• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.247-258
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• 2024

Tailings are waste materials of mining operations, consisting of a mixture of clay, silt, sand with a high content of unrecoverable metals, process water, and chemical reagents. They are usually discharged as slurry into the storage area retained by dams or earth embankments. Poor knowledge of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of tailings has often resulted in a high rate of failures in which static liquefaction has been widely recognized as one of the major causes of dam collapse. Many studies have dealt with the static liquefaction of coarse soils in saturated conditions. This research provides an extension to the case of silty tailings in unsaturated conditions. The static liquefaction resistance was evaluated in terms of stress-strain behavior by means of monotonic triaxial tests. Its dependency on the preparation method, the volumetric water content, the void ratio, and the degree of saturation was studied and compared with literature data. The static liquefaction response was proved to be dependent mainly on the preparation technique and degree of saturation that, in turn, controls the excess of pore pressure whose leading role is investigated by means of the relationship between the -B Skempton parameter and the degree of saturation. A preliminary interpretation of the static liquefaction response of Stava tailings is also provided within the Critical State framework.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 2002

In this study, a new methodology for the assessment of liquefaction potential is proposed. Since there is no data on the liquefaction damage in Korea, the dynamic behavior of fully saturated soils is characterized through laboratory dynamic tests. There are two experimental parameters related to the soil liquefaction resistance characteristics : the one is the index of disturbance determined by $G/G_{max}$ curve and the other is a plastic shear strain trajectory evaluated from stress-strain curve. The proposed methodology takes advantage of the site response analysis based on real earthquake records to determine the driving effect of earthquake. In the evaluation of liquefaction resistance characteristics, it is verified experimentally that the magnitude of cyclic shear stress has no influence on the critical value of plastic shear strain trajectory at which the initial liquefaction occurs. Cyclic triaxial tests under the conditions of various cyclic stress ratios and torsional shear tests are carried out far the purpose of verification. Through this study, the critical value at the initial liquefaction is found unique regardless of the cyclic stress ratio. It is also f3und that liquefaction resistance curve drawn with disturbance and plastic shear strain trajectory can simulate the behavior of fully saturated soils under dynamic loads.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.167-181
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• 2022

Soil liquefaction has been one of the most important concerns in geotechnical earthquake engineering in recent years, due to its damages to structures and its destructive effects. The cyclic liquefaction of silty sands, in particular, remains of great interest for both research and application. Although many factors are known that affect the liquefaction resistance of sands, the effect of fine grain content is perhaps one of the most studied and still controversial. In this study, 48 deformation-controlled cyclic simple shear tests were performed on BS and CS silt samples mixed with 5%, 15% and 30% by weight of Krk085, Krk042 and Krk025 sands in constant-volume conditions to determine the liquefaction potential of silty sands. The tests were carried out at 30% and 50% relative density and under 100 kPa effective stress. The results revealed that the liquefaction potential of silty sand increases with increasing average particle size ratio (D_50sand / d_50silt) of the mixture for a fixed silt content. Furthermore, for identical base sand, the liquefaction potentials of coarse grained sands increase with increasing silt content, while the respective potentials of fine grained sands generally decrease. However, this situation may vary depending on the silt grain structure and is affected by the nature of the fine grains. In addition, the variation of the void ratio interval was shown to provide a good intuition in determining the liquefaction potentials of silty sands, while the intergranular void ratio alone does not constitute a criterion for determining the liquefaction potentials of silty sands.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.590-599
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• 2006

In this study, Liquefaction characteristics of saturated sand under various dynamic loadings such as sinusoidal loading, increasing wedge loading, and real earthquake loading were investigated focusing on the dissipated energy. From the results of cyclic triaxial test, liquefaction resistance strength was calculated by the concept of energy according to the type of input loading. Liquefaction resistance strength was expressed in accumulated dissipated energy calculated from stress-strain curve(hysteresis loop). The dissipated energy according to loading type was compared and the energy-based evaluation was proposed. The procedures are presented in terms of normalized energy demand(NED), normalized energy capacity(NEC), and factor of safely, where NED is the load imparted to the soil by the loading(both amplitude and duration), NEC is the demand required to induce liquefaction, and factor of safely is defined as the ratio of NEC and NED.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.133-152
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• 1999

The cyclic triaxial test was carried out to research liquefaction characteristics and sample disturbance effects of silty sand soils at the west coast in Korea. First, liquefaction in silty sand was generated when axial strain approached to $\pm10%$ of strain and behavior of pore pressure was similar to the formula suggested by Seed, Martin, and Lysmer(1975). Also, it was found that dilatancy was generated at failure. Secondly, the liquefaction evaluation methods suggested by many researchers were carried out and the results were compared. In these methods the weak depth in liquefaction was similar and the method carried out by cyclic triaxial test on remolded sample showed the least safety factor. Thirdly the stress ratio by cyclic triaxial test was compared with that obtained from SPT N-value as a kind of empirical methods. It was found that the effect of sample disturbance was relatively small when SPT N-value was less than 20, but there were large differences in safety factor and resistance of liquefaction in soil by the effects of disturbance and remolding when SPT N-value was more than 20.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.13-19
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• 2013

