• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.69-78
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• 2022

Geotextile tubes are widely used to prevent erosion in coastal areas and to replace the backfill for shore slopes in the reclamation of land using dredged soil. In this study, The triaxial confining pressures were chosen as 10kPa, 50kPa, or 100kPa for the specimens reinforced with geotextile considering the condition in the site. The strain behavior under various compressive stresses was then identified. At strains 0% to 7%, the stress-strain behavior was the same due to the effect of initial strain hardening, in which the force was exerted according to the relaxation of the geotextile regardless of the confining pressure (≤100kPa). At strains of 7% or more, the specimen with the small confining pressure had smaller deformation under load, which increases the tensile resistance provided by the reinforcing geotextile. Brittle fracture was then observed due to strain softening and the deviator stress abruptly decreased. This is different from the phenomenon in which the shear strength increases as the confining pressure increases in general triaxial compression tests. In the geoxtile-confined tests, geotextiles are primarily subjected to tensile displacement. Thereafter, the modulus of elasticity increases rapidly, which exhibits the elastic behavior of the geotextile.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.191-205
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• 2020

Soil shear strength parameters play a remarkable role in designing geotechnical structures such as retaining wall and dam. This study puts an effort to propose two accurate and practical predictive models of soil shear strength parameters via hybrid artificial neural network (ANN)-based models namely genetic algorithm (GA)-ANN and particle swarm optimization (PSO)-ANN. To reach the aim of this study, a series of consolidated undrained Triaxial tests were conducted to survey inherent strength increase due to addition of polypropylene fibers to sandy soil. Fiber material with different lengths and percentages were considered to be mixed with sandy soil to evaluate cohesion (as one of shear strength parameter) values. The obtained results from laboratory tests showed that fiber percentage, fiber length, deviator stress and pore water pressure have a significant impact on cohesion values and due to that, these parameters were selected as model inputs. Many GA-ANN and PSO-ANN models were constructed based on the most effective parameters of these models. Based on the simulation results and the computed indices' values, it is observed that the developed GA-ANN model with training and testing coefficient of determination values of 0.957 and 0.950, respectively, performs better than the proposed PSO-ANN model giving coefficient of determination values of 0.938 and 0.943 for training and testing sets, respectively. Therefore, GA-ANN can provide a new applicable model to effectively predict cohesion of fiber-reinforced sandy soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.397-414
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• 2020

In this paper, practical predictive models for soil shear strength parameters are proposed. As cohesion and internal friction angle are of essential shear strength parameters in any geotechnical studies, we try to predict them via artificial neural network (ANN) and neuro-imperialism approaches. The proposed models was based on the result of a series of consolidated undrained triaxial tests were conducted on reinforced sandy soil. The experimental program surveys the increase in internal friction angle of sandy soil due to addition of polypropylene fibers with different lengths and percentages. According to the result of the experimental study, the most important parameters impact on internal friction angle i.e., fiber percentage, fiber length, deviator stress, and pore water pressure were selected as predictive model inputs. The inputs were used to construct several ANN and neuro-imperialism models and a series of statistical indices were calculated to evaluate the prediction accuracy of the developed models. Both simulation results and the values of computed indices confirm that the newly-proposed neuro-imperialism model performs noticeably better comparing to the proposed ANN model. While neuro-imperialism model has training and test error values of 0.068 and 0.094, respectively, ANN model give error values of 0.083 for training sets and 0.26 for testing sets. Therefore, the neuro-imperialism can provide a new applicable model to effectively predict the internal friction angle of fiber-reinforced sandy soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.427-437
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• 2019

Waste materials are being produced in huge quantities globally, and the usual practice is to dump them into legal or illegal landfills. Recycled tiles (RT) are being used in soil stabilisation which is considered as sustainable solution to reduce the amount of waste and solve the geotechnical problems. Although the stabilisation of soil using RT improved the soil properties, it could not achieve the standard values required for construction. Thus, this study uses 20% RT together with low cement content (2%) to stabilise soft soil. Series of consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests were conducted on untreated and RT-cement treated samples. Each test was performed at 7, 14, and 28 days curing period and 50, 100, and 200 kPa confining pressures. The results revealed an improvement in the undrained shear strength parameters (cohesion and internal frication angle) of treated specimens compared to the untreated ones. The cohesion and friction angle of the treated samples were increased with the increase in curing time and confining pressure. The peak deviator stress of treated samples increases with the increment of either the effective confining pressures or the curing period. Microstructural and chemical tests were performed on both untreated and RT-cement treated samples, which included field emission scanning electron microscopic (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). The results indicated the formation of cementation compounds such as calcium aluminium hydrate (C-A-H) within the treated samples. Consequently, the newly formed compounds were responsible for the improvement observed in the results of the triaxial tests. This research promotes the utilisation of RT to reduce the amount of cement used in soil stabilisation for cleaner planet and sustainable environment.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.395-403
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• 2023

