• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.117-127
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• 2008

The volumetric pressure plate extractor (VPPE) was modified for the measurement of shear wave velocity ($V_s$) at various levels of matric suction as well as soil water characteristic curve (SWCC). A non-destructive technique with a pair of bender element (BE) was employed in order to measure the $V_s$ and the corresponding maximum shear modulus ($G_{max}$) of unsaturated soil specimens. Three types of soil were collected from different road construction sites in Korea. For all test soils, the variations in $G_{max}$ with the various levels of water content and matric suction were investigated using the developed apparatus. Compared with the preceding results from the suction-controlled torsional shear (TS) testing system and in-situ seismic tests, the feasibility fur evaluating modulus characteristics of unsaturated compacted soils with the developed VPPE-BE system was assessed. It was confirmed that the newly developed system would be potentially helpful in modeling seasonal variation of modulus.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2022

In order to efficiently analysis the stability of a slope, measuring the shear strength of soil is needed. The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is not appropriate for a slope inspection due to cost and weights. One of the ways to effectively measure the N-value is the Dynamic Cone Penetration Test (DCPT). This study was performed to develop a minimized multi-function sensors that can easily estimate CPT values and Volumetric Water Content. N value with multi-fuction sensor DCPT showed -2.5 ~ +3.9% error compared with the SPT N value (reference value) in the field tests. Also, the developed multi-fuction sensor system was tested the correlation between the CPT test and the portable tester with indoor test. The test result showed 0.85 R2 value in soil, 0.83 in weathered soil, and 0.98 in mixed soil. As a result of the field test, the multi-function sensor shows the excellent field applicability of the proposed sensor system. After further research, it is expected that the portable multi-function sensor will be useful for general slope inspection.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 2019

The major purpose of this study is to construct an in-situ soil moisture verification network employing Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) sensors for Cosmic-ray soil moisture observation system operation as well as long-term field-scale soil moisture monitoring. The test bed of Cosmic-ray and FDR verification network system was established at the Sulma Catchment, in connection with the existing instrumentations for integrated data provision of various hydrologic variables. This test bed includes one Cosmic-ray Neutron Probe (CRNP) and ten FDR stations with four different measurement depths (10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, and 40 cm) at each station, and has been operating since July 2018. Furthermore, to assess the reliability of the in-situ verification network, the volumetric water content data measured by FDR sensors were compared to those calculated through the core sampling method. The evaluation results of FDR sensors- measured soil moisture against sampling method during the study period indicated a reasonable agreement, with average values of $bias=-0.03m^3/m^3$ and RMSE $0.03m^3/m^3$, revealing that this FDR network is adequate to provide long-term reliable field-scale soil moisture monitoring at Sulmacheon basin. In addition, soil moisture time series observed at all FDR stations during the study period generally respond well to the rainfall events; and at some locations, the characteristics of rainfall water intercepted by canopy were also identified. The Temporal Stability Analysis (TSA) was performed for all FDR stations located within the CRNP footprint at each measurement depth to determine the representative locations for field-average soil moisture at different soil profiles of the verification network. The TSA results showed that superior performances were obtained at FDR 5 for 10 cm depth, FDR 8 for 20 cm depth, FDR2 for 30 cm depth, and FDR1 for 40 cm depth, respectively; demonstrating that those aforementioned stations can be regarded as temporal stable locations to represent field mean soil moisture measurements at their corresponding measurement depths. Although the limit on study duration has been presented, the analysis results of this study can provide useful knowledge on soil moisture variability and stability at the test bed, as well as supporting the utilization of the Cosmic-ray observation system for long-term field-scale soil moisture monitoring.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.21-28
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• 2021

The factors of landslides depend on rainfall intensity, duration, and the characteristics of the soil slope. The conventional slope stability analysis has been carried out by assuming that the slope is saturated. But, a site slope consisting of unsaturated ground must be imitated and interpreted in order to explain a proper behavior of the slope due to rainfall. In this study, by using two major categories of soils in Korea, such as granite and gneiss weathered soils, landslide model test and numerical analysis have been compared with the difference of seepage and volumetric water content. In general, the permeability of gneiss weathered soil, which contains a lot of fines content, is slower than that of granite weathered soil. As a result, in extreme rainfall, numerical analysis can show results that can penetrate quickly, resulting in saturation or more dangerous collapse.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.109-120
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• 2004

There has been outstanding research on the soil-water characteristic curves of unsaturated soils over the past several decades. Unfortunately, unsaturated soil mechanics has not been considered as an important factor in Korea. In this paper, laboratory test and numerical analysis(SoilVision Professional ver 3.04) were performed to investigate the prediction method of soil-water characteristic curve and unsaturated permeability coefficient in reclaimed ground. The pressure cell, desiccator, and tensiometor tests were conducted on three types of reclaimed soils(dredged soil, sand, weathered granite soil). Numerical analysis was executed to compare the results with the laboratory test results and also compared with the results of each prediction method. Based on the laboratory test, three different types of soils have shown different soil-water characteristic curves. The hysteresis fir these soils is clearly defined. As a result of numerical analysis, Fredlund & Xing's method and Fredlund & Wilson's model proved to worke out well for reclaimed ground soils in Korea. Also, predicting method based on the soil-water characteristic curves from the particle-size distributions is flirty reliable for estimating unsaturated permeability coefficient.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.13-26
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• 2023