In this study, the target ground was selected for the assessment of liquefaction, for which energy-based Arias intensity liquefaction assessment method was applied, The results of evaluation by simplified method using conventional in-situ test were compared. The result of the assessment of liquefaction revealed that the safety factor of the Arias Intensity using the actual records of the Hachinohe and Ofunato earthquake showed generally similar trends with the simplified method, However, the Arias Intensity factor of safety for the artificial earthquake created from the design response spectrum showed some difference from the factors of safety of the simplified method. The shear stress ratio and the occurrence strength of the Arias Intensity are differently calculated between stress and energy, but the resistance stress ratio of the simplified method and the resistance strength of the Arias Intensity use the empirical chart of the results of the standard penetration test for the actual liquefaction areas by the earthquake, which seems the reason for the similar results between Arias Intensity assessment and stress concept simplified method for Hachinohe and Ofunato earthquakes. Therefore, it was found that the energy-based Arias Intensity liquefaction assessment could represent the dynamic changes of the ground caused by seismic characteristics such as acceleration, magnitude, duration and amplitude.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.35-46
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• 2020

The input parameters for numerical simulation of the liquefaction phenomenon need to be properly evaluated from laboratory and field tests, which are difficult to be performed in practical situations. In this study, the numerical simulation of the cyclic direct simple shear test was performed to analyze the applicability of Finn and PM4Sand models among the constitutive models for liquefaction simulation. The analysis results showed that the Finn model properly predicted the time when the excess pore water pressure reached the maximum, but failed to simulate the pore pressure response and the stress-strain behavior of post-liquefaction. On the other hand, the PM4Sand model properly simulated those behaviors of the post liquefaction. Finally, the evaluation procedure and the equations of the input parameters in the PM4Sand model were developed to mach the liquefaction cyclic resistance ratio corresponding to design conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.47-56
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• 2007

In this research, the effects of the gravel content on the liquefaction behavior for both of the isotropically and $K_0-anisotropically$ consolidated gravel-sand mixtures are investigated. for this purpose, the cyclic triaxial tests for the specimens with the same relative density (Dr=40%) and variations of gravel content were performed. On the other hand, a series of undrained cyclic triaxial tests were carried out on the isotropically consolidated gravel-sand mixtures with the same void ratio (e=0.7) and from 0% to 30% gravel contents. Void ratios of gravel-sand mixtures with the same relative density (Dr=40%) are found to decrease significantly with the increase of the gravel content from 0% to about 70% and increase thereafter. But the void ratio of the sand matrix among the gravel skeleton increases with the increase of the gravel contents. Test results are as follows : for the isotropically consolidated specimen with 40% of relative density and low gavel contents (GC=0%, 20%, 40%), pore water pressure development and axial strain behavior during undrained cyclic loading show similar behavior to those of the loose sand because of high void ratio, and the specimens with high gravel content (70%) both pore pressure and strata behaviors are similar to those of dense sand. And the isotropically consolidated specimens with the same void ratio (e=0.7) and higher gravel contents show the same behavior of pore water pressure and axial strain as that of the loose sand, but for the lower gravel content this behavior shows similar behavior to that of dense sand. The liquefaction strength of the isotropically consolidated specimens with the same relative density increases with gravel content up to 70%, and the strength decreases with the increase of the gravel content at the same void ratio. Thus, it is confirmed that the liquefaction strength of the gravel-sand mixtures depends both on relative density and void ratio of the whole mixture rather than the relative density of the sand matrix filled among gravels. On the other hand, the behavior of pore water pressure and axial strain for the $K_0-anisotropically$ consolidated gravel-sand mixtures shows almost the same cyclic behavior of the sand with no stress reversal even with some stress reversal of the cyclic loading. Namely, even the stress reversal of about 10% of cyclic stress amplitude, the permanent strain with small cyclic strain increases rapidly with the number of cycles, and the initial liquefaction does not occur always with less than maximum pore water pressure ratio of 1.0. The liquefaction resistance increases with the gravel contents between 0% and 40%, but tends to decrease beyond 40% of gravel content. In conclusion, the cyclic behavior of gravel-sand mixtures depends on factors such as gravel content, void ratio, relative density and consolidation condition.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.49-59
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• 2016

We develop liquefaction resistance curves, which represent the correlation between cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) and number of cycles (N) to estimate the build-up of residual excess pore pressure from simple shear tests performed for this study and also from published literature. The liquefaction curve is calculated from two models. The comparisons show that one of the models is not reliable because it underestimates CRR. The scatter of the data is shown to be significantly reduced when CRR is normalized to the resistance ratio at N = 15 ($CRR_{N=15}$). Use of the normalization is particularly useful because CRR can be easily estimated from field tests. From normalization, we propose mean, upper, and lower curves. The corresponding design equation and its parameters are also proposed. We believe that the proposed curves can be used for effective stress site response analyses and evaluation of the seismic performance of port structures.