• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.281-295
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• 2010

A new, automated apparatus is proposed for calculating the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC), representing a simple and easily applied testing device for continuous measurements of the volumetric water content and suction of unsaturated soils. The use of this apparatus helps to avoid the errors that arise when performing experiments. Consequently, the apparatus provides greater accuracy in calculating the SWCC of unsaturated soils. The apparatus is composed of a pressure panel, flow cell, water reservoir, air bubble trap, balance, sample-preparation accessories, and measurement system, among other components. The air pressure can attain 300 kPa, and a general test can be completed in a short time. The apparatus can simply control the drying process and wetting process. The changes in volumetric water content that occur during the drying and wetting processes are shown directly in the SWRC program, in real time. As a case study, we performed an SWCC test of Joomunjin sand (75% relative density) to measure matric suction and volumetric water content during both the drying and wetting processes. The test revealed hysteresis behavior, whereby the water content on the wetting curve is always lower than that on the drying curve for a specific matric suction, during the wetting and drying processes. Based on the test results, SWCCs were estimated using the Brooks and Corey, van Genuchten, and Fredlund and Xing models. The van Genuchten model performed best for the given soil conditions, as it yielded the highest coefficient of determination.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.55-66
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• 2012

To investigate the hysteresis of the suction stress in unsaturated weathered mudstone soils (CL), matric suction and volumetric water content were measured in both drying and wetting processes using Automated Soil-Water Characteristics Curve Apparatus. The drying and wetting processes in unsaturated soils were reproduced in the test; the drying process means to load matric suction to spill pore water from the soils, and the wetting process means to unload matric suction to inject pore water into the soils. Based on the measured result, Soil Water Characteristic Curve(SWCC)s were estimated by van Genuchten model (1980). SWCCs have nonlinear relationship between effective degree of saturation and matric suction. The hysteresis in SWCCs between drying and wetting processes occurred. As a result of estimating Suction Stress Characteristic Curve(SSCC) using Lu and Likos model (2006), the suction stress rapidly increased in the low level of matric suction and then increased slightly. Also, the hysteresis in SSCCs between drying and wetting processes occurred. In order to design geo-structures and check its stability considering unsaturated soil mechanics, therefore, it is more reasonable that the SSCC of drying process should be applied in the condition of rainfall infiltration and the SSCC of wetting process in the condition of evaporation or drainage.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.25-32
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• 2011

The matric suction and volumetric water content of dredging soils obtained from Saemangeum area were measured by the automated Soil-Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) apparatus under both drying and wetting conditions. Based on the test result, SWCCs of the dredging soils were estimated by the van Genuchten(1980) model. The matric suction of drying process is larger than that of wetting process at a same effective degree of saturation. The suction stresses for various matirc suctions were estimated using Lu and Likos(2006) model and the Suction Stress Characteristic Curves (SSCC) were predicted using the independent parameter of SWCC. The suction stress of drying path was increased and decreased, while the suction stress of wetting path was continuously decreased with increasing the effective degree. Also, the suction stress of drying path is larger than that of wetting path at a same effective degree of saturation. The Hydraulic Conductivity Function(HCF) was also predicted by the van Genuchten(1980) model. The hydraulic conductivity was increased with increasing the volumetric water content. The hydraulic conductivity of drying path is larger than that of wetting path at a same matric suction. According to the results of SWCCs and SSCCs, the hysteresis phenomenon of suction stress or matric suction during both drying and wetting paths was occurred. The main reason of hysteresis phenomenon is a ink bottle effect of water among soil particles.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.2369-2379
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• 2013

The Soil-Water Characteristics Curve (SWCC) is affected by the initial density of soil under unsaturated condition. Also, the characteristic of hydraulic conductivity is changed by the initial density of soil. To study the effect of initial density of unsaturated soil, SWCC and the Hydraulic Conductivity Function (HCF) of Jumoonjin sand with various relative densities, 40%, 60% and 75% were measured in both drying and wetting processes. As the results of SWCC estimated by van Genuchten (1980) model, the parameter related to Air Entry Value(AEV), ${\alpha}$ in the wetting process is larger than that in drying process, but the parameters related to the SWCC slope, n and the residual water content, m are larger than those in wetting process. The AEV is increased or Water Entry Value (WEV) is decreased with increasing the relative density of sand. The AEV is larger than the WEV at the same relative density of sand. As the results of HCF estimated by van Genuchten (1980) model which is one of the parameter estimation methods, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity maintained at a saturated one in the low level of matric suctions and then suddenly decreased just before the AEV or the WEV. The saturated hydraulic conductivity in drying process is larger than that in wetting process. The saturated hydraulic conductivity is decreased with increasing the relative density of sand in both drying and wetting processes. Also, the hysteresis in unsaturated HCFs between drying and wetting process was occurred like the hysteresis in SWCCs. According to the test results, the AEV on SWCC is decreased and the saturated hydraulic conductivity is increased with increasing the initial density. It means that SWCC and HCF are affected by the initial density in the unsaturated soil.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.448-457
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• 2011

