• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.713-723
• /
• 2016

Shear wave velocities of three selected sandy soils subject to drained triaxial compression test were continuously measured using the bender elements. The shear wave velocity during isotropic compression, as widely recognized, increased as confining pressure increased and they were correlated well. However, during drained shearing, the mean effective stress could no further provide a suitable correlation. The shear wave velocity during this stage was almost constant with respect to the mean effective stress. The vertical stress was found to be more favorable at this stage (since confining stress was kept constant). When sample was attained its peak stress, the shear wave velocity reduced and deviated from the previously existed trend line. This was probably caused by the non-uniformity induced by the formation of shear band. Subsequently, void ratios computed based on external measurements could not provide reasonable fitting to the initial stage of post-peak shear wave velocity. At very large strain levels after shear band formation, the digital images revealed that sample may internally re-arrange itself to be in a more uniform loose stage. This final stage void ratio estimated based on the proposed correlation derived during pre-peak state was close to the value of the maximum void ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 2003

To evaluate the effect of trapped air bubbles in horizontal drains on discharge capacity, unsaturated discharge capacity tests are carried out for four types of drains selected according to the size of section as well as the shape of core. Unsaturated discharge capacities with the elapse of time, the increase of confining pressures, and hydraulic gradients are examined and are compared with saturated discharge capacities. It is found that the unsaturated discharge capacities at a hydraulic gradient of 0.01 decreased by 17%~80% due to the remained air bubbles in the drains compared with the saturated discharge capacities. It is caused by the fact that the horizontal direction of water flow is not consistent with the direction of movement of floating air bubbles in case of horizontal drains. Especially, far the drain with filament shaped core, discharge capacities decreased significantly due to the difficulty in removing air bubbles.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.74-83
• /
• 1994

A series of isotropic consolidation tests, undrained and drained triaxial compression tests was carried out to investigate the physical characteristics and behaviours of marine silty sands collected from the western coast of Korea. This study also included a theoretical development of the constitutive equation to evaluate stress-strain relationship and volume change of silty sands. The results and main conclusions of the study are summarized as follows; 1. Isotropic compression and swelling index are linearly decreased with an increase in relative density. 2. Both undrained shear strengh and elastic modulus are increased with an increase in relative density and confining pressure. 3. Internal friction angles obtained from drained and undrained compression tests of the soils are proportional to relative density. 4. The phenomenon of dilatancy of each sample is less profound when confining stress is increased but more profound when relative density is increased. 5. The slope of critical state lines is 1.78 for Saemangum, 1.70 for Siewha and 1.26 for Sukmoon sands. 6. In this study, Drucker-Praper type criterion is used and hardening function of Cap model is modified by hyperbolic fuction. This will improve a lack of physical meaning of hardening parameters in conventional Cap model. 7. A newly developed constitutive equation to the forementioned silty sands and checked its applicability. This is in good agreement with the measured data.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2013

The dynamic characteristics of west coast sand were investigated in order to evaluate the design properties of the offshore wind turbine foundations to be constructed in the West Sea. Torsional shear tests were performed at different confining pressures and densities on specimens constituted by the dry fluviation method. The strain-dependent shear modulus and damping curves were obtained, together with modulus degradation curves. The results show that the confining pressure is more influential on the dynamic characteristics of the sand than the density. It was also found that the dynamic curves from this study were similar to those proposed by others. The modulus degradation ratio $G/G_{1st}$ varies slightly at a small strain level, but increases significantly once beyond the intermediate strain level.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.587-606
• /
• 2012

Concrete-filled-steel-tubular (CFST) columns have been well proven to improve effectively the strength, stiffness and ductility of concrete members. However, the central part of concrete in CFST columns is not fully utilised under uni-axial compression, bending and torsion. It has small contribution to both flexural and torsion strength, while it can be replaced effectively by steel with smaller area to give similar load-carrying capacity. Also, the confining pressure in CFST columns builds up slowly because the initial elastic dilation of concrete is small before micro-crackings of concrete are developed. From these observations, it is convinced that the central concrete can be effectively replaced by another hollow steel tube with smaller area to form double-skinned concrete-filled-steel-tubular (CFDST) columns. In this study, a series of uni-axial compression tests were carried out on CFDST and CFST columns with and without external steel rings. From the test results, it was observed that on average that the stiffness and elastic strength of CFDST columns are about 25.8% and 33.4% respectively larger than CFST columns with similar equivalent area. The averaged axial load-carrying capacity of CFDST columns is 7.8% higher than CFST columns. Lastly, a theoretical model that takes into account the confining effects of steel tube and external rings for predicting the uni-axial load-carrying capacity of CFDST columns is developed.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.191-202
• /
• 2010

