• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.17-28
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• 2010

Vertical drains are commonly used to accelerate the consolidation process of soft soils, such as dredged materials, because they additionally provide a radial drainage path in a deep soil deposit. In practice, vertical drains are commonly installed in the process of self-weight consolidation of a dredged soil deposit. The absence of an appropriate analysis tool for this situation makes it substantially difficult to estimate self-weight consolidation behavior considering both vertical and radial drainage. In this paper, a new method has been proposed to take into account both vertical and radial drainage conditions during nonlinear finite strain self-weight consolidation of dredged soil deposits. For 1-D nonlinear finite strain consolidation in the vertical direction, the Morris (2002) theory and the PSDDF analysis are adopted, respectively. On the other hand, to consider the radial drainage, Barron's vertical drain theory (1948) is used. The overall average degree of self-weight consolidation of the dredged soil is estimated using the Carillo formula (1942), in which both vertical and radial drainage are assembled together. A series of large-scale self-weight consolidation experiments being equipped with a vertical drain have been carried out to verify the analysis method proposed in this paper. The results of the new analysis method were generally in agreement with those of the experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.15-25
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• 2010

The thin-layered sand seam in clay affects the soil behavior. Although the standard cone penetrometer (A: $10cm^2$) have been used to evaluate the thin-layered soil, the smaller diameter cone penetrometer have been commonly recommended because of the high resolution. The purpose of this study is the development and application of the Cone Resistivity Penetrometer (CRP), which detects qc, fs, and electrical resistivity at cone tip for the evaluation of thin layered soils. Two sizes of the CRP are developed for the laboratory and field test. The projected areas of CRP for the laboratory and field tests are $0.78cm^2$ (d: 1.0 cm) and $1.76cm^2$ (d: 1.5 cm), repectively. The length of friction sleeve is designed in consideration of ratio of the projected area to the friction sleeve area. The application tests are carried out by using the artificially prepared thin-layered soils in the laboratory. In addition, the field tests are conducted at the depth of 6 to 15 m in Kwangyang. In the laboratory test, the measured electrical resistivity and cone tip resistance detect the soil layers. Moreover, in the field test the CRP investigates the three thin-layered soils. This study suggests that the CRP may be a useful tool for detecting thin-layered in soft soils.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.13-23
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• 2010

In this study, centrifuge model tests with 50 g gravitational condition were performed to evaluate the bearing capacity of very soft ground, improved by spreading geotextile and sand on the surface of ground, for the heavy machinery to be able to access. For undrained shear strength of ground model, prepared with the clay sampled from the field, being in the range of 3.1~11.7 kPa, bearing capacity tests were performed with the model footing and the loading system built to simulate the heavy machinery on the ground model treated with geotextile and sand. Test results were compared with theoretically and numerically evaluated ones. Test results about load-settlement curves showed that the bearing capacity increases with the increase of the undrained shear strength of ground. Punching shear or local shear failure was also observed. For a relatively low undrained shear strength of ground, settlement behavior is found to be crucial to evaluating the trafficability of machinery whereas bearing capacity becomes a dominant factor with the increase of undrained shear strength of ground. The method for assessing the bearing capacity of the ground related to trafficability of machinery is presented by acquiring the regression relationship between the contact pressure of machinery and settlements using load-settlement curves with the change of the undrained shear strength. Furthermore, results of numerical analyses about load-settlement relation are in relatively good agreement with those of centrifuge model test.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.27-37
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• 2010

Downdrag force develops when a pile is driven through a soil layer which will settle more than a pile. There is no obvious criterion for application of the current pile design method considering the negative skin friction. Therefore, in this study, numerical analyses were performed to investigate the behavior of a single pile subjected to negative skin friction and their results were used to determine the applicability of the current design method. Including three different sites in Song-do area and two different cases with friction pile and end bearing pile conditions, total six cases were considered. The load-settlement relationships and the neutral points were estimated for different end bearing conditions and the allowable bearing capacity of piles with negative skin friction was investigated through parametric studies. Based on the results showed that the negative skin friction made a major influence on the settlement of a pile and its stress. However the allowable bearing capacity may not be influenced by the negative skin friction. Compared with the allowable bearing capacity obtained from the ultimate bearing capacity with the safety factor of 3, the current design method with the safety factor of 3 underestimated the allowable bearing capacities regardless of the end bearing conditions. On the other hand, the current design method with the safety factor of 2 yielded reasonable results depending on the end bearing conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.111-118
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• 2008

In the study a 2 dimensional model test was executed to grasp the effect of the taking load of equipments on the ground when improving a soft ground like dredging reclaimed ground. The static load and the dynamic load in the consolidated model ground was $0.02kg/cm^2,\;0.03kg/cm^2\;and\;0.04kg/cm^2$ respectively. After consolidating far two months by consolidation load of $0.02kg/cm^2,\;0.03kg/cm^2\;and\;0.04kg/cm^2$ respectively, the ultimate bearing capacity was $0.16kg/cm^2,\;0.19kg/cm^2,\;0.24kg/cm^2$ respectively. And the energy price of dynamic load test at the same point as the settlement of static load test indicated $E=336{\sim}945kg{\cdot}cm,\;E=252{\sim}780kg{\cdot}cm\;and\;E=323{\sim}727kg{\cdot}cm$ for each consolidation load. When the static load and the dynamic load operated at the same ground condition, the heaving quantity was bigger in the case of the dynamic load than in the case of the static load, and the horizontal displacement quantity the in the case of dynamic load was exhibited very deficiently compared to the quantity in the case of static load test.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.25-32
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• 2007

