• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 한국지반공학회 2010년도 춘계 학술발표회
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• pp.213-220
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• 2010

This study presents a numerical simulation model of vertical ground heat exchangers, considering unsaturated hydro static ground conditions induced by the ground water table fluctuation. Heat transfer in ground and grout is modeled by a 3-D FEM transient conductive heat transfer model, where heat transfer between circulating fluid and heat exchanging pipe is treated as 1-D quasi steady state forced convective elements. To take into account the unsaturated ground condition, soil thermal conductivity and heat capacity which are dependent on the matric suction are applied to ground elements. Parametric studies considering various ground water table conditions are conducted to investigate the influence of unsaturated hydro static ground condition on the mean heat exchange rate of ground heat exchanger. Simulation results considering water table fluctuation show 60~100% of mean heat exchange rate for a saturated soil condition and 125~208% of that for a dry soil condition. Thus consideration of unsaturated soil condition is substantially recommended for more accurate design and performance evaluation for ground heat exchangers.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.27-33
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• 2011

Infiltration plays an important role in the urban water cycle. Infiltration has a potential to contribute to groundwater recharge in addition to runoff reduction. However, infiltration in urban areas has been considered only as a means of runoff reduction. Conventional design methods for infiltration facilities assume soils to be fully-saturated for the sake of simplicity. The amount of groundwater recharge can not be estimated properly with this scheme. Hence, the characteristics of the unsaturated soil condition need to be considered. The finite element model using SEEP/W to estimate infiltration under the unsaturated condition is presented. Infiltration tests for Joomonjin sand are performed and the infiltration behavior of Joomoonjin sand under the unsaturated condition is measured experimentally to verify the validity of the finite element model. The results from comparing infiltrated volume between the saturated and the unsaturated conditions under the same soil and rainfall conditions show that the infiltrated volume in the unsaturated condition is two times bigger than that in the saturated condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.9-17
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• 2009

Most of the current drainage criteria have been developed on the basis of experimental field results and theoretical analyses of infiltration under saturated conditions. The objective of this study is to extend the understanding of pavement drainage systems by considering unsaturated condition in the sublayers. Analyses of unsaturated flows through pavements was performed by running finite element program(SEEP/W) with a range of pavement materials and drainage parameters. Meanwhile, the widely used DRIP program developed by FHWA is based on assumption of saturated condition of pavements. Differences between saturated and unsaturated condition in the sublayers of the pavements are verified. It is verified that for unsaturated conditions time to drain would take longer time compared to saturated condition.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

A semi-analytical solution to responses of overconsolidated (OC) unsaturated soils surrounding an expanding spherical cavity under constant suction condition is presented. To capture the elastoplastic hydro-mechanical property of OC unsaturated soils, the unified hardening (UH) model for OC unsaturated soil is adopted in corporation with a soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and two suction yield surfaces. Taking the specific volume, radial stress, tangential stress and degree of saturation as the four basic unknowns, the problem investigated is formulated by solving a set of first-order ordinary differential equations with the help of an auxiliary variable and an iterative algorithm. The present solution is validated by comparing with available solution based on the modified Cam Clay (MCC) model. Parametric studies reveal that the hydraulic and mechanical responses of spherical cavity expanding in unsaturated soils are not only coupled, but also affected by suction and overconsolidation ratio (OCR) significantly. More importantly, whether hydraulic yield will occur or not depends only on the initial relationship between suction yield stress and suction. The presented solution can be used for calibration of some insitu tests in OC unsaturated soil.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• 제45권6호
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• pp.153-161
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• 2003

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the soil-water characteristic curves for an unsaturated soil. To this ends, a series of suction measured test was conducted on the selected 4 kinds of soils taken from different sites of Korea, using modified pressure plate apparatus. Form the test results, the water contents, degree of saturation and volumetric water contents were analyzed with the suction. And the soil-water characteristic curves of unsaturated soil were drawn from the test results for various factors. The characteristic curves drawn with water content vs matric suction were classified certainly the difference in wet side but were not classified in dry side. The characteristic curves drawn with degree of saturation vs matric suction for unsaturated soil were shown the opposite inclination as compared with the former curve. But the characteristic curve with volumetric water content vs matric suction was described suitably not only in wet side condition but also in dry side. And it was found that the volumetric water contents of loose soil was high at the initial condition but that of dense soil was high at final condition (dry side).

