• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.699-708
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• 1997

The effective unsaturated hydraulic conductivity in stratified soils is evaluated using a three-dimensional stochastic approach. Because of the disparity of the correlation scales in a stratified soil, the general stochastic equations are simplified. This allows analytical evaluation of generic expressions for the effective hydraulic conductivities. Simple asymptotic expressions, valid at particular ranges(wetting front, drying condition, wetting condition) of the mean flow characteristics, are also derived. An example of applying the derived theoretical result to a imaginaryl clay soil is presented. It reveals found that the effective unsaturated hydraulic conductivity showed large-scale hysteresis. Such large-scale hysteresis was produced by the spatial variability of hydraulic soil properties rather than hysteresis of the local parameters. In addition the results show that the effective hydraulic conductivities were larger in the case of accommodating heterogeneity of soil preperties rather than neglecting heterogeneity of soil properties.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.283-291
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• 2018

Cracks in soil provide significant preferential pathways for contaminant transport and rainfall infiltration. Water exchange between the soil matrix and crack is crucial to characterize the preferential flow, which is often quantitatively described by a water exchange ratio. The water exchange ratio is defined as the amount of water flowing from the crack into the clay matrix per unit time. Most of the previous studies on the water exchange ratio mainly focused on cracked sandy soils. The water exchange between cracks and clay matrix were rarely studied mainly due to two reasons: (1) Cracks open upon drying and close upon wetting. The deformable cracks lead to a dynamic change in the water exchange ratio. (2) The aperture of desiccation crack in clay is narrow (generally 0.5 mm to 5 mm) which is difficult to model in experiments. This study will investigate the water exchange between a deformable crack and the clay matrix using a newly developed experimental apparatus. An artificial crack with small aperture was first fabricated in clay without disturbing the clay matrix. Water content sensors and suction sensors were instrumented at different places of the cracked clay to monitor the water content and suction changes. Results showed that the water exchange ratio was relatively large at the initial stage and decreased with the increasing water content in clay matrix. The water exchange ratio increased with increasing crack apertures and approached the largest value when the clay was compacted at the water content to the optimal water content. The effective hydraulic conductivity of the crack-clay matrix interface was about one order of magnitude larger than that of saturated soil matrix.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.475-487
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• 2017

We performed landslide flume tests to analyze characteristics of landslide occurrence and change in the ground materials due to rainfall infiltration. The test apparatus is composed of flume, rainfall simulator, and measurement sensors and landslides were triggered by heavy rainfall (Intensity=200 mm/hr) sprinkled at the above of an artificial slope. The measurement sensors for matric suction and volumetric water content were installed with 3 sets at shallow (GL-0.2 m), middle (GL-0.4 m), and deep depth (GL-0.6 m) in the slope and the tests were performed with in-situ, loose, and dense condition of each weathered soils of granite, gneiss, and mudstone. The analyses show that surface erosion was dominant in initial time of the test due to heavy rainfall and then landslides occur following locally happened transverse tension cracks. The characteristics of landslide were both shallow failure because of a spread of wetting front induced by the rainfall infiltration and retrogressive failure. While the matric suction was decreased rapidly without any precursor in the soil saturation, the volumetric water content was increased gradually, reached its maximum value, and then decreased rapidly with landslide.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.751-762
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• 1999

In this study, a 1-D laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate the characteristics of transient unsaturated solute transport by using two kinds of soils of which properties were known by test. Especially the TDR method which is proposed in this study was used to measure water content and solute concentration. As results, in the transient flow, the wetting front moves down rapidly, and the distribution of solute concentration near the wetting front showed the similar type of the water content distribution(semi-bell type). A numerical model HYDRUS was used to compare with the experimental results. Numerical results for the water movement are similar to experimental result. However, numerical results of the distribution of solute concentration are more scattered than experimental results. It means that measured dispersivity, numerical dispersion, adsorption coefficient, and soil sample size etc. should be considered in order to determine the dispersivity used in the numerical model. The present measuring method was proved to be superior to other formula and to be an available method to apply to solute transport test. The measuring error of the developed method is estimated smaller than 10% while water content is larger than 0.15.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.153-163
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• 2020

Laboratory experiments were conducted with two different soil conditions to investigate rainfall infiltration characteristics. The soil layer materials that were tested were weathered granite soil and weathered gneiss soil. Artificial rainfall of 80 mm/hr was reproduced through the use of a rainfall device, and the volumetric water content and matric suction were measured. In the case of the granite soil, the saturation velocity and the moving direction of the wetting front were fast and upward, respectively, whereas in the case of the weathered gneiss soil, the velocity and direction were slow and downward, respectively. Rainfall penetrated and saturated from the bottom to the top as the hydraulic conductivity of the granite soil was higher than the infiltration capacity of the artificial rainfall. In contrast, as the hydraulic conductivity of the gneiss soil was lower than the infiltration capacity of the rainfall, ponding occurred on the surface: part of the rainfall first infiltrated, with the remaining rainfall subsequently flowing out. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function of weathered soils was determined and analyzed with matric suction and the effective degree of saturation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.243-259
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• 2016

