• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.9-18
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• 2021

In this study, the overconsolidation ratio (OCR) of soft clay soil was calculated by conducting an indoor physical experiment and a dynamics test using undisturbed soil samples from a soft clay soil field in South Korea. The OCR by depth was predicted by comparing the experimental results with the existing empirical equations. Methods using the liquidity index and the existing empirical equation by the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) were examined, and the results were compared with the actual measured values. The method using the liquidity index was found to be suitable for estimating the rough OCR of the ground. However, the effect of drying was not considered for the ground above the groundwater level. Therefore, an equation for the correlation equation between the depth and OCR of each region, including the ground above the groundwater level, was proposed. The proposed equation was applied to the OCR prediction of the adjacent area. The predicted values in the area composed of clay (CL, CH) were found to be in good agreement with the actual values. In the region composed of silt (ML), however, the predicted values were not consistent with the actual values. This suggests that the sedimentation and compositional characteristics, rather than the engineering characteristics of the soil, are important factors that affect the OCR prediction.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2024

Slags from steel-making industry have been recycled at a target rate of 95% and most of them are recycled as media-contact type such as fill and cover materials in Korea. However, as they contain free phase CaO during their generation, they may not only expand and collapse upon contact with water, but high pH leachate and heavy metals leaching may occur. In this study, the Korean leaching procedure (KLP) and up-flow percolation test were performed for the samples collected from 17 steel-making production plants in Korea. The waste quality criteria were met in all tests, but pH of the samples was above 10. There are no regulations on the pH of leachate in most of the countries, however, Germany, Italy, and Australia have set a pH range of 10 to 13 for the leachates. Although slag leachate cannot be considered hazardous based only on its high pH, it is necessary to reduce the pH of leachate to minimize the impact on the surrounding environment. Furthermore, conflicting regulations on wastes handling and management in Korea created confusion on the types of wastes subject to recycling. Therefore, an appropriate management plan for steel-making slags needs to be established. To this end, this study attempted to provide a guideline for managing steel-making slag waste by considering international guidelines and current management practices in Korea.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.72-83
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• 2024

Most of the slags generated from steel-making industry in Korea are recycled into media-contact aggregates such as fill and cover materials. For their use as media-contact aggregates, the slags must meet not only the waste quality criteria, but also the Daphnia magna acute toxicity test criteria. In this study, Korean Leaching Test ES 06150.e (Korea), Japanese Leaching Test JIS K 0058-1(Japan), Detuch Leaching Test DIN 19529 (Germany), Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (USA) were conducted for batch leaching test of slags from 6 Korean steel-making companies. In addition, Korean Standard up-flow percolation test (ES 06151.1) mimicking field conditions was conducted to assess the impact of the slag leachate on the surrounding environment indirectly. Heavy metals such as Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ were detected from both extractant and leachate samples, but all of them did not exceed waste quality criteria of each country. However, Daphnia magna acute toxicity tests using the leachate samples from up-flow percolation test with slag alone and slag/natural soil conditions exceeded ecotoxicity standard (TU=2) due to their high pH (11.3-12.5). After neutralizing the pH of the slag leachate to 6.5~8.5, the Daphnia magna mortality and immobilization were reduced to satisfy ecotoxicity standard. As the reducing pH of slag leachate would be extremely difficult, appropriate recycling management considering the physicochemical characteristics of he slags should be stuided further.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.03a
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• pp.521-528
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• 1999

As the size of our industry and population inclose, the byproducts such as municipal solid wastes, industrial wastes are in the increasing phase. The treatment of such things is rising as a social problem. Today, the final disposal of these wastes depends mostly on the landfill, and the sanitary landfill is required and designed for preventing soil and groundwater contamination. Clays have been used for a liner material of a sanitary landfill, however, the high quality clay is hard to come by and quite expensive as a lining material in our country. Using the waste lime produced abundantly every year from chemical processes was studied here, made from the proper mixing of the bentonite and the waste lime meets the regulations from the USEPA. The soil property index tests (sieve analysis, specific gravity test Atterberg limit test) were performed, and at last to confirm the sorption characteristics of the bentonite and the waste lime the sorption isotherm equilibrium test and the sorption isotherm were performed with Toluene and Ethylbenzene which are the main components of the leachate from the landfill.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.909-910
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• 2007

The volatile organic compounds exposure is governed by the source distance and dispersion of the pollutant into air and groundwater. The purpose of this study was to validate suggested models for the prediction of concentration distributions. The study design was organized into different methods to simulate industry site. The distribution models generally showed a fair agreement with measured data. For graphical representation of concentration of volatile hydrocarbon, it has to obtain a continuous representation of the contamination of the site. Therefore, the used interpolative methods examined for this project are the IDW(inverse Distance Weighting) and kriging method. In the results, in summary, all two different methods can be used to quantify exposures at a particular source area, and thus provide, a solid foundation for making risk-based decisions. All the calculations can be performed using Excel's built-in functions, and the capabilities of geospatial analysis allow the results to be displayed visually. However, anyone who uses these methods should understand all of the assumptions and limitation.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.18
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• pp.125-130
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• 1998

