• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

Slope collapse occurs mostly at the rainy season or thawing season in Korea. From a engineer point of view, the design criterion in recent of soil slopes during the rainfall have a conservative tendency because a slope stability is evaluated in the condition that ground water level is located in the surface. However, for the rational design of soil slopes during rainfall, the raining conditions and the unsaturated soil characteristics of soil slopes have to be considered. For the unsaturated soil characteristics of soil slopes, the laboratory tests for unsaturated soils and the seepage analyses for the raining conditions have to be performed. Due to these difficulties, a conservative design of soil slopes in the current design criterion has been carried out. In this paper, therefore, a simple design method is proposed. The method is considered to the unsaturated soil characteristics and the results of seepage analysis without numerical analysis. To verify the suggested design method, it is compared with both analysis results by current design criterion and analysis results based on the seepage analysis. Through the comparative study, it was found that the current design criterion has been excessively conservative. Hence, simple design method in this study was evaluated as the rational design for the soil slopes during rainfall.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.51-59
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• 2014

Shallow landslides and debris flows are a common form of soil slope instability in South Korea. These events may be generally initiated as a result of intense rainfall or lengthening rainfall duration because of the effects of climate change. This paper presents the evaluation of rainfall-induced natural soil slope stability and reinforced soil slope instability under vertical load (railway or highway load) throughout South Korea based on quantitative analysis obtained from 58 sites rainfall observatories for 38 years. The slope stability was performed for infinite and geogrid-reinforced soil slopes by taking an average of maximum rainfall every ten years from 1973 to 2010. Seepage analysis is carried out on unsaturated soil slope using the maximum rainfall at each site, and then the factor of safety was calculated by coupled analysis using saturated and unsaturated strength parameters. The contour map of South Korea shows four stages in 10-year-time for the degree of landslide hazard. The safety factor map based on long term observational data will help prevent rainfall-induced soil slope instability for appropriate design of geotechnical structures regarding disaster protection.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2022

The steady state of unsaturated soil takes a long time to achieve. The soil seepage behaviours and hydraulic properties depend highly on the wetting/drying rate. It is observed that the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is dependent on the wetting/drying rate, which is known as the dynamic effect. The dynamic effect apparently influences the scanning curves and will substantially affect the seepage behavior. However, the previous models commonly ignore the dynamic effect and cannot quantitatively describe the hysteresis scanning loops under dynamic conditions. In this study, a dynamic hysteresis model for SWCC is proposed considering the dynamic change of contact angle and the moving of the contact line. The drying contact angle under dynamic condition is smaller than that under static condition, while the wetting contact angle under dynamic condition is larger than that under static condition. The dynamic contact angle is expressed as a function of the saturation rate according to the Laplace equation. The model is given by a differential equation, in which the slope of the scanning curve is related to the slope of the boundary curve by means of contact angle. Empirical models can simulate the boundary curves. Given the two boundary curves, the scanning curve can be well predicted. In this model, only two parameters are introduced to describe the dynamic effect. They can be easily obtained from the experiment, which facilitates the calibration of the model. The proposed model is verified by the experimental data recorded in the literature and is proved to be more convenient and effective.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.7-18
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• 2024

In this study, slope stability was evaluated in consideration of unsaturated soil behavior to predict landslides. Samples were collected from a landslide site due to heavy rainfall during Typhoon Hinnamnoh. Soil moisture characteristic tests were performed based on the evaporation method using a swelling undisturbed sample and a remolded sample. Based on the hydraulic-mechanical behavior, two-dimensional infiltration and stability analyses were performed. As a result, from the two sample types, it is found that both behaviors exhibited clear differences in the results, and the behavior of the swelling undisturbed sample was able to predict the actual slope failure appropriately.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2023

Recent weather changes have led to an increase in heavy rainfall resulting in frequent large-scale slope failures. To minimize damage to life and property, a measurement system is used in slope failure warning systems. However, understanding the slope failure behavior is difficult as the measurement system only measures a specific point. Therefore, numerical analysis must be p erformed with the measurement system. The soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) drying curve and boundary conditions that consider evapotranspiration and precipitation have been applied to numerical analysis, but the hysteresis of SWCC affects the numerical analysis results. To address this, a new evapotranspiration calculation method is proposed and applied to boundary conditions, and the measurement data are compared with the results of the numerical analysis. This method takes into account the different infiltration behaviors on evapotranspiration according to the drying and wetting curves of the SWCC, and allows for a more rational prediction of water movement on unsaturated slopes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.21-26
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• 2015

This study analyzes the failure predict of model slope due to changes in ground condition followed by heavy rainfall with a simulated rainfall system. the movement of a slope from the rainfall penetrating the unsaturated soil is investigated with respect to various conditions of pore-water pressure, earth pressure and moisture content, considering rainfall duration and permeability.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.53-68
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• 1991

This paper aims at the investigation of various seepage behavior when rainfall infiltarates into unsaturated ground and understanding of the mechanism for slope instability due to rainfall. For this purpose an experimental study is carried out for model slopes using the test equipment which can simulate various rainfall intensity. In addition, a numerical study is performed for the same dimension and boundary condition as the experimental model. From both the experimental test and numerical analysis the progress of wetting front with time, critical amounts of rainfall, and pore-water pressure development with time are know in detail and their effects on slope stability are described.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.207-215
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• 2005

This paper presents a case history of a geosynthetics-reinforced segmental retaining wall, which collapsed during a sever 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.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2006

In Korea, most landslides occurred during the rainy season and had a shallow failure plane parallel to the slope. For these types of rainfall-induced failures, the most important factor triggering slope unstability is decrease in the matric suction of unsaturated soils with increasing saturation depth by rainfall infiltration. The saturation depth was readily estimated using modified Green-Ampt model proposed by Chu et al. (Chu Model) at present. But Chu Model involves some problems for application, because water-redistribution phenomena were not effected. So the modified Chu Model (MCGAM) which reflect water redistribution phono mens was developed. The results showed that the MCGAM had a better agreement with measured volumetric water contents than existing Chu Model.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.11-24
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• 2013

This study presents a design method for typical rainfall-induced landslide considering in-situ matric suction. Actual landslide data are used to validate the proposed method. The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and unsaturated permeability are experimentally determined to estimate hydraulic properties of testing site. The field measurement of matric suction is carried out to monitor in-situ matric suction in a natural slope subjected to rainfall infiltration, which is incorporated in the landslide analysis. The wetting band depth and safety factor of the slope are assessed to clarify the effect of domestic rainfall pattern. Especially, the effect of antecedent rainfall on the slope stability is investigated and discussed in terms of wetting band depth using parametric study. It is found from the result of this study that proposed design method can consider the characteristic of unsaturated soil and effect of antecedent rainfall. The location of the scarp zone is fairly well predicted by proposed design method. Moreover, heavy rainfall, concentrated in the backward part with time, causes the lowest safety factor of the slope. These results demonstrate that decrease in matric suction due to antecedent rainfall may trigger slope instability. After the antecedent rainfall, additional rainfall may cause the slope failure due to increasing wetting band depth.