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 한국지반공학회 2010년도 추계 학술발표회
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• pp.71-78
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• 2010

The stability analysis of unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration condition was performed using the generalized effective stress that unifies both saturated and unsaturated condition recently proposed by Lu and Likos(2004, 2006). The Soil-Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) of the sand with the relative density of 75% was first measured for both drying and wetting processes. The Hydraulic Conductivity Function (HCF) and Suction Stress Characteristic Curve (SSCC) were subsequently estimated. Also, under the rainfall-induced infiltration condition transient seepage analysis of unsaturated infinite slope was performed using the finite element program, SEEP/W. Based on these results, the stability of unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration condition was examined considering the suction stress. According to the results, the negative pore water pressure and water content within the soil changed with time due to the infiltration. Also, the variation of those caused the variation of suction stress and then the factor of safety of slope changed consequently during the rainfall period.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.62-72
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• 2001

The one-dimensional finite element program was developed to analyze the coupled behavior of heat, moisture, and air transfer in unsaturated porous media. By using this program, the simulation results were compared with those from the laboratory infiltration tests under isothermal condition and temperature gradient condition, respectively. The discrepancy of water uptake was found in the upper region of a bentonite sample under isothermal condition between numerical simulation and laboratory experiment. This indicated that air pressure was built up in the bentonite sample which could retard the infiltration velocity of liquid. In order to consider the swelling phenomena of compacted bentonite which cause the discrepancy of the distribution of water content and temperature, swelling and shrinkage factors were incorporated into the finite element formulation. It was found that these factors could be effective to represent the moisture diffusivity and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity due to volume change of bentonite sample.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.5-11
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• 2015

Slope stability is affected by duration of precipitation, probable rainfall intensity, unsaturated soil property, and soil strength. The recent analyses of slope stability tend to include unsaturated analysis based on infiltration properties of soil, while researches of unsaturated soil slope tend to include the analysis of deformation and stress distribution of soil over time. However, infiltration property of unsaturated soil slope depends not only on intensity or duration of precipitation, but also on relief and surface condition, which is not considered in status quo. This research uses hydrologic model parameters of soil in order to consider effects of inclination on filtration, and carries out analysis of unsaturated soil slope to confirm the effects according to slope inclination and surface condition. In conclusion, using slope stability analysis, the need to consider infiltration rate according to inclination and surface condition was confirmed even under the same precipitation conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 한국지반공학회 2006년도 춘계 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.1076-1082
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• 2006

This study measured the change of media properties using Time domain Reflectometry (TDR) and Tensionmeter (TM) to measure volumetric water content of soil affecting in land subsidence and pollutant diffusion under saturation/unsaturated condition by water-level fluctuations. Also, actual water content compared their changes aspect by dry oven test for quantitative determinations of these measured values. In the case of TM, initial unsaturated condition confirmed that range in dimension of each other different according to their establishment depth, but measured values of TM can know that is shown measured value in almost similar measuring range under drain condition after the first injection. Also, the results of TDR showed that can measure enough change of volumetric water content in saturation/unsaturated condition by water-level fluctuations. Therefore, we are judged that TDR measurement equipment is very effective to measure the variations of volumetric water content and water-level being caused in groundwater level fluctuations.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제31권1D호
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• pp.83-90
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• 2011

A need still exists that the unsaturated condition is to be considered when evaluating the infiltration and drainage capacity for compacted geomaterials in road foundation or embankments. For this reason, numerical analysis were used to analyze the time-dependent unsaturated infiltration and drainage condition depending on various geomaterial types. Therefore, laboratory data from the soil-water characteristic curve tests on geomaterials were adopted from previous studies. In addition, the unsaturated permeability was estimated using SWCC. Then the infiltration and drainage performance of unsaturated compacted soils were evaluated under various conditions based on the proposed method. The results demonstrated that the effect of initial suction and SWCC path on each material could be substantial and the proper application on analysis is very important to enhance the prediction on each capacity.