• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.17-25
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• 2011

A fabric of soil media may change due to certain factors such as dissolution of soluble particles, desiccation, and cementation. The fabric changes affect the mechanical behavior of soils. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of geo-material dissolution on shear strength. Experiments and numerical simulations are carried out by using a conventional direct shear and the discrete element method. The dissolution specimens are prepared with different volumetric salt fraction in sand soils. The dissolution of the specimens is implemented by saturating the salt-sand mixtures at different confining stresses in the experimental study or reducing the sizes of soluble particles in the numerical simulations. Experimental results show that the angle of shearing resistance decreases with the increase in the soluble particle content and the shearing behavior changes from dilative to contractive behavior. The numerical simulations exhibit that macro-behavior matches well with the experimental results. From the microscopic point of view, the particle dissolution produces a new fabric with the increase of local void, the reduction of contact number, the increase of shear contact forces, and the anisotropy of contact force chains compared with the initial fabric. The shearing behavior of the mixture after the particle dissolution is attributed to the above micro-behavior changes. This study demonstrates that the reduction of shearing resistance of geo-material dissolution should be considered during the design and construction of the foundation and earth-structures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2024

PHC piles demonstrate superior resistance to compression and bending moments, and their factory-based production enhances quality assurance and management processes. Despite these advantages that have resulted in widespread use in civil engineering and construction projects, the design process frequently relies on empirical formulas or N-values to estimate the soil-pile friction, which is crucial for bearing capacity, and this reliance underscores a significant lack of experimental validation. In addition, environmental factors, e.g., the pH levels in groundwater and the effects of seawater, are commonly not considered. Thus, this study investigates the influence of vibrating machine foundations on PHC pile models in consideration of the effects of varying pH conditions. Concrete model piles were subjected to a one-month conditioning period in different pH environments (acidic, neutral, and alkaline) and under the influence of seawater. Subsequent repeated direct shear tests were performed on the pile-soil interface, and the disturbed state concept was employed to derive parameters that effectively quantify the dynamic behavior of this interface. The results revealed a descending order of shear stress in neutral, acidic, and alkaline conditions, with the pH-influenced samples exhibiting a more pronounced reduction in shear stress than those affected by seawater.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.13-23
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• 2011

Bearing capacity of pile foundations in cold region is dominated by adfreeze bond strength between surrounding soil and pile perimeter. It denotes that adfreeze bond strength is the most important design parameter for foundations in cold region. Adfreeze bond strength is affected by various factors like 'soil type', 'frozen temperature', 'normal stress acting on soil/pile interface', 'loading rate', 'roughness of pile surface', etc. Several methods have already been proposed to estimate adfreeze bond strength during past 50 years. However, most methods have not considered the effect of normal stress for adfreeze bond strength. In this study, both freezing temperature and normal stress have been controlled as primary factors affecting adfreeze bond strength. A direct shear box was used to measure adfreeze bond strength between sand and aluminum under different temperature conditions. Based on the test results, the relation between shear strength of frozen sand and adfreeze bond strength have been investigated. The test results showed that both of shear strength and adfreeze bond strength tend to increase with decreasing frozen temperature or increasing confining pressure. The ratio of shear strength and adfreeze bond strength, expressed as $r_s$, decreased initially frozen section but increased at much lower frozen temperature and there were uniform intervals under the different normal stress conditions. A method for predicting adfreeze bond strength using $r_s$ has finally been proposed in this study.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.65-76
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• 2007

Recently, there have been many construction projects on soft ground with growth of industry and various construction problems concerning soft soil behavior also have been reported. Especially, foundation piles of abutments and (or) buildings which were constructed on the soft ground have been suffering from a lot of stability problems of inordinary displacement due to lateral flow of soft ground. Although many researches for this phenomena have been carried out, it is still difficult to assess the mechanism of lateral flow on soft ground quantitatively. And reliable design method for judgement of lateral flow occurrence is not established yet. In this study, PNN (probabilistic neural network) and CNN (committee neural network) theories were applied for judgment of lateral flow occurrence based on eat data compiled from Korea and Japan. Predictions of PNN and CNN models for new data which were not used during model development are compared with those predicted by conventional empirical methods. It was found that the developed PNN and CNN models can predict more precise and reliable judgment of lateral flow occurrence than conventional empirical methods.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-63
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• 2014

Bearing capacity factor $N_{\gamma}$ and shape factor were studied for rigid strip and circular footings with a rough base on sand by numerical modelling considering the effect of dilation angle. The numerical model was developed with an explicit finite difference code. Loading procedures and interpretation methods were devised in order to shorten the running time while eliminating the exaggeration of the reaction caused by the explicit scheme. Using the Mohr-Coulomb plasticity model with associated (${\psi}={\phi}$) and nonassociated (${\psi}$ < ${\phi}$) flow-rules, the bearing capacity factor $N_{\gamma}$ was evaluated for various combinations of internal friction angles and dilation angles. Bearing capacity factor decreased as the dilation angle was reduced from the associated condition. An equation applicable to typical sands was proposed to evaluate the relative bearing capacity for the nonassociated condition compared to the associated condition on which most bearing capacity factor equations are based. The shape factor for the circular footing varied substantially when the plane-strain effect was taken into account for the strip footing. The numerical results of this study showed closer trends with the previous experimental results when the internal friction angle was increased for the strip footing. Discussions are made on the reason that previous equations for the shape factor give different results and recommendations are made for the appropriate design shape factor.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.97-110
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• 2019