The undergound space is widely developed because of dometic industry and protection of enviornment. The existence and exact location of tunnel is very important for stability of the enormous underground storage house or building. Various types of prospecting methods have been applied to detection of underground tunnel. In this study, electrical prospecting method is applied to detect tunnel because the development of underground space is very connected with groundwater. Sensitivity analysis is introduced for the calculation of elctrical inversion data. The governing equation is Fourier transformed into the 2-dimensional wave number space and solved by using the finite element method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.395-404
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• 2017

Cultivating soybeans in rice paddy field reduces labor costs and increases the yield. Soybeans, however, are highly susceptible to excessive soil water in paddy field. Controlled drainage system can adjust groundwater level (GWL) and control soil moisture content, resulting in improvement soil environments for optimum crop growth. The objective of this study was to fit the soybean growth data (canopy height and stem diameter) using Gompertz model and Logistic model at different GWL and validate those models. The soybean, Daewon cultivar, was grown on the lysimeters controlled GWL (20cm and 40cm). The soil textures were silt loam and sandy loam. The canopy height and stem diameter were measured from the 20th days after seeding until harvest. The Gompertz and Logistic models were fitted with the growth data and each growth rate and maximum growth value was estimated. At the canopy height, the $R_2$ and RMSE were 0.99 and 1.58 in Gompertz model and 0.99 and 1.33 in Logistic model, respectively. The large discrepancy was shown in full maturity stage (R8), where plants have shed substantial amount of leaves. Regardless of soil texture, the maximum growth values at 40cm GWL were greater than the value at 20cm GWL. The growth rates were larger at silt loam. At the stem diameter, the $R_2$ and RMSE were 0.96 and 0.27 in Gompertz model and 0.96 and 0.26 in Logistic model, respectively. Unlike the canopy height, the stem diameter in R8 stage didn't decrease significantly. At both GWLs, the maximum growth values and the growth rates at silt loam were all larger than the values at sandy loam. In conclusion, Gompertz model and Logistic model both well fit the canopy heights and stem diameters of soybeans. These growth models can provide invaluable information for the development of precision water management system.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to estimate the distribution of a zone disturbed by excavation (EDZ) around tunnels that have been excavated at about 500 m depth in pre-Tertiary hard sedimentary rock. One of the most important tasks is to evaluate changes in the dynamic stability and permeability of the rock around the tunnels, by investigating the properties of the rock after the excavation. We performed resistivity and acoustic tomography using two boreholes, 5 m in length, drilled horizontally from the wall of a tunnel in pre-Tertiary hard conglomerate. By these methods, we detected a low-resistivity and low-velocity zone 1 m in thickness around the wall of the tunnel. The resulting profiles were verified by permeability and evaporation tests performed at the same boreholes. This anomalous zone matched a high-permeability zone caused by open fractures. Next, we performed resistivity monitoring along annular survey lines in a tunnel excavated in pre-Tertiary hard shale by a tunnel-boring machine (TBM). We detected anomalous zones in 2D resistivity profiles surrounding the tunnel. A low-resistivity zone 1 m in thickness was detected around the tunnel when one year had passed after the excavation. However, two years later, the resistivity around the tunnel had increased in a portion, about 30 cm in thickness, of this zone. To investigate this change, we studied the relationship between groundwater flow from the surroundings and evaporation from the wall around the tunnel. These features were verified by the relationship between the resistivity and porosity of rocks obtained by laboratory tests on core samples. Furthermore, the profiles matched well with highly permeable zones detected by permeability and evaporation tests at a horizontal borehole drilled near the survey line. We conclude that the anomalous zones in these profiles indicate the EDZ around the tunnel.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.273-280
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to explore the social perception on geoscience using a big data analysis and to propose a way to enhance people's perception on geoscience. For this, 5,044 media articles including geoscience produced by 54 media companies from January 1, 2010 to April 14, 2022. were analyzed. Big data analyses were applied. The results of analyses are as follows: Media articles consist of key words of research institute, some countries of America, China and Japan, City of Pohang, CEO of KIGAM. And geology, industry, development of mineral resources, environment, energy, nuclear power, and groundwater are highlighted as key words. Also, it is confirmed that topics related to geoscience such as expert, environment and research institute are not individually isolated, but interconnected and linked to topics in the center of future, industry, and global. Based on this result, ways to enhance people's perception on geoscience were discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.494-503
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• 2018

As public acceptance of nuclear energy in Korea worsens due to the Fukushima accident and the earthquakes that occurred in the Gyeongju area near the Wolsong nuclear power plant (NPP), estimating the effects of earthquakes has become more essential for the nuclear industry. Currently, most countermeasures against earthquakes are limited to large-scale disasters. Minor-scale earthquakes used to be ignored. Even though people do not feel the shaking due to minor earthquakes and minor earthquakes incur little damage to NPPs, they can change the environmental conditions, for instance, underground water level and the conductivity of the groundwater. This study conducted a questionnaire survey of residents living in the vicinity of an NPP to determine their perception and acceptance of plant safety against minor earthquakes. The results show that the residents feel earthquakes at levels that can be felt by people, but incur little damage to NPPs, as minor earthquakes (magnitude of 2.0-3.9) and set this level as a standard for countermeasures. Even if a minor earthquake has little impact on the safety of an NPP, there is still a possibility that public opinion will get worse. This study provides analysis results about problems of earthquake measures of Korean NPPs and specific things that can bring about an effect of deterioration of public acceptance. Based on these data, this article suggests that active management of minor earthquakes is necessary for the sustainability of nuclear energy.