• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.119-131
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• 2005

Seepage analysis through unsaturated zone based on the theory of unsaturated flow is commonly performed to evaluate dam safety. However, the concepts of unsaturated soil behavior have not been transferred into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers since the problems involving unsaturated soils often have the appearances of being extremely complex. The behavior of dam such as seepage rate and the pore water pressure distribution is different according to the unsaturated hydraulic properties, but nevertheless simply assumed properties have been used due to insufficient data from domestic soils. In this paper, the effect of unsaturated hydraulic properties on the behavior of dam was studied through a series of numerical analyses, and then the results were discussed. It is observed that water table moves at a (aster rate, as the values of unsaturated soil parameter a and n increase. The value of m showed opposite trend. The sensitivity calculated using the approximation form showed maximum values near the water table. And the value of n that is related to the slope of soil water characteristic curve gives greatest influence on the change of sensitivity with time.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.73-83
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• 2006

Seepage analysis through unsaturated zone based on the theory of unsaturated flow is commonly performed to evaluate dam safety. However, the concepts of unsaturated soil behavior have not been transferred into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers since the problems involving unsaturated soils often have the appearances of being extremely complex. There is variability and uncertainty associated with the unsaturated hydraulic properties that in turn will lead to variability in predicting unsaturated soil behavior such as seepage rate and the pore water pressure distribution. In this paper, measurements of the soil-water characteristic curve and saturated hydraulic conductivity for the core material of dam were conducted. Then, finite element stochastic analysis was used to capture the effect of unsaturated hydraulic properties on the seepage behavior of dam. It is observed that the amount of seepage increases, as the values of unsaturated soil parameters a and n increase. The values of m and p showed opposite trend.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.465-471
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• 2015

Adsorption experiments for radionuclides such as $^3H$, $^{90}Sr$ and $^{99}Tc$ were conducted using fractured rock collected in unsaturated zone. The released radionuclide through artificial barrier from the near surface repository can be transported by the flow of rainfall or pore water through fractures in unsaturated zone and reach to groundwater flow. Therefore, it is important to investigate transport behavior (retardation) of radionuclides through fractured rock for the safety assessment and long-term performance of repository. Fractured rock samples were collected and characterized by X-ray microtomography (XMT) analysis, which can be used to develop a more robust unsaturated fracture transport model. When fracture-filling materials are exist, distribution coefficient of $^{90}Sr$ is higher than without fracture-filling materials. In this study, batch sorption distribution coefficient ($K_d$) of radionuclide was determined and used to increase our understanding of radionuclide retardtion through fracture-filling materials.

• Korean Journal of Hydrosciences
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• v.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 1991

The governing partial differential equation of flow in porous media is developed on the bases of the continuity equation of fluid for transient flow through a saturated-unsaturated zone, and substitution of Dercy's law. The numerical solution is obtained by the Galerkin finite element method based on the principle of weighted residuals. The analysis is carried out by using the unsteady storm data observed and the functional relationships between the hydraulic conductivities, capillary pressure heads, and volumetric water contents under saturated-unsaturated conditions. As the results the hydraulic conductivities, rates of change of storage and initial moisture conditions are significantly influened on the responses of subsurface flow on a hillslope.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.39-46
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• 2003

An immobilization zone can be constructed by modifying soils in the vadose zone with surfactants, which can be used to promote retardation of organic contaminants in the subsurface. Column experiments were conducted to investigate the behavior of surfactants and organic contaminants in unsaturated and saturated conditions with different water contents (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%). Transport and sorption of surfactant (dialkylated disulfonated diphenyl oxide) in the columns containing aluminum oxide was similar under the conditions at different water contents. However, transport of a model organic compound (naphthalene) was retarded as the water content decreased by enhanced partitioning of the compound into the surfactants that were sorbed on the aluminum oxide. This suggests that the immobilization method could well be applied to vadose zone as well as to saturated zone.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.265-268
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• 2002

The ground water regime analysis method, numerical analysis method, water budget method, and baseflow analysis method have been used for estimating ground water recharged quantity. This study, adapting water budget concept of unsaturated zone, and saturated zone of the DAWAST model, proposed a new method to estimate ground water recharged quantity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.866-873
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• 2009

CFRD (Concrete Faced Rockfill Dam) has been world-widely constructed due to a lot of advantages compared with rockfill dam and recently, sand/gravel materials, instead of crushed rock materials, are also utilized as a main rockfill material to overcome geological and environmental problems. In this paper, the process of water infiltration into the originally unsaturated sand/gravel-fill dam is studied using two-dimensional saturated-unsaturated seepage theory. According to the results of seepage analysis, if the effective drainage zone is installed in the dam, the reservoir water infiltrate into the dam along a downward flow path towards the lower drainage area. The main body constructed with sand/gravel materials, therefore, remains unsaturated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.307-311
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• 2004

The objective of this work is to evaluate the hypothesis that a good technique for supplying oxygen to the saturated zone in the presence of light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) pool contamination at the water table is to pass air through the unsaturated zone above the pool. This hypothesis was evaluated in experimental studies performed using a bench-scale, sand-tank reactor, Steady-state abiotic experiments in the sand-tank reactor with air flowing through the reactor headspace demonstrated that oxygen supply through the water table interface into the saturated zone was enhanced when an LNAPL (dodecane) pool was present at the water table. These experimental results confirmed the hypothesis that an LNAPL pool can serve as a high concentration oxygen source to the oxygen-limited area beneath the pool and, as a result, enhance the in situ biodegradation rate.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.751-758
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• 2019

This study tested various assumptions that simplified the configuration of the numerical model for unsaturated zone's contaminant transport to simulate the pathway to exposed point. This study investigated the contaminant migration through in the pollutant exposure pathway of vadoze zone for risk assessment of the contaminated site. For the purpose, generic scenarios as well as contaminant-based scenarios were simulated using the numerical code for transport of the contaminant in the pathway. The finite-difference one-dimensional transport with adsorption and biodegradation were considered, and it also assumed that the initial concentration was also depleted over time. The results of the generic-scenario show that as the groundwater infiltration rate decreases, the longer the path from the source to the groundwater level, the lower the concentration at the point of inflow into the groundwater level. In particular, in the case of high biodegradation rate and rapid depletion of pollutant sources, statistically outliers were found in the simulated results and generic scenarios was good at prediction.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.119-131
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• 2020

A numerical model was developed using COMSOL Multiphysics to evaluate groundwater flow that causes radionuclide migration in the unsaturated zone of a near-surface disposal facility, which is considered as a domestic low and an intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility. Each scenario was modeled by constructing a two-dimensional domain that included the disposal vault, backfill, disposal cover, and unsaturated aquifer. A comparison of the continuous and intermittent rainfall conditions exhibited no significant difference in any of the factors considered except the wave pattern of water saturation. The input data, such as porosity and residual water content of the unsaturated aquifer, were observed to not have a significant effect on the groundwater flow. However, the hydraulic conductivity of the unsaturated aquifer was found to have a significant effect on the groundwater flow. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the hydraulic conductivity of an unsaturated aquifer to determine the extent of groundwater infiltration into the disposal vault.