• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.23-29
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• 2019

In general, pipe laying works are performed by constructing underground facilities such as pipes and then refilling the rest of the area with sand or soil. However, there are many problems in the compaction process such as difficulties in tampering around the underground facility and low compaction efficiency. Such problems cause deformation and damage to the underground pipes during refilling work and ultimately cause road sinks. Construction methods using CLSM are one of the typical methods to solve these issues, and recently, studies on CLSM using coal ash, which has similar engineering properties as sand, have been actively performed to protect environment and recycle resources. While many studies have been conducted to recycle fly ash in many ways, the demand for recycling bottom ash is increasing as most of the bottom ash is not recycled and reclaimed at ash disposal sites. Therefore, in order to find bottom ash applications using eco-friendly soil binders that are environmentally beneficial and conform with CLSM standards, this study investigated flow characteristics and strength change characteristics of eco-friendly soil binders, weathered granite soil, a typical site-generated soil, bottom ash, and fly ash mixed soil and evaluated the soil pollution to present CLSM application methods using bottom ash.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.93-105
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• 2021

In this study, we evaluated the effect of soil fine contents on the formation of underground cavities and ground cave-ins induced by damaged sewer pipes. Simulating the domestic rainfall conditions and ground conditions, model tests were performed under three different fine particle contents conditions (7.5%, 15%, and 25%). By repeating the groundwater supply and drainage twice, ground settlement and the amount of discharged soil were obtained. Also, digital images were taken at regular time intervals during the model tests, and internal displacement and deformation were measured using PIV technique. As the cycles were repeated, the soil with high fine content showed greater resistance to the formation of underground cavities. The ground cave-ins, identified by the collapse of the surface, occurred only when the fine particle content was 15%. It is presumed to be due to the suffusion phenomenon; further study was needed to investigate the effect of fine particle contents on the suffusion phenomenon and associated changes of soil strength.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.91-99
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• 2024

Piping systems are crucial facilities used in various industries, particularly in areas related to daily life and safety. Piping systems are fixed to the main structures of buildings and facilities but do not support external loads and serve as non-structural elements performing specific functions. Piping systems are affected by relative displacements owing to phase differences arising from different behaviors between two support points under seismic loads; this can cause damage owing to the displacement-dominant cyclic behavior. Fittings and joints in piping systems are representative elements that are vulnerable to seismic loads. To evaluate the seismic performance and limit states of fittings and joints in piping systems, a high-stroke actuator is required to simulate relative displacements. However, this is challenging because only few facilities can conduct these experiments. Therefore, element-level experiments are required to evaluate the seismic performance and limit states of piping systems connected by fittings and joints. This study proposed a method to evaluate the seismic performance of an elbow specimen that includes fittings and joints that are vulnerable to seismic loads in vertical piping systems. The elbow specimen was created by connecting straight pipes to both ends of a 90° pipe elbow using flexible groove joints. The seismic performance of the elbow specimen was evaluated using a cyclic loading protocol based on deformation angles. To determine the margin of the evaluated seismic performance, the limit states were assessed by applying cyclic loading with a constant amplitude.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.231-240
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• 2017

Recently, there have been frequent occurrences of ground sink in the urban area, which have resulted in human and material damage and are accompanied by economic losses. This is caused by artificial factors such as soil loss, poor compaction, horizontal excavation due to the breakage of the aged sewage pipe, and lack of water proof at vertical excavation. The ground sink can be prevented by preliminary restoration and reinforcement through exploration, but it can be considered that it is not suitable for urgent restoration by the existing method. In this study, a model experiment was carried out to simulate the in-ground cavities caused by groundwater flow for developing non-excavation urgent restoration in underground cavity and the range of the relaxation zone was estimated by detecting the around the cavity using a relaxation zone detector. In addition, disturbance region and relaxation region were separated by injecting gypsum into cavity formed in simulated ground. The shape of the underground cavity due to the groundwater flow was similar to that of the failure mode III formed in the dense relative density ground due to water pipe breakage in the previous study. It was confirmed that the relaxed region detected using the relaxation zone detector is formed in an arch shape in the cavity top. The length ratio of the relaxation region to the disturbance region in the upper part of the cavity center is 2: 1, and it can be distinguished by the difference in the decrease of the shear resistance against the external force. In other words, it was confirmed that the secondary damage should not occur in consideration of the expandability of the material used as the injecting material in the pre-repair and reinforcement, and various ground deformation states will be additionally performed through additional experiments.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.320-334
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• 2020

This study presents an application of hydro-mechanical coupled Particle Flow Code 3D (PFC3D) to simulation of fluid injection induced fault slip experiment conducted in Mont Terri Switzerland as a part of a task in an international research project DECOVALEX-2019. We also aimed as identifying the current limitations of the modelling method and issues for further development. A fluid flow algorithm was developed and implemented in a 3D pore-pipe network model in a 3D bonded particle assembly using PFC3D v5, and was applied to Mont Terri Step 2 minor fault activation experiment. The simulated results showed that the injected fluid migrates through the permeable fault zone and induces fault deformation, demonstrating a full hydro-mechanical coupled behavior. The simulated results were, however, partially matching with the field measurement. The simulated pressure build-up at the monitoring location showed linear and progressive increase, whereas the field measurement showed an abrupt increase associated with the fault slip We conclude that such difference between the modelling and the field test is due to the structure of the fault in the model which was represented as a combination of damage zone and core fractures. The modelled fault is likely larger in size than the real fault in Mont Terri site. Therefore, the modelled fault allows several path ways of fluid flow from the injection location to the pressure monitoring location, leading to smooth pressure build-up at the monitoring location while the injection pressure increases, and an early start of pressure decay even before the injection pressure reaches the maximum. We also conclude that the clay filling in the real fault could have acted as a fluid barrier which may have resulted in formation of fluid over-pressurization locally in the fault. Unlike the pressure result, the simulated fault deformations were matching with the field measurements. A better way of modelling a heterogeneous clay-filled fault structure with a narrow zone should be studied further to improve the applicability of the modelling method to fluid injection induced fault activation.