A wetting and drying(WAD) scheme was introduced in KU-RLMS which is a two-dimensional depth-averaged unsteady model, and applicability tests for wetting and drying were performed in this study. WAD scheme in the model uses a mathematically less elegant but numerically easier method to test for dry or wet cells at each time step, then to apply blocking conditions for fluxes at cells' interfaces. WAD scheme introduced in the model was verified against an analytical solution in a frictionless parabolic basin. It was found that there occurs a little phase difference between analytical and numerical solution and little decrease of amplitude of numerical result. I used three test channels having a linear sloping bottom topography, a stepwise bottom topography, and a stepwise, a bumpy and bowl-shaped bottom topography. It could be found that numerical simulation results in test channels have similar shapes of Balzano[4] and Oey[15].

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.607-615
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• 2009

Analysis of chloride penetration into concrete is performed considering the repeated wetting and drying conditions of tidal zone, by means of the developed finite element program which enables the diffusion-convection analysis to be conducted. Heat conduction and moisture diffusion are also included in the finite element analysis program in order that their effects to chloride penetration may be considered. For the efficiency of calculation, the analyses of temperature, relative humidity and free chloride concentration are conducted successively in that order, by treating the convection of chloride due to moisture diffusion as an source or sink term. By comparing the analysis result from finite element analysis, where main variable is a wetting and drying period, with the chloride profiles from ACI Life-365 method, it is shown that the Life-365 method gives an accurate result for the submerged zone but does not consider the differences of wetting and drying period. To obtain an accurate chloride profile in the tidal zone, it is confirmed that the diffusion-convection finite element analysis should be applied.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.35-43
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• 2011

This study aimed to investigate the engineering characteristics of PVA fiber-cement-soil mixture used to prevent or reduce brittle failure of cement-soil mixtures due to the tensile strength increase from the addition of a synthetic fiber. The engineering characteristics of PVA fiber-cement-soil mixtures composed of PVA fiber, soil, and a small amount of cement was analysed on the basis of the compaction test, the unconfined compression test, the tensile strength test, the freezing and thawing test, and the wetting and drying test. The specimens were manufactured with soil, cement and PVA fiber. The cement contents was 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10%, and the fiber contents was 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0% by the weight of total dry soil. To investigate the strength characteristics depending on age, each specimen was manufactured after curing at constant temperature and humidity room for 3, 7 and 28 days, after which the engineering characteristics of PVA fiber-cement-soil mixtures were investigated using the unconfined compression test, the tensile strength test, the freezing and thawing test, and the wetting and drying test. The basic data were presented for the application of PVA fiber-cement-soil mixtures as construction materials.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.69-79
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• 2019

This work presents an experimental study of the hydromechanical behavior of a natural swelling soil taken from Boumagueur region east of Algeria. Several pathological cases due to the soil shrinkage / swelling phenomenon were detected in this area. In a first part, the hydric behavior on drying-wetting paths was made, using the osmotic technics and saturated salts solutions to control suction. In The second part, using a new osmotic oedometer, the coupled behavior as a function of applied stresses and suction was investigated. It was shown that soil compressibility parameters was influenced by suction variations that an increase in suction is followed by a decrease in the virgin compression slope. On the other hand, the unloading slope of the oedometric curves was not obviously affected by the imposed suction. The decrease in suction strongly influences the apparent preconsolidation pressure, ie during swelling of the samples after wetting.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.129-139
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• 2012

Accurate modeling rainfall induced landslide and slope stability requires a detailed knowledge of the distribution of material strength characteristics and suction distribution. However, material properties obtained from the drying cycle are still used for infiltration analysis in many cases, even though material properties of wetting cycle are quite different from those of drying cycle due to hydraulic hysteresis and air occlusion. Therefore, the selection of proper material properties such as soil-water retention curve (SWRC) and the hydraulic conductivity function (HCF) reflecting characteristics of wetting cycle and air occlusion is an essential prerequisite in order to simulate the infiltration phenomena and to predict the suction and water content distribution in unsaturated soils. It is concluded that the simulation of infiltration with material properties from the drying cycle did not reasonably match with experimental outputs. Further discussion is made on how to describe the material properties considering air occlusion during wetting cycle over the entire suction range in order to simulate infiltration phenomena.

• 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.