• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2006

Although the discharge capacity of the natural fiber drains are very low compared to that of plastic drain board (PDB), it is found that the conventional fiber drains and the new developed straw drain boards have great potential for use as a substitute for conventional plastic drain boards through several model tests. To verify their field application, a pilot test using environmentally friendly drains is also being carried out to prove their effective discharge capacity in the field. The pilot test site was divided into 5 different areas, with various combinations of vertical and horizontal drains installed for evaluation. Definite characteristics of various drains are still to be found due to the delay in construction of embankment. Consolidation behavior of three types of vertical drains and two types of horizontal drains will be analyzed after the completion of the embankment in the near future.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.505-520
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• 2022

In recent years, geotextile-encased gravel columns (usually called stone columns) have become a popular method to increasing soil shear strength, decreasing the settlement, acceleration of the rate of consolidation, reducing the liquefaction potential and increasing the bearing capacity of foundations. The behavior of improved loose base-soil with gravel columns under shear loading and the shear stress-horizontal displacement curves got from large scale direct shear test are of great importance in understanding the performance of this method. In the present study, by performing 36 large-scale direct shear tests on sandy base-soil with different fine-content of zero to 30% in both not improved and improved with gravel columns, the effect of the presence of gravel columns in the loose soils were investigated. The results were used to predict the shear stress-horizontal displacement curve of these samples using support vector machines (SVM). Variables such as the non-plastic fine content of base-soil (FC), the area replacement ratio of the gravel column (Arr), the geotextile encasement and the normal stress on the sample were effective factors in the shear stress-horizontal displacement curve of the samples. The training and testing data of the model showed higher power of SVM compared to multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network in predicting shear stress-horizontal displacement curve. After ensuring the accuracy of the model evaluation, by introducing different samples to the model, the effect of different variables on the maximum shear stress of the samples was investigated. The results showed that by adding a gravel column and increasing the Arr, the friction angle (ϕ) and cohesion (c) of the samples increase. This increase is less in base-soil with more FC, and in a proportion of the same Arr, with increasing FC, internal friction angle and cohesion decreases.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.35-41
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• 2008

Stone columns, one of the soft ground improvement techniques, are being used for not only accelerating consolidation but also increasing bearing capacity of soft grounds. In this study, in order to observe the stress distribution characteristics which are one of the important factors to estimate the settlement reduction of the soft ground, lab-scale experiments were performed in stone column reinforced clay ground. The stress distribution ratio of stone column decreased with the lapse of time after surcharge loading but increased as the stiffness of clay deposit increases. It shows that the modified Baumann and Bauer's solution, which is able to easily predict the stress distribution ratio of stone column reinforced soft ground, exhibits reasonable agreement with the measured data.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.57-65
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• 2006

In the Nakdong River estuary soft and thick clay, which called Pusan clay, are deposited. Despite a number of great reclaimed projects that have been performed in the area, the consolidation settlement and time have been significantly underestimated due dominantly to sample disturbance, since the last decade. In order to resolve the underestmation, it was necessary to examine the compressibility characteristics through a systematic geotechnical investigation on the clay. In this study an advanced sampling technique was adopted on two sites chosen along the coastline, and then oedometer testing and geological investigation were performed for the undisturbed and reconstituted samples. As the results, the compressibility parameters of the clay were representatively determined, as well as their correlation. Particularly the effects of depositional environment on the physical indexes, level of structure, sample disturbance and compressibility parameters were analyzed for the clay.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2C
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• pp.75-81
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• 2008

In this study, a series of laboratory column test on Suction Drain Method which is one of the way to make an soft ground improvement were conducted in order to investigate the effect of the Hardening Zones and the ratio of improvements depending on periods of the improvements and various applied suction pressures. On this occasion, the experimental conditions are followings; in the case of the periods of effectiveness, 4 days, 8 days, 12 days, 16 days, 20 days and in the case of the applied pressures of the Suction are -20 kPa, -40 kPa, -60 kPa and -80 kPa were carried out. As a result of test, settlement increased with suction pressure and duration increase, and gradually converged. Also, as comparing permeability decrease ratio with which calculated back from water content and numerically predicted using Hansbo's radial consolidation theory, measured value was almost coincide with predicted value when permeability decrease ratio was assumed as 2~3. Furthermore, the hardening zone was appeared within 7~8 cm of whole radial (25 cm).

