• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3 s.49
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• pp.125-134
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• 2006

Conventional methods for the assessment of liquefaction potential were primary for severe earthquake regions $(M{\geq}7.5)$ such as North America and Japan. In Korea, an earthquake related research has started in 1997, but most contents in the guidelines were still quoted from literature reviews of North America and Japan, which are located in strong earthquake region. Those are not proper in a moderate earthquake regions including Korea. Also the equivalent uniform stress concept (Seed & Idriss, 1971) using regular sinusoidal loading which is used, in a conventional method for the assessment of liquefaction potential, can't reflect correctly the dynamic characteristics of real irregular earthquake motions. In this study, cyclic triaxial tests using irregular earthquake motions are performed with different earthquake magnitudes, relative densities, and fines contents. Assessment of liquefaction potential in moderate earthquake regions is discussed based on various laboratory test results. From the results, screening limits in seismic design were re-investigated and proposed using normalized maximum stress ratios under real irregular earthquake motions. Also from the tests using constant wedge loading and incremental wedge loading, the characteristics of liquefaction resistance of saturated sand under irregular ground motions are investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.59-70
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• 2022

There is a growing interest in evaluating earthquake damage and determining disaster prevention measures due to the magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Pohang, Korea. Since the liquefaction phenomena occurred extensively in the residential area as a result of the earthquake, there was a demand for research on liquefaction phenomenon evaluation and liquefaction disaster prediction. Liquefaction is defined as a phenomenon where the strength of the ground is completely lost due to a sudden increase in excess pore water pressure caused due to large dynamic stress, such as an earthquake, acting on loose sand particles in a short period of time. The liquefaction potential index, which can identify the occurrence of liquefaction and predict the risk of liquefaction in a targeted area, can be used to create a liquefaction hazard map. However, since liquefaction assessment using existing field testing is predicated on a single borehole liquefaction assessment, there has been a representative issue for the whole targeted area. Spatial interpolation and geographic information systems can help to solve this issue to some extent. Therefore, in order to solve the representative problem of geotechnical information, this research uses the kriging method, one of the geostatistical spatial interpolation techniques, and constructs a geotechnical information database for liquefaction and spatial interpolation. Additionally, the liquefaction hazard map was created for each return period using the constructed geotechnical information database. Cross validation was used to confirm the accuracy of this liquefaction hazard map.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.145-159
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• 2004

The conventional method for assessment of liquefaction potential proposed by Seed and Idriss has been widely used in most countries because of simplicity of tests. Even though various data such as stress, strain, stress path, and excess pore water pressure can be obtained from the dynamic test, especially, two simple experimental data such as the maximum deviatoric stress and the number of cycles at liquefaction have been used in the conventional assessment. In this study, a new detailed assessment for liquefaction potential to reflect both characteristics of real earthquake motion and dynamic soil resistance is proposed and verified. In the assessment, the safety factor of the liquefaction potential at a given depth of a site can be obtained by the ratio of a resistible cumulative plastic shear strain determined through the performance of the conventional cyclic test and a driving cumulative plastic shear strain calculated from the shear strain time history through the ground response analysis. The last point to cumulate the driving plastic shear strain to initiate soil liquefaction is important for this assessment. From the result of cyclic triaxial test using real earthquake motions, it was concluded that liquefaction under the impact-type earthquake loads would initiate as soon as a peak loading signal was reached. The driving cumulative plastic shear strain, therefore, can be determined by adding all plastic shear strains obtained from the ground response analysis up to the peak point. Through the verification of the proposed assessment, it can be concluded that the proposed assessment for liquefaction potential can be a progressive method to reflect both characteristics of the unique soil resistance and earthquake parameters such as peak earthquake signal, significant duration time, earthquake loading type, and magnitude.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5C
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• pp.313-322
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• 2006

Liquefaction of soil foundation is one of the major seismic damage types for infrastructures. In this paper, deterministic and probabilistic approaches for the evaluation of liquefaction potential are briefly summarized and the risk assessment method is newly proposed using seismic fragility and seismic hazard analyses. Currently the deterministic approach is widely used to evaluate the liquefaction potential in Korea. However, it is very difficult to handle a certain degree of uncertainties in the soil properties such as elastic modulus and resistant capacity by deterministic approach, and the probabilistic approaches are known as more promising. Two types of probabilistic approaches are introduced including (1) the reliability analysis (to obtain probability of failure) for a given design earthquake and (2) the seismic risk analysis of liquefaction for a specific soil for a given service life. The results from different methods show a similar trend, and the liquefaction potential can be more quantitatively evaluated using the new risk analysis method.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.127-140
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• 2004

Conventional methods for the assessment of liquefaction potential were primarily for areas of severe earthquake zones (M=7.5) such as North America and Japan. Detailed earthquake related researches in Korea started in 1997, including development of the seismic design standards for port and harbour structures, which was later completed in 1999. Because most contents in the guidelines were quoted through literature reviews from North America and Japan, which are located in strong earthquake region, those are not proper in Korea, a moderate earthquake region. This requires further improvement of the present guidelines. Considering earthquake hazard data in Korea, use of laboratory tests based on irregular earthquake motion appears to be effective to reflect the dynamic characteristics of soil more realistically than those using simplified regular loading. In this study, cyclic triaxial tests using irregular earthquake motions are performed with different earthquake magnitudes, relative densities, and fines contents. Assessment of liquefaction potential in moderate earthquake regions is discussed based on various laboratory test results. Effects of these components on dynamic behavior of soils are discussed as well. From the test results, screening limits and magnitude scaling factors to determine the soil liquefaction resistance strength in seismic design were re-investigated and proposed using normalized maximum stress ratios under real irregular earthquake motions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2019

