• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.561-573
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• 2020

The creep and consolidation behaviors of clays subjected to thermal cycles are of fundamental importance in the application of energy geostructures. This study aims to numerically investigate the physical mechanisms for the temperature-triggered volume change of saturated clays. A recently developed thermodynamic framework is used to derive the thermo-mechanical constitutive model for clays. Based on the model, a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) finite element (FE) code is developed. Comparison with experimental observations shows that the proposed FE code can well reproduce the irreversible thermal contraction of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated clays, as well as the thermal expansion of heavily overconsolidated clays under drained heating. Simulations reveal that excess pore pressure may accumulate in clay samples under triaxial drained conditions due to low permeability and high heating rate, resulting in thermally induced primary consolidation. Results show that four major mechanisms contribute to the thermal volume change of clays: (i) the principle of thermal expansion, (ii) the decrease of effective stress due to the accumulation of excess pore pressure, (iii) the thermal creep, and (iv) the thermally induced primary consolidation. The former two mechanisms mainly contribute to the thermal expansion of heavily overconsolidated clays, whereas the latter two contribute to the noticeable thermal contraction of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated clays. Consideration of the four physical mechanisms is important for the settlement prediction of energy geostructures, especially in soft soils.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.7-18
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• 1994

A new model for describing the behavior of clay under monotonic and cyclic loading is proposed. This model uses the hyperbolic representation for the stress -strain relationship in overconsolidated state and it describes undrained effective stress path on the basis of the critical state theory. The developed constitutive model by using an energy dissipation equation can describe the behavior of clay in heavily overconsolidated state as u.ell as lightly overconsolidated state under monotonic loading. In order to extend the model for the behavior of clay under cyclic loading, a shift function of undrained stress spacing ratio is introduced in the constitutive model developed for monotonlc loading. A single additional parameter is required to represent the cyclic effect and it can be reasonably deter mined from the test results. The measured behavior in undrained cyclic triaxial tests has been easily and precisely predicted by the newly developed constitutive model.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.312-333
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• 2006

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the excess porewater pressure distribution due to piezocone penetration in overconsolidated clays. From piezocone test results for moderately and heavily overconsolidated clays, it was observed that the excess porewater pressure increases monotonically from the piezocone surface to the outer boundary of the shear zone and then decreases logarithmically to the outer boundary of the plastic zone. It was also found that the size of the shear zone decreases from approximately 2.2 to 1.5 times the cone radius with increasing OCR, while the plastic radius is about 11 times the piezocone radius, regardless of the OCR. The equation developed in this study based on the modified Cam clay model and the cylindrical cavity expansion theory, which take into consideration the effects of the strain rate and stress anisotropy, provide a good prediction of the initial porewater pressure at the piezocone location. The method of predicting the spatial distribution of excess porewater pressure proposed in this study is based on a linearly increasing ${\Delta}u_{shear}$. In the shear zone and a logarithmically decreasing ${\Delta}u_{oct}$, and is verified by comparing with the excess porewater pressure measured in overconsolidated specimens at the calibration chamber.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.596-601
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• 2009

In this study, the rate-sensitive constitutive model, which was developed in the previous paper of this journal, was validated using the experimental results obtained from the well-calibrated triaxial compression test conducted with the Boston blue clay. The validation was performed for the various cases of the strain rate of 0.05%/hr, 0.5%/hr, 5.0%/hr and OCR of 1, 2, 4, 8. The developed model was validated for the normally and slightly overconsolidated cases; however, the cases of heavily overconsolidation needs further research.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.453-462
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• 2023

Intermediate Geomaterials (IGMs) are natural formation materials that exhibit the engineering behavior (strength and compressibility) between soils and rocks. The engineering behavior of such material is highly unpredictable as the IGMs are stiffer than soils and weaker/softer than rocks. Further, the characterization of such material needs exposure to both soil and rock mechanics. In most conventional designs of geotechnical structures, the engineering properties of the IGMs are either aligned with soils or rocks, and this assumption may end up either in an over-conservative design or under-conservative design. Hence, many researchers have attempted to evaluate its actual engineering properties through laboratory tests. However, the test results are partially reliable due to the poor core recovery of IGMs and the possible sample disturbance. Subsequently, in-situ tests have been used in recent years to evaluate the engineering properties of IGMs. However, the respective in-situ test finds its limitations while exploring IGMs with different geological formations at deeper depths with the constraints of sampling. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the strength-based index test that is often used to explore IGMs. Moreover, it was also observed that the coefficient of variation of the design parameters (which represents the uncertainties in the design parameters) of IGMs is relatively high, and also the studies on the probabilistic characterization of IGMs are limited compared with soils and rocks. With this perspective, the present article reviews the laboratory and in-situ tests used to characterize the IGMs and explores the shear strength variation based on their geological origin.