Piles that support offshore wind turbine structures are dominantly subjected to cyclic lateral loads of wind, waves, and tidal forces. For a successful design, it is imperative to investigate the behavior of the cyclic laterally loaded piles; the p-y curve method, in which the pile and soil are characterized as an elastic beam and nonlinear springs, respectively, has been typically utilized. In this study, model pile tests were performed in a 1 g gravitational field so as to investigate the p-y behaviors of cyclic laterally loaded piles installed in saturated dense silty sand. Test results showed that cyclic lateral loads gradually reduced the overall stiffness of the p-y curves (initial stiffness and ultimate soil reaction). This is because the cyclic lateral loads disturbed the surrounding soil, which led to the decrement of the soil resistance. The decrement effects of the overall stiffness of the p-y curves became more apparent as the magnitude of cyclic lateral load increased and approached the soil surface. From the test results, the cyclic p-y curve was developed using a p-y backbone curve method. Pseudo-static analysis was also performed with the developed cyclic p-y curve, confirming that it was able to properly predict the behaviors of cyclic laterally loaded pile installed in saturated dense silty sand.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2006

In general typically granular soils contain a certain amount of fines. It is also widely recognized that foundation soils under working loads show highly non-linear behavior from very early stages of loading. In the present study, a series of laboratory tests with sands of different silt contents are conducted and methods to assess strength and stiffiness characteristics are proposed. Modified hyperbolic stress-strain model is used to analyze non-linearity of silty sands in terms of non-linear Degradation parameters f and g as a function of silt contents and Relative density Dr. Stress-strain curves were obtained from a series of triaxial tests on sands containing different amounts of silt. Initial shear modulus, which is used to normalize Degradation modulus of silty sands, was determined from resonant column test results. From the laboratory test results, it was observed that, as the Relative density increases, values of f decrease and those of g increase. In addition, it was found that values of f and g increase and decrease respectively as a Skeleton void ratio $(e_{sk})$ increases.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.127-148
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• 1996

Recently, foundations of heavy structures such as bridge abutments have been built on slopes or near the crest of slopes at an increasing rate. Because the bearing capacity of such foundations is considerably lower than the bearing capacity of the same soil on a level ground, deep footings such as piles and caissons are often used. However, the costs of such methods are generally very high. One of the new techniques to overcome the problem is to place reinforcing members such as geosynthetics or metal strips horizontally at some depths beneath the footings. Rational methods of analysis to predict the bearing capacity of footings in reinforced slopes are therefore needed. This paper proposes an analytical method for estimating the increase in bearing capacity gained from the included horizontal strips or ties of tensile reinforcing in the foundation soil below the footing built near the crest of a slope. A failure mechanism, including the concept of'wide slab effect', adopted in the present study for analyzing the bearing capacity of foundations in reinforced slopes, is established through the observed model test behaviors described by Binquet SE Lee and Huang et al, and the Boussinesq solutions. The analytical results are then compared with the experimental data described in the paper by Huang et al. Also in order to properly evaluate the soil reinforcement interaction, typical pullout test values of the apparent friction coefficient, which usually vary with depths owing to both the increase of the shearing volume and the increase in local stress caused by soil dilatancy, are analyzed and related functionally. Furthermore, analytical parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effect and significance of various pertinent parameters associated with design of reinforced slope foundations. Keywords : Bearing capacity, Reinforced slope, Slab effect, Friction coefficient.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.41-49
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• 2003

If MSW(Municipal Solid Waste) landfill is used as a foundation ground of construction site, the change of loading condition may cause a large amount of compression in MSW landfill. Therefore, the reinforcement for the loose compression nature of MSW landfill would be very important design factor to geotechnical engineers in considering the end-use of the landfill. In this study, a possible technique for stabilizing MSW landfill with use of codisposal of municipal solid waste and Fly Ash is discussed. In order to estimate the stabilization of compression characteristic of codisposed landfill, large compression test and lysimeter test were performed. According to the test results, as the proportion of Fly Ash increases, the compression might be reduced, but the permeability might be also reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the both characteristics changes in real application.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.93-102
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• 2015

The characteristics of frozen soils are one of most important factors for foundation design in cold region. The objective of this study is to evaluate the shear strength and stiffness of frozen soils according to the confining conditions during the freezing and shearing phase. A direct shear box is constructed for the frozen specimens and bender elements are mounted on the wall of the shear box to measure shear wave velocities. Specimens are prepared by mixing sand and silt with a silt fraction of 30% in weight and the degree of saturation of 10%, giving a relative density of 60% for all tests. The temperature of the specimens in the freezer is allowed to fall below -5℃, and then direct shear tests are performed. A series of vertical stresses are applied during the freezing and shearing phase. Shear stress, vertical displacement, and shear wave along the horizontal displacement are measured. Experimental results show that in all the tests, shear strength increases with increasing vertical stress applied during the freezing and shearing phases. The magnitude of the increase in shear strength with increasing vertical stress during shearing under fixed vertical stress in the frozen state is smaller than the magnitude of the increase in vertical stress during freezing and shearing. In addition, the change in shear wave velocities varies with the position of the bender elements. In the case of shear waves passing through the shear plane, the shear wave velocities decrease with increasing horizontal displacement. This study provides an evaluation of the properties of shear strength and stiffness of frozen soils under varied confining condition.