• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2013

In this paper, a series of monotonic undrained shear tests were carried out on four kinds of sand-fine mixtures with various fines content. Two kinds of sands (Silica sand V3, V6) and fines (Iwakuni natural clay, Tottori silt) were mixed together in various proportions, while paying attention to the void ratio expressed in terms of sand structure $(F_c{\leq}F_{cth})$. The undrained shear strength of mixtures below the threshold fines content was observed so that as the plastic fines content increases, maximum deviator stress ratio decrease for dense samples while an increase is noted for loose samples. For non-plastic fines, the increase in the amount of fines leads to an increase in density of the soil, which results in an increase in strength. Then, the monotonic shear strength of the mixtures was estimated using the concept of granular void ratio. It was found that the shear strength of mixtures is greatly dependent on the skeleton structure of sand particles.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.25 no.B
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• pp.63-71
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• 2005

This paper is an experimental result of investigating lateral soil movements at piled bridge abutments by using the centrifuge model facility. Three different centrifuge model experiments, changing the methods of ground improvement at bridge abutment on the soft clayey soil (no improvement, preconsolidation and plastic board drains (PBD), sand compaction pile (SCP) + PBD), were carried out to figure out which method is the most appropriate for resisting against the lateral soil movements. In the centrifuge modelling, construction process in field was reconstructed as close as possible. Displacements of abutment model, ground movement, vertical earth pressure, cone resistance after soil improvement and distribution of water content were monitored during and after centrifuge model tests. As results of centrifuge model experiments, preconsolidation method with PBD was found to be the most effective against the lateral soil movement by analyzing results about displacements of abutment model, ground movement and cone resistance. Increase of shear strength by preconsolidation method resulted in increasing the resistance against lateral soil movement effectively although SCP could mobilize the resistance against lateral soil movement. It was also found that installment with PBD beneath the backfill of bridge abutment induced effective drainage of excess pore water pressure during the consolidation by embanking at the back of the abutment and resulted in increasing the shear strength of clay soil foundation and eventually increasing the resistance of lateral soil movement against piles of bridge abutment.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2005

The 'Silt Pond' is 180 hectares in size and contained ultra soft slurry-like soil varying between 3 to 20 meters in thickness. Soil improvement work in the Silt Pond commenced by installing vertical drains in the mid of 1996, following completion of sand spreading up to +4.0m CD. Prior to soil improvement work in the main area of Silt Pond, experimental tests including laboratory tests with a large diameter consolidation cell and pilot tests were carried out to investigate the deformation behavior of an extremely soft soil. Due to its high compressibility, large strain usually occurred in the initial stage of deformation does not comply with Terzaghi's one dimensional consolidation theory. Taking into consideration experimental test results, the soil improvement works were carried out in main area of Silt Pond containing ultra soft soil. This paper presents the case study on improvement of ultra-soft soil.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2006

The recent environmental protection issue has diminished the supply of sand for soft ground improvements so much that the prices of sand have shown a sudden rise. Plastic material is one of substitutes for sand material, but plastic is nonperishable and doubtable if it has potential environmental hormone disrupting substances. Moderate-priced natural fiber drain board made with coconut coir and jute filter are in the spotlight recently as an alternative material for sand and plastic drain board etc. Natural fiber drain has not only competitive price but also a characteristic of assimilation into the soils after finishing of its own function. Discharge capacity of the fiber drain board evaluated by triaxial type discharge capacity test was relatively lower than that of plastic drain board. Nevertheless, settlement and pore pressure dissipation behaviors of the fiber drain board and the plastic drain board which were installed in the clayey soil during the composite discharge capacity test were almost similar. It was also found that biodegradation of the fiber drain board was in progress until 18 month after installation in the clayey soil, but they had still enough engineering properties to use at field.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2004

The permeation movements of groundwater recharge and contaminate materials receive a eat effect due to porosity and effective porosity of porous media which is composing underground consisted of saturation and unsaturated states. This study developed Frequency Domain Reflectometry(FDR) system and measurement sensor, and then carried out the laboratory experiments to measure effective porosity for unsaturated porous media. Also, I suggested dielectric mixing models(DMMs) which can calculate the effective porosity from relation of measured dielectric constants. In the experimental results the extent range of effective porosity of standard sand and river sand which are unsaturated soil sample were measured in about 65∼85 % for porosity. In relation of effective porosity and porosity, especially, effective porosity confirmed that displays decreasing a little tendency as porosity increases. This is because unsaturated soil did not reach in saturation enough by air of very small amount that exist in pore between soil particles.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2008

We analyzed soil characteristics, soil seed banks, and plant communities in a small islet in Ganwol Lake from May 2005 to August 2006 to examine the forces driving plant settlement on sand bars and the effects of plant settlement patterns on nesting sites of little terns (Sterna albifrons). The soil nutrients contents in a site where the feces of wintering birds accumulate (N: 15.4 mg/kg, P: 10.5 mg/kg, LOI: 0.51 %, pH: 6.8) and a site where organic sediments accumulate (N: 20.7 mg/kg, P: 16.4 mg/kg, LOI: 0.40%, pH: 6.6) were much higher those of a control site which was not affected by bird feces and organic sediments (N: 4.1 mg/kg, P: 5.4 mg/kg, LOI: 0.41%, pH: 6.7). However, a seed bank was formed only on the site with accumulated organic sediments. Plant settlement was accelerated by feces from wintering birds and organic sediment accumulation on sand bars in Ganwol Lake. The percentage of area disturbed by human activities increased from 0.2% in May 2005 to 13.9% in August 2006, and the percentage of annual communities increased from 27.5% to 43.3%, but the percentage of open area decreased from 55.2% to 28.0% from May 2005 to August 2006. These increases in disturbed area and annual communities decreased the open area for breeding of little terns. The enlargement of P. communis and T. angustata communities was suppressed by irregular flooding. These results provide useful information for the management of little tern breeding sites for conservation purposes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.655-665
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• 2018

