• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.625-636
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• 2022

The standard penetration test (SPT) obtaining the N value of the number of blows has been widely used in various subsurface conditions, including in weathered soil and rock on fresh bedrock, in geotechnical studies pertaining to the design of foundations and earth structures. This study examined the applicability of SPTs terminated conventionally after 50 blows for a penetration of less than 30 cm, particularly in weathered strata, at four sites in Korea. The N values obtained during practical SPTs are typically extrapolated linearly at 30 cm penetration, despite the possibility of a nonlinear relationship between blow counts and penetration. Such nonlinearity in weathered strata has been verified by performing special SPTs ensuring 30 cm penetration. To quantify the nonlinearity in dense strata, we conducted statistical regression analyses comparing the differences (DN) between the N values measured by the special SPTs and those extrapolated using the practical approach with the differences (DP) between the 30 cm penetration and the penetration during 50 blows. Bi-linear relationship models between DN and DP were subsequently proposed for determining the N values at 30 cm penetration in weathered strata. The N values reflecting nonlinearity could be determined from the linearly extrapolated N values by adding a modeled DN value.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.345-360
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• 2015

Wave equation analysis programs (WEAP) such as GRLWEAP and TNOWave were primarily developed for pre-driving analysis. They can also be used for post-driving measurement applications with some refinements. In the case of pre-driving analysis, the programs are used for the purpose of selecting the right equipment for a given ground condition and controlling stresses during pile driving processes. Recently, the program is increasingly used for the post-driving measurement application, where an assessment based on a variety of input parameters such as hammer, driving system and dynamic behaviour of soil is carried out. The process of this type of analysis is quite simple and it is performed by matching accurately known parameters, such as from CAPWAP analysis, to the parameters used in GRLWEAP analysis. The parameters that are refined in the typical analysis are pile stresses, hammer energy, capacity, damping and quakes. Matching of these known quantities by adjusting hammer, cushion and soil parameters in the wave equation program results in blow counts or sets and stresses for other hammer energies and capacities and cushion configuration. The result of this analysis is output on a Bearing Graph that establishes a relationship between ultimate capacity and net set per blow. A further application of this refinement method can be applied to the assessment of dynamic formulae, which are extensively used in pile capacity calculation during pile driving process. In this paper, WEAP analysis is carried out to establish the relationship between the ultimate capacities and sets using the various parameters and using this relationship to recalibrate the dynamic formula. The results of this analysis presented show that some of the shortcoming of the dynamic formula can be overcome and the results can be improved by the introduction of a correction factor.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.95-106
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• 1997

A pressuremeter is an expandable tube which is placed in the soil, and then expanded under controlled condition against the soil. From this test a pressure expansion curve of the soil can be obtained. However soil disturbance during the test has significant influence on the results of tests. A general governing equation for pressuremeter test can be theoretically derived on the basis of the hyperbolic soil model and the cavity expansion theory. The curve fitting technique was used to establish the pressure-strain curve without disturbance of soil during testing. This interpretation makes use of both the loading and unloading portions of the test. An interpretation methodology is described and illustrated with pressuremeter test data carried out in the weathered granitic soil to estimate initial shear modulus. Standard penetration test is a very common site investigation technique in Korea. Therefore the blow counts of standard penetration test are discussed by comparing them with initial shear modulus.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.172-183
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• 1995

The airborne concentrations of the welding fumes produced during $CO_2$ arcwelding process at shipbuilding, shiprepairing, container manufacturing and car accessary manufacturing industry were investigated. The effects how much reduced the welding fume were checked when the portable fan was used. The results were as follows; 1.The geometric mean of welding fume concentration in shipbuilding factory was $10.05mg/m^3$. This exposure concentration was higher than other 3 manufacturing industries at 95% confidence level. 2. The sampling filters for welding fume could be digested with acid within 1 hour by microwave oven. The recoveries for investigated metal elements were all over 95%. 3. The optimal wavelength could be selected for the simultaneous analysis of 8 metal elements by ICP(Inductively Coupled Plasma). 4. Noxious gases($O_1,NO_2$) produced during $CO_1$ gas arc welding process were detected that the concentration of ozone($O_1$) was less than 0.01 ppm and that of nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$) was 0.01-0.03 ppm. 5. The geometric mean of welding fume particle diameter was $1.26{\mu}m$ and geometric standard deviation was 1.51 for the counts when particle an analyzer(ELZONE) had been used. 6. When the portable fan had been used,the reduced percent of total welding fume for workers was about 47.8% when portable fan was applied to blow and 71.7% when to exhaust.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.33-38
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• 2018

The internal erosion due to poor compaction of the material was the main cause of collapse of the embankment in Korea. The assessment of the compaction state of the dam body was a very important check in the safety diagnosis of the embankment. In this study, the correlation between dynamic cone penetration test and plate loading test which is the most typical compaction evaluation technique was analyzed to verify the applicability of the dynamic cone penetration test in evaluating the compaction state of the dam body. The standard penetration tests were carried out six times to define soil properties and depth of the test site. The spatial distributions were obtained by the Kriging method after 15 times of plate loading tests and 47 times of dynamic cone penetration tests. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the spatial distribution of the plate loading test and the dynamic cone penetration test spatial distribution at the constant penetration depth was calculated. The load distribution in the plate loading test and the blow counts at penetration depths of 5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm in the dynamic cone penetration test showed a weak positive correlation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2008

Shear wave velocity($V_S$), which can be obtained using various seismic tests, has been emphasized as representative geotechnical dynamic characteristic mainly for seismic design and seismic performance evaluation in the engineering field. For the application of conventional geotechnical site investigation techniques to geotechnical earthquake engineering, standard penetration tests(SPT) and piezocone penetration tests(CPTu) together with a variety of borehole seismic tests were performed at many sites in Korea. Through statistical modeling of the in-situ testing data, in this study, the correlations between $V_S$ and geotechnical in-situ penetrating data such as blow counts(N value) from SPT and piezocone penetrating data such as tip resistance ($q_t$), sleevefriction($f_s$), and pore pressure ratio($B_q$) were deduced and were suggested as an empirical method to determine $V_S$. Despite the incompatible strain levels of the conventional geotechnical penetration tests and the borehole seismic tests, it is shown that the suggested correlations in this study are applicable to the preliminary estimation of $V_S$ for Korean soil layers.