The paper investigates the effect of two parameters - sand content (SC) and grain migration during shearing - on the mechanical properties of gravel-sand mixtures. Consolidated undrained (CU) triaxial tests were carried out on eight series of mixtures containing gravel (1<d<16 mm) and sand (0.1<d<1 mm). The prepared mixtures have sand contents of 0, 10, 15, 20, 40, 54, 94 and 100%, and a relative density of 60%. The transition sand content (TSC) is experimentally defined and marks the transition from gravel-driven to sand-driven behavior. For SC<TSC, the dry density of the mixture increases with SC. This induces an increase in undrained peak strength and dilative trend. The slope and position of the critical state line (CSL) are also deeply dependent on SC. At SC=TSC, the mixtures exhibit the largest dry density and yield the highest undrained peak strength and the largest dilative trend. During shearing, large internal migration of grains was observed at the TSC, causing heterogeneity in the sample. Analysis of the CSL deduced from the final points of the triaxial tests shows that, at the TSC, failure appears to correspond to the behavior of the coarsest fraction of the soil. This fraction is located in the upper part of the sample, where the sand particles had been eliminated by suffusion. On the other hand, in the more stable materials, the CSL is consistent with the bulk grain size distribution of the soil.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6A
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• pp.809-817
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• 2008

Recently, the external prestressing method is being much frequently used in strengthening reinforced concrete structures because of it's excellent load resistance and serviceability increases comparing to other strengthening methods. However, it is true that the research on fatigue performance of concrete structures strengthened by the external prestressing using FRP tendons is rare. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the external prestressing method by analyzing the characteristics of the reinforced concrete beam strengthening using FRP tendons under repeated loads. Test variables adopted in this experimental study are the types of external prestressing material (steel or FRP tendon) and the repeated load ranges. The repeated load range have the minimum 50% of yield load of reinforced concrete beam and the maximum 70-85%. The test beams are loaded by 4 point loadings with 3 Hz sine wave. From this experimental study, it is confirmed that the reinforced concrete beams strengthened using FRP tendons have sufficient safety against fatigue, especially in FRP tendon itself, tendon at deviators and tendon at anchorages.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 2020

In order to predict the nonlinear behaviour of the soil, the elasto-plastic hyperbolic model was selected, which was considered to be relatively simple and highly predictable. The soil parameter determination and the behavior analysis program were developed by formalizing the functions related to the constitutive model. Each soil parameter was determined from the results of the drained triaxial compression tests of Baekma river sand with the change of relative density. The stress-strain behavior was predicted using the soil parameters determined under each condition. As a result, the deviator stress for the axial strain is verified to have a good match between the measured value and predicted value at each relative density. In the relationship between the volumetric stain and the axial strain, when the relative density is loose, the measured value and predicted value tend to match, and when relative density is dense, the predicted value of the volumetric strain appears somewhat smaller than the measured value due to the limitation of the constitutive model.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.47-56
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• 2013

There are many technical problems, which can not be resolved by the concept of saturated soil mechanics. Unsaturated soils show an apparent cohesion due to negative pore pressure and relatively lower permeability due to entrapped air compared to saturated soils. The determination of engineering properties of soils with various moisture content is very important to evaluate shear strength and stability of natural and engineered soils. So various researches should be made on unsaturated soils. Especially, sandy soils are widely distributed near Nakdong river, one of the four rivers where Restoration Projects were carried out. Many structures such as dams, flood control facilities, detention facilities and reservoirs have been built in this area. In this study, unsaturated triaxial compressive tests were conducted on sands or silty sands at Nakdong river in order to provide their fundamental characteristics for design and construction of geotechnical structures. As a result of the tests, the maximum deviator stress increased as the confining stress and matric suction increased. The cohesion increased non-linearly as the matric suction increased, but the angle of internal friction was marginally changed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.5-14
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• 2010

In this study, cyclic triaxial tests were performed under anisotropically consolidated condition by using irregular earthquake loading to consider in-situ condition and seismic wave. Jumunjin sand with a relative density 50 percent was used in the tests. The consolidation pressure ratio (K) was changed from 0.5 to 1.0. The Ofunato and Hachinohe wave were applied as irregular earthquake loadings and liquefaction resistance strengths of each specimen were estimated from the excess pore water pressure (EPWP) ratio. As a results of the cyclic triaxial tests, EPWP ratio increased with increased K value. It shows that isotropically consolidated sand is more susceptible to liquefaction than anisotropically consolidated sand under equal confining pressure and dynamic loadings. From the test results, the relationship between K and EPWP ratio normalized by effective confining pressure and deviator stress was proposed. And a new factor which corrects the liquefaction resistance strength for the in-situ stress condition is proposed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.515-527
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• 2014

This study conducted experiment for understanding engineering characteristics of domestic sands by examining standard sand and sand from Yokji Island and Nakdong River in terms of confining pressure, $K_0$, over consolidation and relative density factors through triaxial compression test. The test showed that deviator stress by strain positively changed as confining pressure and relative density grow while $K_0$ and over consolidation factors do not directly correlated with it. Angle of internal friction decreases as confining pressure increases which strengthens contact force between particles, and declines as relative density drops, whereas $K_0$ and over consolidation factors hardly affect the results. When it comes to volumetric strain, volume expansion decreases as confining pressure increase due to crushability and rearrangement of particles while $K_0$ and over consolidation shows same movement unconditionally, and relative density appears compressed as it grows at the beginning however it expands as axial strain increases. Modulus of elasticity ($E_{sec}$) by strain has tendency into convergence resulting in initial secant modulus of elasticity ($E_{ini}$) > secant modulus of elasticity($E_{sec}$) > tangent modulus of elasticity ($E_{tan}$). On the other hand, it grows as confining pressure and relative density increase while indicating similar modulus of elasticity ($E_{sec}$) regarding on $K_0$ and over consolidation. Slope of critical line (M) tended to decrease as confining pressure increases, follow same line according to $K_0$, confining pressure and relative density, and increase as relative density grows.