In this study, the seismic risk has been evaluated by setting the bedrock acceleration to 0.154g which, was taking into consideration that the earthquake return period for the buried electric power tunnels in the metropolitan area to be 1,000 years. In this case, the risk assessment during the earthquake was carried out in three stages. In the first stage, the site classification was performed based on the site investigation data of the target area. Then, the LPI(Liquefaction Potential Index) was applied using the site amplification factor. After, candidates were selected using a hazard map. In the second stage, risk assessment analysis of seismic response are evaluated thoroughly after the recalculation of the LPI based on the site characteristics from the boring logs around the electric power area that are highly probable to be liquefied in the first stage. The third Stage visited the electric power tunnels that are highly probable of liquefaction in the second stage to compensate for the limitations based on the borehole data. At this time, the risk of liquefaction was finally evaluated based off of the reinforcement method used at the time of construction, the application of seismic design, and the condition of the site.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.37-46
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• 2019

Recently, the use of CPT-based liquefaction assessment method has increased by providing more accurate results than other field tests. In CPT-based liquefaction evaluation, various soil properties are predicted and they are used for liquefaction potential assessment. In particular, fines content is one of the important input parameters in CPT-based liquefaction assessment, so it is very important to use correct prediction model and to make quantitative evaluation of estimating variability of fines content. In this study, the error evaluation of existing models for prediction of fines content through CPT was performed, and the most suitable model was selected for Pohang area, where the liquefaction phenomenon was observed in the 2017. In addition, the inherent variability of soil was analyzed, and the estimating variability of fines content was evaluated quantitatively considering the inherent variability of soil, measurement error of CPT and transformation uncertainty of selected model.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.171-180
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• 2016

Earthquake event keeps increasing every year, and the recent cases of earthquake hazards invoke the necessity of seismic study in Korea, as geotechnical earthquake hazards, such as strong ground motion, liquefaction and landslides, are a significant threat to structures in industrial hub areas including coastal facilities. In this study, systemized framework of integrated assessment of earthquake-induced geotechnical hazard was established using advanced geospatial database. And a visible simulation of the framework was specifically conducted at two coastal facility areas in Incheon. First, the geospatial-grid information in the 3D domain were constructed with geostatistical interpolation method composed of multiple geospatial coverage mapping and 3D integration of geo-layer construction considering spatial outliers and geotechnical uncertainty. Second, the behavior of site-specific seismic responses were assessed by incorporating the depth to bedrock, mean shear wave velocity of the upper 30 m, and characteristic site period based on the geospatial-grid. Third, the normalized correlations between rock-outcrop accelerations and the maximum accelerations of each grid were determined considering the site-specific seismic response characteristics. Fourth, the potential damage due to liquefaction was estimated by combining the geospatial-grid and accelerations correlation grid based on the simplified liquefaction potential index evaluation method.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.589-602
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• 2020

As can be seen in many earthquakes, liquefaction causes differential settlement, which sometimes produces serious damages such as building destruction and ground subsidence. There are many possible active faults near the Busan city and the Yangsan, Dongrae, and Ilgwang faults among them pass through the city. The Busan city is also located within the influence of recent earthquakes, which occurred in the Gyeongju, Pohang, and Kumamoto (Japan). Along the wide fault valleys in the city, the Quaternary unconsolidated alluvial sediments are thickly accumulated, and the reclaimed lands with beach sediments are widely distributed in the coastal area. A large earthquake near or in the Busan city is thus expected to cause major damage due to liquefaction in urban areas. This study conducted an assessment of the liquefaction hazard according to seismic recurrence intervals across the Busan city. As a result, although there are slight differences in degree depending on seismic recurrence intervals, it is predicted that the liquefaction potential is very high in the areas of the Nakdonggang Estuary, Busan Bay, Suyeong Bay, and Songjeong Station. In addition, it is shown that the shorter the seismic recurrence interval, the greater difference the liquefaction potential depending on site periods.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.13-19
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• 2018

Following the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, the Pohang Earthquake occurred in 2017, and the south-east region in Korea is under the threat of an earthquake. Especially, in the Pohang Earthquake, the liquefaction phenomenon occurred in the sedimentation area of the coast, and preparation of countermeasures is very important. The soil liquefaction can affect the underground facilities directly as well as various structures on the ground. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the liquefaction risk of facilities and the structures against the possible earthquakes and to prepare countermeasures to minimize them. In this study, we investigated the seismic liquefaction risk about the electric power utility tunnels in the southeast area where the earthquake occurred in Korea recently. In the analysis of seismic liquefaction risk, the earthquake with return period 1000 years and liquefaction potential index are used. The liquefaction risk analysis was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the liquefaction risk was analyzed by calculating the liquefaction potential index using the ground survey data of the location of electric power utility tunnels in the southeast region. At that time, the seismic amplification in soil layer was considered by soil amplification factor according to the soil classification. In the second stage, the liquefaction risk analysis based on the site response analyses inputted 3 earthquake records were performed for the locations determined to be dangerous from the first step analysis, and the final liquefaction potential index was recalculated. In the analysis, the site investigation data were used from the National Geotechnical Information DB Center. Finally, it can be found that the proposed two stage assessments for liquefaction risk that the macro assessment of liquefaction risk for the underground facilities including the electric power utility tunnel in Korea is carried out at the first stage, and the second risk assessment is performed again with site response analysis for the dangerous regions of the first stage assessment is reasonable and effective.