• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.947-961
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• 2017

An innovative spiral variable-section capillary model is established for piping critical hydraulic gradient of cohesion-less soils causing water/mud inrush in tunnels. The relationship between the actual winding seepage channel and grain-size distribution, porosity, and permeability is established in the model. Soils are classified into coarse particles and fine particles according to the grain-size distribution. The piping critical hydraulic gradient is obtained by analyzing starting modes of fine particles and solving corresponding moment equilibrium equations. Gravities, drag forces, uplift forces and frictions are analyzed in moment equilibrium equations. The influence of drag force and uplift force on incipient motion is generally expounded based on the mechanical analysis. Two cases are studied with the innovative capillary model. The critical hydraulic gradient of each kind of sandy gravels with a bimodal grain-size-distribution is obtained in case one, and results have a good agreement with previous experimental observations. The relationships between the content of fine particles and the critical hydraulic gradient of seepage failure are analyzed in case two, and the changing tendency of the critical hydraulic gradient is accordant with results of experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2008

In case of judging the stability of dike or dam structures which need hydraulic interception, the first thing to do is to examine whether a piping phenomenon occurred or not. Generally, dike or dam structures are constructed while layer compacting is executed, so permeability is likely to be anisotropic- different from each other in hydraulic conductivity in the horizontal direction [$k_x$] and hydraulic conductivity in the vertical direction[$k_y$]. This study looked into exit hydraulic gradient and Seepage velocity by conducting an Seepage analysis subsequent to various hydraulic conductivity ratios[k-ratio = ky / kx] and examined the influence on piping by comparing & examining critical Seepage Velocity based on critical hydraulic gradient in theoretical equation and critical Seepage Velocity in empirical equation. As the research result, it was found that hydraulic conductivity ratio operates as a very important factor in case the stability against piping occurrence is considered with the concept of critical hydraulic gradient, but relatively the hydraulic conductivity ratio is very low in its importance in relation to the concept of critical Seepage Velocity.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.3833-3839
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• 1975

The object of this experiment is to find out some flow characteristics of water through sand layer, to prevent moving sands in the filters of the fill Dam, infiltration gallery, well and Deversion Weir. This experiment was accomplished with different particle Sizes of Six Samples and different hydraulic gradient. The results obtained are Summarized as follows. 1. The critical hydraulic gradients for laminar flow was found to be between 1 and 2 when the sand used had the effective diameter, D10 of between 0.18cm and 0.45cm. 2. The critical hydraulic gradients for different particle sizes of sands were varied considerably. 3. There was a negative correlation between critical hydraulic gradient and critical Velocity, and between effective particle diameter D10 and critical hydraulic gradient respectively. 4. In spite of relatively small variation of void ratio of sands used, the values of the coefficient of permeability varied considerably. There was a negative correlation between coefficient of permeability and void ratio.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09a
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• pp.687-697
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• 2010

This study was designed to carry out studies on critical seepage velocity and critical hydraulic gradient using a piping test targeting SM and ML which are widely distributed ahead of and behind the depth of E.L(-)10m in Saemangeum area in order to examine stability of embankment built on the ground vulnerable to piping. The effects of relative densities on critical hydraulic gradient and critical velocity were also compared and analyzed using empirical formula and theoretical formula, and relative densities were set up as respectively 9%, 25%, 50%, and 75% for this experiment. As a result, for critical hydraulic gradient, most of specimens detected piping at lower values than the empirical formula of Terzaghi(1922). It is, therefore, considered that the empirical formula devised by Kalin(1977) or Hayashi(1978) is more reasonable to be conservative. It was also found that critical velocity decreased as relative density increased, and critical velocity predicted was mostly lower than the theoretical formula.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.414-418
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• 1998

This study was carried out to analyze permeability of steel slag. Three molds with the same grading of raw steel slag were used to measure the coefficient of permeability. Darcy's law could be applied to the steel slag below 0.5 of critical hydraulic gradient because the water flow changed from laminar flow to turbulent flow above the critical hydraulic gradient. Also, the velocity of flow changed according to hydraulic gradient. The coefficient of permeability of the specimen was $\alpha$$\times$10$^{-3}$ cm/ sec.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.175-181
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• 2003

In this reseach, a seepage test is carried out for three kinds of soil using a upward seepage equipment. Reliability about the existing method of pipining investigation were verified making an estimate of the critical velocity, the critical hydraulic gradient, and hydraulic conductivity and so on. Also, sensitive analyses were carried out using Plaxis that is FEM Program about design factors of scour. The height of core had a big infulence on the hydraulic gradient of the embankment's lower part in the result of sensitive anaylsis. Also, second only to the height of core, and the slope of embankment, the width of crest had influence on scour. However, the change of hydraulic gradient in the effluent gateway had a little influence on the crest width of core. Using these results of sensitive analysis on designing, hydraulic gradient in the effluence gateway turned out to be reducing by altering design factors that change of sensitiveness is big, in case of the hydraulic gradient bigger than the standard hydraulic gradient.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.119-129
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• 2020

