• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.277-293
• /
• 2024

Shored Mechanically Stabilized Earth (SMSE) walls are types of soil retaining structures that increase soil stability under static and dynamic loads. The damage caused by an earthquake can be determined by evaluating the probabilistic seismic response of SMSE walls. This study aimed to assess the seismic performance of SMSE walls and provide fragility curves for evaluating failure levels. The generated fragility curves can help to improve the seismic performance of these walls through assessing and controlling variables like backfill surface settlement, lateral deformation of facing, and permanent relocation of the wall. A parametric study was performed based on a non-linear elastoplastic constitutive model known as the hardening soil model with small-strain stiffness, HSsmall. The analyses were conducted using PLAXIS 2D, a Finite Element Method (FEM) program, under plane-strain conditions to study the effect of the number of geogrid layers and the axial stiffness of geogrids on the performance of SMSE walls. In this study, three areas of damage (minor, moderate, and severe) were observed and, in all cases, the wall has not completely entered the stage of destruction. For the base model (Model A), at the highest ground acceleration coefficient (1 g), in the moderate damage state, the fragility probability was 76%. These values were 62%, and 54%, respectively, by increasing the number of geogrids (Model B) and increasing the geogrid stiffness (Model C). Meanwhile, the fragility values were 99%, 98%, and 97%, respectively in the case of minor damage. Notably, the probability of complete destruction was zero percent in all models.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.51-60
• /
• 2004

In Korea there are recently many attempts to expand a temporary soil nailing system into a permanent soil nailing system since the first construction in 1993. In the soil nailing system, the rigid facing walls act on restraining the deformation of the ground. These are purposed to minimize the damage of adjacent buildings or underground structures. In Korea, to minimize the relaxation of the ground, the soil nailing system in the downtown area is often used experientially together with braced cuts, sheet pile walls, soil cement walls (SCW), or jet grouting walls. However, for the conservative design, the confining effects by the stiff facing have been ignored because the proper design approach of considering the facing stiffness has not been proposed. In this study, various laboratory model tests are carried out to examining the influence the rigidity of facings on the global safety of soil nailing system. Also, the parametric studies using the numerical technique as shear-strength reduction technique are carried out. In the parametric study, the thickness of concrete facing walls is changed to identify the effects of the facing wall stiffness.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.545-554
• /
• 2013

Augustine is an active stratovolcano located in southwest of Cook Inlet, about 290 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Between January 11 and 28, 2006, the volcano erupted explosively 14 times. We collected twelve permanent GPS stations operating by Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) from 2005 to 2011. All data processing was carried out using Bernese GPS Software V5.0 with IGS precise orbit. Static baseline processing by fixing AC59 station was applied for the volcano activity monitoring. AC59 is the nearest (about 24.5 km) station to Augustine volcano, and located on North America Plate including Augustine Island. The test results show inflation (9.7 cm/yr) and deflation (-9.2 cm/yr) of volcano before and after eruption around crater clearly. After volcano activity has reached a plateau, some of the GPS stations installed north of the volcano show ground subsidence phenomenon caused by compaction of pyroclastic flows. These results indicate the possibility of using surface deformation observed by GPS for monitoring and prediction of volcano activity.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.321-332
• /
• 2017

The reverse fault is a dangerous geological hazard faced by buried steel pipelines. Permanent ground deformation along the fault trace will induce large compressive strain leading to buckling failure of the pipe. A hybrid pipe-shell element based numerical model programed by INP code supported by ABAQUS solver was proposed in this study to explore the strain performance of buried X80 steel pipeline under reverse fault displacement. Accuracy of the numerical model was validated by previous full scale experimental results. Based on this model, parametric analysis was conducted to study the effects of four main kinds of parameters, e.g., pipe parameters, fault parameters, load parameter and soil property parameters, on the strain demand. Based on 2340 peak strain results of various combinations of design parameters, a semi-empirical model for strain demand prediction of X80 pipeline at reverse fault crossings was proposed. In general, reverse faults encountered by pipelines are involved in 3D oblique reverse faults, which can be considered as a combination of reverse fault and strike-slip fault. So a compressive strain demand estimation procedure for X80 pipeline crossing oblique-reverse faults was proposed by combining the presented semi-empirical model and the previous one for compression strike-slip fault (Liu 2016). Accuracy and efficiency of this proposed method was validated by fifteen design cases faced by the Second West to East Gas pipeline. The proposed method can be directly applied to the strain based design of X80 steel pipeline crossing oblique-reverse faults, with much higher efficiency than common numerical models.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.38 no.4 s.173
• /
• pp.381-394
• /
• 2005

