• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.463-470
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• 2016

A vane shear test (VST) is a simple testing method for determining an undrained shear strength of cohesive soils by minimizing soil disturbance. In this study, the VST was used to determine a shear strength of sand. Dry Nakdong River sand was prepared for loose and dense conditions in a cell and then pressurized with 25, 50, 75 or 100 kPa from the surface of sand. A vane (5 cm in diameter and 10 cm in height) was rotated and a torque was measured within sand. When a torque moment by vane and friction resistance moment by sand is assumed to be equalized, a friction angle can be obtained. When a vane rotates within clay, a uniform undrained shear strength is assumed to be acting on cylindrical failure surface. On the other hand, when it is applied for sand, the failure shape can be assumed to be an octagonal or square column. The relationship between measured torque and resistant force along assumed failure shapes due to friction of sand was derived and the internal friction angle of sand was determined for loose and dense conditions. For the same soil condition, a series of direct shear test was carried out and compared with VST result. The friction angle from VST was between 24-42 degrees for loose sand and 33-53 degrees for dense sand. This is similar to those of direct shear tests.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.87-98
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• 2007

A series of dilatometer test, field vane test, and $CK_0U$ triaxial test were performed for clayey soils of Busan new port site to develop the relationships between undrained shear strength and the DMT results. Normalized undrained shear strength is turned out to be $S_{u(CKU)}/{\sigma}'_v=0.30{\sim}0.35\;for\;CK_0U$ triaxial test and ${\mu}S_{u(VST)}/{\sigma}'_v=0.20{\sim}0.22$ for vane shear test. By comparing the undrained shear strength estimated from DMT indices with the results measured by in-situ vane test or $CK_0U$ triaxial test, two methods to predict the undrained shear strength from DMT results are suggested. One is based on the relationship between $S_u/{\sigma}'_v$ and horizontal stress index (KD) while another method comes from $N_c-I_D$ and $N_c-E_D$ correlation. It was observed that the method based on $N_c-I_D\;or\;N_c-E_D$ relation shows slightly better accuracy than the one based on $K_D$ although all of the methods suggested in this study provided comparable values of predicted undrained shear strength. Since the definitions of $I_D\;and\;E_D$ contain $p_1-p_0$, in which soil condition is reflected, it is believed that the prediction method using $N_c$ is capable of taking a material type into consideration.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2009

Cone factors, $N_{kt}$, $N_{ke}$ and $N_{{\Delta}u}$, for estimating undrained shear strength of Busan clay are evaluated in this study. For this, CPTu and field vane tests are performed for clay layers at two sites, Busan new-port and Noksan, and also $CK_0U$ triaxial tests with undisturbed samples taken from the same site are carried out. From experimental results, it is observed that the undrained shear strengths of clay increases with depth, and the undrained shear strength obtained from triaxial tests is 1.5 times higher than one obtained from vane tests. The normalized undrained shear strengths of Busan clay from triaxial and vane shear tests are $0.26{\sim}0.44$ and $0.20{\sim}0.23$, respectively. In CPTu results, cone tip resistance ($q_c$) and pore pressure ($u_2$) linearly increase with depth, and the pore pressure ratio ($B_q$) of Busan clay is within the range of $0.3{\sim}1.0$. The cone factors, which are determined by comparing the CPTu results with $CK_0U$ triaxial and vane shear test results, are found to be $5{\sim}20$ and $10{\sim}35$, respectively. It is also observed that the cone factors are inversely proportional to the pore pressure ratio. From this, the prediction methods for evaluating the cone factors of Busan clay are developed.