Through 3D seepage analysis of pressure relief well installed on the embankment of agricultural reservoir, the effects of reducing pore water pressure and hydraulic gradient, and increasing piping safety, depending on diameter (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 m) and space (10, 25, 50 m) of relief well, were analyzed. The conclusions drawn through this study are as follows. i) At the location of pressure relief well, pore water pressure decreases by 25.3~62.5%, and hydraulic gradient decreases by 22.4~55.7%. ii) Between relief wells, pore water pressure decreases by 2.7~40.3%, and hydraulic gradient decreases by 2.8~47.0%, which are relatively less than at the cross section of installed location of relief well. iii) Piping safety factor by critical hydraulic gradient increases by 28.9~125.6% at the location of relief well and increases by 2.9~88.8% between relief wells. iv) Seepage analysis needs to be performed by the 3D method to make evaluation of seepage at the location of relief well and between relief wells possible. v) Additional evaluation is required for various conditions such as waterhead, engineering characteristics of embankment body and its foundation, location, diameter, spacing and depth of pressure relief well.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2018

This study analyzed pore water pressure, seepage and leakage quantity, height of seepage and critical hydraulic gradient in order to suggest the seepage characteristics of agricultural reservoir embankment considering filter interval. The seepage characteristics of a deteriorated reservoir embankments were conducted according to the horizontal filter intervals range using three- dimensional finite element analysis. The wider the horizontal filter interval, the higher the pore water pressure increased, and the pore water pressure ratio in the center of the core has a greater effect than the base part. The seepage and leakage quantity appeared largely in the two-dimensional analysis conditions (case 1), where the filter was constructed totally in the longitudinal direction of the embankment, the wider the horizontal filter interval was gradually reduced. The reasonable filter intervals to yield efficient seepage characteristics were within 30 m for the pore water pressure of the core and the height of the seepage line. The stability of the filter installation was able to evaluate the stability of the piping by the critical hydraulic gradient method. The deteriorated reservoir with no filters or decreased functionality can significantly reduce the possibility of piping by simply installing a filter on the downstream slope. In the future, the deteriorated reservoir embankment should be checked for the reservoir remodeling because the core and filter functions have been lost or decreased significantly. In the case of a new installation, the seepage characteristic behavior due to the core and filter changes should be applied to the field after obtaining a reasonable horizontal filter interval that satisfies the safety factor by a three-dimensional analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.5-17
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• 2021

In this paper, three-dimensional analysis of the curved levee was performed according to curvature angle, and radius of curvature to investigate the property of seepage. The hydraulic gradients in the curved parts of levees decreased in the outer levee and increased in the inner levee, compared to the two-dimensional analysis. The smaller the curvature angle and the radius of curvature, the larger the change of the hydraulic gradient, compared to the two-dimensional analysis. The effect of curvature radius on the hydraulic gradient was greater than the curvature angle. As a result of evaluating the piping safety factor for the critical hydraulic gradient, the safety factor was increased by 2~5% in the outer levee and decreased by 4~12% in the inner levee, compared to the two-dimensional analysis. Considering this reduction, if the two-dimensional analysis is performed on the curved part of the levee, and if designed the safety factor for piping is 0.1~0.3 greater than allowable FS=2.0, the safety factor of the curved part is slightly reduced, but there is no difficulty in securing stability.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.19-30
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• 2020

This numerical study is to investigate the seepage characteristics of the side of the structure in the event of leakage from the structural connection part of the drainage structure installed through the enlarged levee, and to analyze the effect of piping on the stabilization of the levee by the lateral penetration behavior. To take into account lateral seepage behavior, 2D and 3D numerical analyses were performed on the same model, and the effect of lateral seepage was analyzed to assess the validity of the numerical analysis. As a result, when leakage occurs and a lateral seepage is considered with the gate located on the riverside land, the maximum pore water pressure near the leakage point of the structure has been reduced by half compared to the normal seepage state where no leakage occurred. Excessive variation in the pore pressure was shown at the lower part of the structure, especially if lateral seepage is not considered. As a water level rises to the high water level, it shows the hydraulic gradient was larger than the critical hydraulic gradient, which will be vulnerable to long-term piping. If a gate is located in the inland and side seepage is not considered, the effect of the seepage water such as hydraulic gradient and seepage velocity is underestimated compared with the case of considering side seepage. The maximum hydraulic gradient is relatively small when lateral seepage is neglected if a gate is located in the riverside land and there was might be a risk of piping or loss of material. In addition, the period exceeding the critical hydraulic gradient was interpreted as a short time zone. As a result, it is considered that the possibility of piping can be underestimated if side seepage is ignored.