Shield tunnels are widely used throughout the world. However, their seismic performance has not been well studied. This paper focuses on the seismic response of a large scale model tunnel in compacted sand. A 9.3 m long, 3.7 m wide and 2.5 m high rigid box was filled with sand so as to simulate the sandy soil surrounding the tunnel. The setup was excited on a large-scale shake table. The model tunnel used was a 1:8 scaled model with a cross-sectional diameter of 900 mm. The effective shock absorbing layer (SAL) on the seismic response of the model tunnel was also investigated. The thickness of the tunnel lining is 60 mm. The earthquake motion recorded from the Kobe earthquake waves was used. The ground motions were scaled to have the same peak accelerations. A total of three peak accelerations were considered (i.e., 0.1 g, 0.2 g and 0.4 g). During the tests, the strain, acceleration and soil pressure on the surface of the tunnel were measured. In order to investigate the effect of shock absorbing layer on the dynamic response of the sand- tunnel system, two tunnel models were set up, one with and one without the shock absorbing layer of foam board were used. The results shows the longitudinal direction acceleration of the model tunnel with a shock absorbing layer were lower than those of model tunnel without the shock absorbing layer, Which indicates that the shock absorbing layer has a beneficial effect on the acceleration reduction. In addition, the shock absorbing layer has influence on the hoop strain and earth pressure of the model tunnel, this the effect of shock absorbing layer to the model tunnel will be discussed in the paper.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.195-205
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• 2021

Time effect on the deformation and strength characteristics of geogrid reinforced sand retaining wall has become an important issue in geotechnical and transportation engineering. Three physical model tests on geogrid reinforced sand retaining walls performed under various loading conditions were simulated to study their rate-dependent behaviors, using the presented nonlinear finite element method (FEM) analysis procedure. This FEM was based on the dynamic relaxation method and return mapping scheme, in which the combined effects of the rate-dependent behaviors of both the backfill soil and the geosynthetic reinforcement have been included. The rate-dependent behaviors of sands and geogrids should be attributed to the viscous property of materials, which can be described by the unified three-component elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. By comparing the FEM simulations and the test results, it can be found that the present FEM was able to be successfully extended to the boundary value problems of geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining walls. The deformation and strength characteristics of the geogrid reinforced sand retaining walls can be well reproduced. Loading rate effect, the trends of jump in footing pressure upon the step-changes in the loading rate, occurred not only on sands and geogrids but also on geogrid reinforced sands retaining walls. The lateral earth pressure distributions against the back of retaining wall, the local tensile force in the geogrid arranged in the retaining wall and the local stresses beneath the footing under various loading conditions can also be predicted well in the FEM simulations.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.173-181
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• 2006

A Two Mobilized-Plane Model is proposed for monotonic and cyclic soil response including liquefaction. This model is based on two mobilized planes: a plane of maximum shear stress, which rotates, and a horizontal plane which is spatially fixed. By controlling two mobilized planes, the model can simulate the principal stress rotation effect associated with simple shear from different $K_0$ states. The proposed model gives a similar skeleton behaviour for soils having the same mean stress, regardless of $K_0$ conditions as observed in laboratory tests. The soil skeleton behaviour observed in cyclic drained simple shear tests, including compaction during unloading and dilation at large strain is captured in the model. Undrained monotonic and cyclic response is predicted by imposing the volumetric constraint of the water on the drained or skeleton behaviour. This constitutive model is incorporated into the dynamic coupled stress-flow finite difference program of FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua). The model was first calibrated with drained simple shear tests on Fraser River sand, and verified by comparing predicted and measured undrained behaviour of Fraser River sand using the same input parameters.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.481-489
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• 2023

Drained cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on a saturated sand to examine its deformation characteristics under either axial or lateral cyclic loading condition. To apply lateral cyclic loading, the cell pressure was cycled while maintaining a constant vertical stress. The strain accumulations and flow direction in the soil were presented and discussed considering various initial stress ratios (η₀), cyclic stress amplitudes and cyclic stress paths. The results indicate that axial strain accumulation shows an exponential increase with the maximum stress ratio (η^max). The initial deviatoric stress has comparable effects with lateral cyclic stress amplitude on the accumulated axial strain. In contrast, the accumulated volumetric strain is directly proportional to the lateral cyclic stress amplitude but not much affected by η₀ values. Due to the anisotropy of the soil, the accumulated axial and lateral bulging strains are greater in lateral cyclic loading when compared to axial cyclic loading even though η^max is the same. It is also found that η^max affects soil's lateral deformation and increasing the ratio could change the lateral deformation from contraction to bulging. The flow direction depends on η^max in the sand under lateral cyclic loading, regardless of η₀ values and the cyclic stress amplitudes, and a large η^max could lead to great deviatoric strain but a little volumetric strain accumulation.