Mokpo city is a coastal city located at the south western coast of the Korean Peninsula. Large regions within Mokpo are subjected to significant subsidence because about $70\%$ of the city area is a reclaimed land from the sea. Although no confidential quantitative measurements are available up to the present, the subsidence rate is as much as several cm per year. In this study, we aimed to estimate the subsidence rate over Mokpo city by using twenty-six JERS-1 SAR dataset from September 1992 to October 1998. Several tens of differential interferograms were processed from JERS-1 dataset and STRM 3-arc DEM. The results indicate continuous subsidence in Dongmyung-dong, Hadang-dong and Wonsan-dong in city, and the subsidence velocity reach over 4 cm/yr in the most highly sinking area. For facilitating the analysis of time-varying surface change, we also carried out an interferometric SAR time series analysis using permanent scatterer and consequently determined space-time maps of surface deformation at each acquisition time of JERS- 1 SAR.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.261-271
• /
• 2014

An almost permanent anchor (friction type) is resistant to ground deformation due to the friction between the soil and grout at a fixed length from the anchor body. The purpose of this study is to calculate the force of bearing resistance for a bearing anchor in enlarged boreholes. We conducted analytical and numerical analyses, along with laboratory testing, to find the quantities of bearing resistance prior to grouting in EBA (Enlarged Bearing Anchor) construction. The force of bearing resistance from the analytical method was defined as a function of general borehole diameter, expanded borehole diameter, and soil unconfined compressive strength. We also employed the Flac 3D finite difference numerical modeling code to analyze the bearing resistance of the soil conditions. We then created a laboratory experimental model to measure bearing resistance and carried out a pull-out test. The results of these three analyses are presented here, and a regression analysis was performed between bearing resistance and uniaxial compression strength. The laboratory results yield the strongest bearing resistance, with reinforcement 28.5 times greater than the uniaxial compression strength; the analytical and numerical analyses yielded values of 13.3 and 9.9, respectively. This results means that bearing resistance of laboratory test appears to be affected by skin friction resistance. To improve the reliability of these results, a comparison field study is needed to verify which results (analytical, numerical, or laboratory) best represent field observations.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.1025-1037
• /
• 2015

Flexible base isolation bearings that separate superstructure from ground have been widely used in the construction field because they make a significant contribution to increasing the fundamental period of the structure, thereby decreasing response acceleration transmitted into the superstructure. However, the established bearing devices installed to uphold the whole building give rise to some problems involved with failure and collapse due to lack of the capacity as modern structures are getting more massive and higher. Therefore, this study suggests new isolation bearings assembled with additional restrainers enabled to reinforcing and recentering, and then evaluates their performance to withstand the seismic load. The superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) bars are installed into the conventional lead-rubber bearing (LRB) devices in order to provide recentering forces. These new systems are modeled as component spring models for the purpose of conducting nonlinear dynamic analyses with near fault ground motion data. The LRB devices with steel bars are also designed and analyzed to compare their responses with those of new systems. After numerical analyses, ultimate strength, maximum displacement, permanent deformation, and recentering ratio are compared to each model with an aim to investigate which base isolation models are superior. It can be shown that LRB models with superelastic SMA bars are superior to other models compared to each other in terms of seismic resistance and recentering effect.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.875-888
• /
• 2013

The researches have recently progressed toward the use of the superelastic shape memory alloys (SMAs) to develop new smart control systems that reduce permanent deformation occurring due to severe earthquake events and that automatically recover original configuration. The superelastic SMA materials are unique metallic alloys that can return to undeformed shape without additional heat treatments only after the removal of applied loads. Once the superelastic SMA materials are thus installed at the place where large deformations are likely to intensively occur, the structural system can make the best use of recentering capabilities. Therefore, this study is intended to propose new buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) with superelastic SMA bracing systems. In order to verify the performance of such bracing systems, 6-story braced frame buildings were designed in accordance with the current design specifications and then nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed at 2D frame model by using seismic hazard ground motions. Based on the analysis results, BRBFs with innovative SMA bracing systems are compared to those with conventional steel bracing systems in terms of peak and residual inter-story drifts. Finally, the analysis results show that new SMA bracing systems are very effective to reduce the residual inter-story drifts.