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6C
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• pp.287-294
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• 2009

Suction Drain Method is a relatively new technique to improve soft ground using vacuum pressure which can be directly applied to the soft ground through drains that the pore water pressure around them are decreased without changing total stress. This can accelerate volume changes and increase strength of the ground. This paper shows the results of field test of the suction drain method applied at dredged and reclaimed clay. To evaluate the improvement effects of soft ground by the suction drain method, this paper analyzed real-time field measurements to the results of the laboratory tests and numerical analysis. The comparisons of the settlement and shear strength between suction drain method and surcharge preloading method show possibilities for replacement of the preloading methods. The settlements by suction drain method were 2.3 times larger and undrained shear strength were 300%~400% higher than surcharge method. Moreover, the water content is decreased about 30% and the preconsolidation pressure is increased about $0.52kgf/cm^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2014

Expansion of a roadway on a soft ground can cause settlement of the existing road during embankment construction due to the consolidation characteristics of the soft soil. Many problems related to construction and maintenance, such as deterioration of the surface, decreased safety, and decreased structural stability, could affect the existing road. This scenario is especially true if the roadway foundation is a deep thick soft ground. Therefore, engineers should carefully select a proper design based on the characteristics of the soil layer. In this study, the expansion of the second branch of the Namhae Expressway was selected as the target site because this expressway has been constructing on a soft soil layer approximately 50 m thick. The original design was reviewed, problems were discussed and alternative was proposed through value engineering job plan phases: investigation, speculation, evaluation, development and presentation. In addition, the proposed alternative was evaluated on cost, function and value improvement. Compared to the original design, the proposed alternative saved cost and improved the function and overall value.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.285-296
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• 1999

Preloading method is used to prevent the settling of a foundation and to increase the strength of ground by consolidation settlement in advance. But, the embankment used in preloading method brings large deformation and sliding failure in the soft ground. Recently, reinforcement method is often used in embankment in order to prevent sliding failure. But, until now, the research on the stability analysis considering both the rate of strength increase of clay by embankment load and increase of resistance force by the geosynthetics in the embankment body is not found. In this study, the stability analysis program(REAP) for embankment including these two points is developed. By this program(REAP), the stability analysis can be done about during the gradual increase of embankment and the stability counterplan can be established when the safety factor is lower than allowable safety factor of design. After calculating the position of sliding failure surface, the force of geosynthetics which is selected by either the effective tensile strength or tensile force caused by the displacement of soil mass in this position is applied to stability analysis. And the increase of resisting moment can be calculated by this force. Also, the construction period can be estimated and the time for the appropriate counterplan can be decided in order to maintain the stability of embankment. And then, safe and economical embankment design can be performed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.295-307
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• 2002

In the Nakdong River plain a very thick clayey soils are covered widely. Since the early 1990's, some huge reclamation projects have been performed for the development of industrial and residential complexes and so on. Despite a large number of soil investigations have been carried out for the projects, the geotechnical properties have never been elucidated well, so that the settlements of the ground due to the mischaracterized properties were greatly underestimated. Therefore, it has been needed to evaluate definitely the characteristics of the clayey soils, particularly for the compressibility characteristics to help understand the settlement behavior. For the compressibility characteristics of the Pusan clays, physical index and consolidation tests were conducted on the reconstituted and undisturbed samples. Using the result of physical index, the Pusan clays could be divided into two different units, which have different depositional environments. According to the concepts of Burland (1990) and Nagaraj et. al. (1990), the intrinsic state line and field compression curve of the Pusan clays could be established. It could be found from their concepts that the Pusan clays are under the cemented and young normally consolidated state and largely consisted of two units. The cementation of the clays was as well identified by compression index ratio (Tsuchida et. al.,1991) and sensitivity (Leroueil et. al.,1983).

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.181-191
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• 2001

Granular compaction piles increase the load bearing capacity of the soft ground and reduce the settlement of fecundation built on the reinforced soil. Also the granular compaction piles accelerate the consolidation of soft ground using the granular materials such as sand, gravel, stone etc. However, this method is one of unuseful methods in Korea. In the present study, the estimation procedure for the ultimate bearing capacity of randomly installed granular compaction pile group is proposed. Also, carbon rod tests have been peformed for verifying the group effect of granular compaction piles and the behavior characteristics such as bulging failure zone on granular compaction piles. From the test results, it is found that bulging failure shape of granular compaction piles was conical shape and the ultimate bearing capacity increased as the spacing of piles became gradually narrow. Also, from the proposed method in this study, the optimal locations of granular compaction piles with various installed cases are analyzed. The results were shown that the bearing capacity was increased in the case concentrated on the central part of pile group.