The Richards equation for water movement in unsaturated soil is highly nonlinear partial differential equations which are not solvable analytically unless unrealistic and oversimplifying assumptions are made regarding the attributes, dynamics, and properties of the physical systems. Therefore, conventionally, numerical solutions are the only feasible procedures to model flow in partially saturated porous media. The standard Finite element numerical technique is usually coupled with an Euler time discretizations scheme. Except for the fully explicit forward method, any other Euler time-marching algorithm generates nonlinear algebraic equations which should be solved using iterative procedures such as Newton and Picard iterations. In this study, lumped mass and distributed mass in the frame of Picard and Newton iterative techniques were evaluated to determine the most efficient method to solve the Richards equation with finite element model. The accuracy and computational efficiency of the scheme and of the Picard and Newton models are assessed for three test problems simulating one-dimensional flow processes in unsaturated porous media. Results demonstrated that, the conventional mass distributed finite element method suffers from numerical oscillations at the wetting front, especially for very dry initial conditions. Even though small mesh sizes are applied for all the test problems, it is shown that the traditional mass-distributed scheme can still generate an incorrect response due to the highly nonlinear properties of water flow in unsaturated soil and cause numerical oscillation. On the other hand, non oscillatory solutions are obtained and non-physics solutions for these problems are evaded by using the mass-lumped finite element method.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2013

This study is to evaluate the parameter behavior of VfloTM distributed rainfall-runoff model by applying 3 kinds of rainfall interpolation methods viz. Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Kriging (KRI), and Thiessen network (THI). For the 1,544 $km^2$ Dongcheon watershed of Nakdong river, the model was calibrated using 4 storm events in 2007 and 2009, and validated using 2 storm events in 2010. The model was calibrated with Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency of 0.97 for IDW, 0.94 for KRI, and 0.95 for THI respectively. For the sensitive parameters, the saturated hydraulic conductivity ($K_{sat}$) for IDW, KRI, and THI were 0.33, 0.31, and 0.43 cm/hr, and the soil suction head at the wetting front (${\Psi}_f$) were 4.10, 3.96, and 5.19 cm $H_2O$ respectively. These parameters affected the infiltration process by the spatial distribution of antecedent moisture condition before a storm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.1395-1399
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• 2008

국내 토층 사면을 대상으로 강우에 의해 발생되는 침투수 거동 특성을 분석함으로써 지속적인 토층의 물성 변화 계측을 통해 산사태 예 경보시스템을 구축이 가능하다. 본 연구에서는 산사태 예 경보시스템 구축의 사전 단계로써, 국내 대표적인 지질 매질인 화강암 풍화토, 편마암 풍화토와 주문진 표준사에 대해 공극률과 체적함수비 등의 토질 물성 변화를 고려한 실내 보정실험을 수행하였다. 실험조건은 공극률, 체적함수비 변화에 대한 측정센서의 측정 정밀도 향상과 이를 통해 국내 현장토에 대한 고유 보정기법을 제시하기 위함이다. 측정센서는 각 실험 조건별 물성 변화에 따라 전압을 측정함으로써 현장토에 대한 물성치와 상호 분석이 가능하도록 하였다. 주문진 표준사 뿐만 아니라 국내 현장토인 화강암 풍화토와 편마암 풍화토에 대한 체적함수비에 대한 보정식도 함께 제시하였다.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.53-61
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• 1983

The Green-Ampt equation for infiltration has been intensively investigated by many researchers because of its simplicity and adequacy for fitting experimental data to theoretical one. The infiltration equation derived from the theory of two phase flow coincides with the Green-Ampt equation except the viscouse resistance correction factor. This approach clearly defines variables in the Green-Ampt equation and also encounters the effect of viscosity of two fluids. A new equation for infiltration into multilayered soil is derived from the theory of two phase flow and compared with conventional equation. The new equation shows lower infiltration rate than that of conventional one and it is believed that this caused from the inclusion of viscosity in the derivation.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.9-18
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• 2008

Shallow slope failures in residual soil during periods of prolonged infiltration are common in Korea. This study examines an infinite slope analysis to estimate the influence of infiltration on surficial stability of slopes by the limit equilibrium method. Approximate method which is based on the Green-Ampt model have been considered to evaluate the likelihood of shallow slope failure which is induced by a particular rainfall event that accounts for the rainfall intensity and duration for various return periods. Pradel & Raad method which is devised to predict the depth of wetting front to decomposed granite soil slopes having measured soil-water characteristic curves. To compare the results with those obtained from the Pradel & Raad method, a series of numerical analysis using SEEP/W were carried out. It was found that the stability analysis of unsaturated soils calculated by using the soil-water characteristic curve of decomposed granite soils was found to be a proper analysis for shallow slope failures due to rainfall.