Because of the increasing use of clayey soil as the backfill in reinfurced soil structures and embankments, nonwoven geotextiles of drain capability have been receiving much attention. However, there are few studies on the deformation behavior analysis of nonwoven geotextiles in reinforced soil structures in the site because nonwoven geotextiles which have low tensile stiffness and higher deformability than geogrids and woven geotextiles, are difficult to measure their deformation by using strain gauges. In this study, it was suggested that a new and more convenient method could measure the deformation behaviour of nonwoven geotextile using a strain gauge and examine the availability of the method by conducting laboratory tests and applying to two geosynthetics reinforced soil (GRS) walls in the site. The result of wide-width tensile test conducted under confining pressure of 70 kPa shows that the local deformation of nonwoven geotextile to be measured with strain gauges has a similar pattern to the total deformation measured with LVDT. In the GRS walls, nonwoven geotextile shows a larger deformation range than the woven geotextile and geogrid. However, the deformation patterns of these three reinforcement materials are similar. The function of strain gauges attached to nonwoven geotextile in the walls works normally for 16 months. Therefore, the method proposed in this study for measuring nonwoven geotextile deformation using a strain gauge has proved useful.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.103-114
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• 2007

Sands distributed in Jeju island's coastal areas, Korea, can be classified as silicate sand derived from volcanic rock, carbonate sand derived from shells, and mixed sands containing both silicate and carbonate sands. These three types of sands typically exist in Jeju coastal areas. Samples of silicate, carbonate and mixed sands were obtained from Samyang beach, Gimnyeong beach, and Jeju harbor area, respectively. Compression tests were conducted to assess the compression characteristics of these sands. As a result of these tests, each sand showed different behaviors. For Samyang beach sand, it appeared that initial compression is a larger than the other two sands. For Cimnyeong and Jeju harbor sands, however, the additional compression occurred after initial compression. This could result from the crushing, shattering, and rearrangement of sand particles. In addition, settlement behavior of Jeju harbor ground according to the construction stages was analyzed using the measured data. It showed that in addition to the initial elastic compression, a considerable additional compression occurred with time. The settlements of Jeju harbor ground were predicted by using the elastic settlement calculation methods (empirical methods) and the compression test method. The empirical methods, which did not consider the crushing, shattering, and rearrangement of particles could show smaller result than that occurring actually.

• 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.24 no.8
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• pp.25-34
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• 2008

A new hybrid oedometer cell is designed and manufactured to investigate a behavior of soft soils by using elastic and electromagnetic waves during consolidation test. Bender elements, which generate and detect shear waves, are placed in the top cap and the bottom plate and mounted on the oedometer wall. Double wedge type electrical resistance probe, which measures local void ratio change, is positioned onto the top cap of the oedometer cell. The bender elements and the electrical resistance probe are anchored into a nylon set screw with epoxy resin. The nylon set screw with epoxy resin minimizes directly transmited elastic waves through the oedometer cell due to impedence mismatch and allows for easy replacement of defected bender elements and electrical resistance probe. Primary consolidation time can be estimated from the slope of electrical resistance versus log time curve and the evolution of shear wave velocity. The shear wave velocity can be used to assess inherent anisotropy when disturbance effects are minimized because particle alignment affects the shear wave velocity. The void ratios evaluated by the electrical resistance probe are similar to those by the settlement during consolidation. This study suggests that the shear wave velocity and the electrical resistance can provide complementary imformations to understand consolidation characteristics such as primary consolidation, anisotropy, and void ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.61-73
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• 2008

Piles of a bridge pier are connected with the column through the pile cap (footing). Behavior of the pile foundation can be different according to the connection method between piles and the pile cap. Connection methods between pile heads and the pile cap are divided into two groups : rigid connections and hinge connections. Domestic design code has been specified to use rigid connection method for the highway bridge. In the rigid connection method, maximum bending moment of a pile occurs at the pile head and this helps the pile to prevent the excessive displacement. Rigid methods are also good to improve the seismic performance. However, some specifications prescribe that conservative results through investigations of both the fixed-head condition and the free-head condition should be reflected in the design. This statement may induce an over-estimated design for the bridge which has high-quality structures with casing covered drilled shafts and the PC-house contained pile cap. Because the assumption of free-head conditions (hinge connections) is unreal for the elevated pile cap system with multiple piles of the long span sea-crossing bridges. On the other hand, elastic displacement method to evaluate the pile reactions under the pile cap is not suitable for this type of bridges due to impractical assumptions. So, full modeling techniques which analyze the superstructure and the substructure simultaneously should be performed. Loads and stress state of the large diameter drilled shaft and the pile cap for Incheon Bridge which will be the longest bridge of Korea were investigated through the full modeling for rigid connection conditions.