This study examined the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), considering the volume change, using wetting curves on the field monitoring data of a wireless sensor network. Special attention was given to evaluating the landslide vulnerability by deriving a matric suction suitable for the actual site during the wetting process. Laboratory drying SWCC and shrinkage laboratory tests were used to perform the combined analysis of landslide and debris flow. The results showed that the safety factor of the wetting curve, considering the volume change of soil, was lower than that of the drying curve. As a result of numerical analyses of the debris flow simulation, more debris flow occurred in the wetting curve than in the drying curve. It was also found that the landslide analysis with the drying curve tends to overestimate the actual safety factor with the in situ wetting curve. Finally, it is confirmed that calculating the matric suction through SWCC considering the volume change is more appropriate and reasonable for the field landslide analysis.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.03b
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• pp.639-646
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• 2000

It is important to estimate the mechanical properties of clay since it is directly related to the design and the construction of geotechnical structures. Site exploration, which is composed of boring, sampling, in-situ, or laboratory tests, is preformed to estimate the mechanical properties. However, mechanical properties of clay measured from laboratory test may be different from in-situ properties due to disturbances occurred during sampling, transportation, storage, and trimming. In this study, the degree of disturbance according to sampling method was estimated with the test results of CK/sub o/U triaxial compression test on Yangsan clay. The soil samples were obtained by three types of sampling method, j.e., 76mm-tube sampler, 76mm-piston sampler, and block sampler. In order to evaluate the quality of samples, volumetric strain, undrained shear strength, secant Young's modulus, and pore pressure coefficient at peak measured from each sample were compared with one another. From the test results, it was observed that mechanical properties of the block and piston samples were more reliable than those of tube samples. But it was observed that the water content of piston was similar to that of tube samples at given depths while the water content of block samples was 14.3∼15.8% smaller than that of piston and tube samples. In addition to the evaluation of the quality of samples, relationship between c/sub u// σ/sub vc/'and OCR was established from the results of the CK/sub o/U triaxial compression tests, which were carried out using SHANSEP method. And also undrained shear strength was analyzed using the in-situ test data such as Cone Penetration Test(CPT), Dilatometer Test(DMT), and Field Vane Test(FVT) and was compared with that evaluated from CK/sub o/U triaxial compression test.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.315-315
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• 2017

In Japan, more than 80 % of soybean growing area is converted fields and excess water is one of the major problems in soybean production. For example, recent study (Yoshifuji et al., 2016) suggested that in the fields of shallow groundwater level (GWL) (< 1m depth), rising GWL even in a short period (e.g. 1 day) causes inhibition of soybean growth. Thus it becomes more and more important to predict GWL and soil moisture in detail. In addition to conventional surface drainage and underdrain, FOEAS (Farm Oriented Enhancing Aquatic System), which is expected to control GWL in fields adequately, has been developed recently. In this study we attempted to predict GWL and soil moisture condition at the converted field with FOEAS in Biwa lake reclamation area, Shiga prefecture, near the center of the main island of Japan. Two dimensional HYDRUS model (Simuinek et al., 1999) based on common Richards' equation, was used for the calculation of soil water movement. The calculation domain was considered to be 10 and 5 meter in horizontal and vertical direction, respectively, with two layers, i.e. 20cm-thick of plowed layer and underlying subsoil layer. The center of main underdrain (10 cm in diameter) was assumed to be 5 meter from the both ends of the domain and 10-60cm depth from the surface in accordance with the field experiment. The hydraulic parameters of the soil was estimated with the digital soil map in "Soil information web viewer" and Agricultural soil-profile physical properties database, Japan (SolphyJ) (Kato and Nishimura, 2016). Hourly rainfall depth and daily potential evapo-transpiration rate data were given as the upper boundary condition (B.C.). For the bottom B.C., constant upward flux, which meant the inflow flux to the field from outside, was given. Seepage face condition was employed for the surrounding of the underdrain. Initial condition was employed as GWL=60cm. Then we compared the simulated and observed results of volumetric water content at depth of 15cm and GWL. While the model described the variation of GWL well, it tended to overestimate the soil moisture through the growing period. Judging from the field condition, and observed data of soil moisture and GWL, consideration of soil structure (e.g. cracks and clods) in determination of soil hydraulic parameters at the plowed layer may improve the simulation results of soil moisture.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09a
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• pp.764-771
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• 2010

The stability analysis method of an unsaturated slope considering the suction stress was performed on the infinite sand slope. During drying and wetting processes, the Soil-Water Characteristics Curve (SWCC) of the sand with the relative density of 75% was measured using the automated SWCC apparatus. Also, the Suction Stress Characteristics Curve (SSCC) was estimated. Based on these results, the stability analysis of an unsaturated infinite slope was carried out considering the slope angle, the weathering zone and the relative change in friction angle as a soil depth. According to the result of slope stability analysis, the safety factors of slope were less than 1 when the slope angles were more than $50^{\circ}$. The safety factors of slope tend to increase with increasing the depth from the ground surface. Especially, the safety factors have a tendency to increase and decrease above near the ground water level due to the suction stress. The maximum safety factor of slope in this analysis was occurred at the Air Entry Value (AEV) of drying process. The influence range of suction stress above the ground water level can be found out and can be defined as the funicular zone which means the metric suction range from the air entry point to the point of residual volumetric water content.