finite element method with shear strength reduction technique was used to evaluate the stability of slopes under rainfall. The slope-related disasters in Korea usually occur between July and September during the typhoon and localized heavy rain. This means that the rainfall is the most important factor that leads to the slope-related disasters. The slope-related disasters can happen at very short time and lead to big damage. To forecast the change of the heave of the groundwater in slope the Seep/w program was used.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.373-382
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• 2022

Unsaturated soil at high suctions is widespread. Many civil engineering projects are related to the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils at high suctions, particularly in arid and semiarid areas. To investigate water retention behaviors of nine clayey soils (one is classified as fat clay and the others are classified as lean clay according to the unified soil classification system), the high suction (3.29-286.7 MPa) was imposed on the specimens at zero net stress by the vapor equilibrium technique. In this paper, the effect of void ratio on the water retention behavior at high suction was discussed in detail. Validation data showed that soil types, i.e., different mineralogical compositions, are critical in the soil water retention behavior at a high suction range. Second, the hysteresis behavior at a high suction range is mainly related to the clay content and the specific surface area. And the mechanism of water retention and hysteresis behavior at high suctions was discussed. Moreover, the maximum suction is not a unique value, and it is crucial to determine the maximum suction value accurately, especially for the shear strength prediction at high suctions. If the soil consists of hydrophilic minerals such as montmorillonite and illite, the maximum suction will be lower than 10⁶ kPa. Finally, using the area of hysteresis to quantify the degree of hysteresis at a high suction range is proposed. There was a good correlation between the area of hydraulic hysteresis and the specific surface area.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.135-143
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• 2005

This paper presents a case history of a geosynthetics-reinforced segmental retaining wall, which collapsed during a severe rainfall immediately after the completion of the wall construction. In an attempt to identify possible causes for the collapse, a comprehensive investigation was carried out including physical and strength tests on the backfill, stability analyses on the as-built design based on the current design approaches, and slope stability analyses with pore pressure consideration. The investigation revealed that the inappropriate as-built design and the bad-quality backfill were mainly responsible for the collapse. This paper describes the site condition including wall design, details of the results of investigation and finally, lessons learned. Practical significance of the findings from this study is also discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.13-22
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• 2003

Train speed and infiltration of rainfall causes railway embankment to be unstable and may result in failure. Therefore, the variation in the safety factor of railway embankment should be analyzed as the function of rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, and train speed and the study is accomplished using numerical analysis program. Based on unsaturated soil engineering, the variables in the shear strength function and permeability function are also defined and used for the numerical model for evaluation of railway embankments under rainfall. As a result of the study, in order to secure the safety of train under rainfall, the variation in the safety factor of railway embankment is predicted as the function of rainfall intensity, duration time and the train load as a function of train speed. It is possible to ensure the safety of train under rainfall. Thereafter, the feasibility of the rail-transport operation control with engineering basis was established.