A laboratory investigation was conducted to characterize the constitutive property behavior of Cor-Tuf, an ultra-high-performance composite concrete. Mechanical property tests (hydrostatic compression, unconfined compression (UC), triaxial compression (TXC), unconfined direct pull (DP), uniaxial strain, and uniaxial-strain-load/constant-volumetric-strain tests) were performed on specimens prepared from concrete mixtures with and without steel fibers. From the UC and TXC test results, compression failure surfaces were developed for both sets of specimens. Both failure surfaces exhibited a continuous increase in maximum principal stress difference with increasing confining stress. The DP tests results determined the unconfined tensile strengths of the two mixtures. The tensile strength of each mixture was less than the generally assumed tensile strength for conventional strength concrete, which is 10 percent of the unconfined compressive strength. Both concretes behaved similarly, but Cor-Tuf with steel fibers exhibited slightly greater strength with increased confining pressure, and Cor-Tuf without steel fibers displayed slightly greater compressibility.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.243-259
• /
• 2015

Comparative study has been performed to investigate the behavior of dredged fills on rigid (Model 1) and flexible (Model 2) containers. The study was focused on the sedimentation of soil fills and the development of total stresses. Model 1 is made of an acrylic cylinder and Model two is a scale-size geotextile tube. Results indicate that for rigid containers, significant decrease of the sediment height is apparent during the dewatering process. On the other hand, because the geotextile is permeable, the water is gradually dissipated during the filling process on flexible containers. Hence, significant loss in the tube height is not apparent during the duration of the test. Pressure spikes are apparent on rigid containers during the filling process which can be attributed to the confining effect due to hydrostatic pressure. For the flexible containers, the pressure readings gradually increases with time during the filling process and normalize at the end on the filling stage. No pressure spikes were apparent due to the gradual dissipation of pore water pressure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.173-185
• /
• 2020

Calcareous soil is originated from marine biogenic sediments and weathering of carbonate rocks. The formation history for calcareous sediment includes complex physical, biological and chemical processes. It is preferably selected as the major fill materials for hydraulic reclamation and artificial island construction. Calcareous sands possess inter pores and complex shape are liable to be damaged at normal working stress level due to its fragile nature. Thus, the engineering properties of calcareous soil are greatly affected by its high compressibility and crushability. A series of triaxial shear tests were performed on calcareous sands derived from South China Sea under different test conditions. The effects of confining pressure, particle size, grading, compactness, drainage condition, and water content on the total amount of particle breakage for calcareous soil were symmetrically investigated. The test results showed that the crushing extent of calcareous sand with full gradation was smaller than that a single particle group under the same test condition. Large grains are cushioned by surrounding small particles and such micro-structure reduces the probability of breakage for well-graded sands. The increasing tendency of particle crushing for calcareous sand with a rise in confining pressure and compactness is confirmed. It is also evident that a rise in water content enhances the amount of particle breakage for calcareous sand. However, varying tendency of particle breakage with grain size is still controversial and requires further examination.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.726-736
• /
• 2003

Concrete columns confined with high-strength fiber composites can enhance its strength as well as maximum strain. In recent years, several equations have been developed to predict the behavior of the concrete columns confined with fiber composites. While the developed equations can predict the compressive strength of the confined columns with reasonable agreement, these equations are not successful in predicting the observed maximum strain of the columns. In this paper, a total of 61 test results is analysed to propose an equation to predict both compressive strength and maximum strain of concrete cylinders. The proposed equation takes into account the effects of confining pressure and cylinder size. Furthermore, in order to verify the proposed stress-strain curve for concrete cylinders, six cylindrical specimens were tested. Comparisons between the observed and calculated stress-strain curves of the tested cylinders showed reasonable agreement.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.31 no.9
• /
• pp.17-27
• /
• 2015

We perform a series of experimental tests to evaluate whether the shear strength of clean sands can be reliably predicted from shear wave velocity. Isotropic drained triaxial tests on clean sands reconstituted at different relative densities are performed to measure the shear strength and bender elements are used to measure the shear wave velocity. Laboratory tests reveal that a correlation between shear wave velocity, void ratio, and confining pressure can be made. The correlation can be used to determine the void ratio from measured shear wave velocity, from which the shear strength is predicted. We also show that a unique relationship exists between maximum shear modulus and effective axial stress at failure. The accuracy of the equation can be enhanced by including the normalized confining pressure in the equation. Comparisons between measured and predicted effective friction angle demonstrate that the proposed equation can accurately predict the internal friction angle of granular soils, accounting for the effect of the relative density, from shear wave velocity.