• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.503-515
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• 2014

On the basis of Hoek-Brown failure criterion, a numerical solution for the shape of collapsing block in the rectangular cavity subjected to seepage forces is obtained by upper bound theorem of limit analysis. The seepage forces obtained from the gradient of excess pore pressure distribution are taken as external loadings in the limit analysis, and the pore pressure is easily calculated with pore pressure coefficient. Thus the seepage force is incorporated into the upper bound analysis as a work rate of external force. The upper solution of the shape of collapsing block is derived by virtue of variational calculation. In order to verify the validity of the method proposed in the paper, the result when the pore pressure coefficient equals zero, and only hydrostatic pressure is taken into consideration, is compared with that of previous work. The results show good effectiveness in calculating the collapsing block shape subjected to seepage forces. The influence of parameters on the failure mechanisms is investigated.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.181-194
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• 2019

Due to the seepage of groundwater, the resisting force of slopes decreases and the sliding force increases, resulting in significantly reduced slope stability. The instability of most natural slopes is closely related to the influence of groundwater. Therefore, it is important to study slope stability under groundwater seepage conditions. Thus, using a simplified seepage model of groundwater combined with the analysis of stresses on the slip surface, the limit equilibrium (LE) analytical solutions for two- and three-dimensional slope stability under groundwater seepage are deduced in this work. Meanwhile, the general nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) strength criterion is adopted to describe the shear failure of a slope. By comparing the results with the traditional LE methods on slope examples, the feasibility of the proposed method is verified. In contrast to traditional LE methods, the proposed method is more suitable for analyzing slope stability under complex conditions. In addition, to facilitate the optimization of drainage design in the slope, stability charts are drawn for slopes with different groundwater tables. Furthermore, the study concluded that: (1) when the hydraulic gradient of groundwater is small, the effect on slope stability is also small for a change in the groundwater table; and (2) compared with a slope without a groundwater table, a slope with a groundwater table has a larger failure range under groundwater seepage.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.907-928
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• 2017

The effects of seepage force and out-of-plane stress on cavity contracting and tunnel opening was investigated in this study. The generalized Hoek-Brown (H-B) failure criterion and non-associated flow rule were adopted. Because of the complex solution of pore pressure in an arbitrary direction, only the pore pressure through the radial direction was assumed in this paper. In order to investigate the effect of out-of-plane stress and seepage force on the cavity contraction and circular tunnel opening, three cases of the out-of-plane stress being the minor, intermediate, or major principal stress are assumed separately. A method of plane strain problem is adopted to obtain the stress and strain for cavity contracting and circular tunnel opening for three cases, respectively, that incorporated the effects of seepage force. The proposed solutions were validated by the published results and the correction is verified. Several cases were analyzed, and parameter studies were conducted to highlight the effects of seepage force, H-B constants, and out-of-plane stress on stress, displacement, and plastic radius with the numerical method. The proposed method may be used to address the complex problems of cavity contraction and tunnel opening in rock mass.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.13-23
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• 2019

In this study, an overtopping model experiments and three dimensional seepage characteristics at the deteriorated homogeneous reservoirs were performed to investigate the behavior of failure for embankment and spillway transitional zone due to overtopping. The failure pattern, pore water pressure, earth pressure and settlement by overtopping were compared and analyzed. The pattern of the failure by overtopping was gradually enlarged towards reservoirs crest from the spillway transition zone at initial stage. In the rapid stage and peak stage, the width and depth of failure gradually increased, and the pattern of the failure appeared irregular and several direction of the erosion. In the early stage, the pore water pressure at spillway transitional zone was more affected as its variation and failure width increased. In the peak stage, the pore water pressure was significantly increased in all locations due to the influence of seepage. The earth pressure increased gradually according to overtopping stage. The pore pressure by the numerical analysis was larger than the experimental value, and the analysis was more likely to increase steadily without any apparent variation. The horizontal and vertical displacements were the largest at the toe of slope and at the top of the dam crest, respectively. The results of this displacement distribution can be applied as a basis for determining the position of reinforcement at the downstream slope and the crest. The collapse in the overtopping stage began with erosion of the most vulnerable parts of the dam crest, and the embankment was completely collapsed as the overtopping stage increased.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.513-530
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• 2015

Commonly, the base stability of sheeted excavation pits against seepage failure by heave is evaluated by using two-dimensional groundwater flow models and Terzaghi's failure criterion. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of three-dimensional groundwater flow on the heave for sheeted excavation pits with various dimensions. For this purpose, the steady-state groundwater flow analyses are performed by using the finite element program ABAQUS 6.12. It has been shown that, in homogeneous soils depending on the ratio of half of excavation width to embedment depth b/D, the ratio of safety factor obtained from 3D analyses to that obtained from 2D analyses $FS_{(3D)}/FS_{(2D)}$ can reach up to 1.56 and 1.34 for square and circular shaped excavations, respectively. As failure body, both an infinitesimal soil column adjacent to the wall (Baumgart & Davidenkoff's criterion) and a three-dimensional failure body with the width suggested by Terzaghi for two-dimensional cases are used. It has been shown that the ratio of $FS_{(Terzaghi)}/FS_{(Davidenkoff)}$ varies between 0.75 and 0.94 depending on the ratio of b/D. Additionally, the effects of model size, the shape of excavation pit and anisotropic permeability on the heave are studied. Finally, the problem is investigated for excavation pits in stratified soils, and important points are emphasized.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.741-756
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• 2015

The prediction of impending collapse of deep tunnel is one of the most difficult problems. Collapse mechanism of deep tunnel in layered soils is derived using a new curved failure mechanism within the framework of upper bound theorem, and effects of seepage forces are considered. Nonlinear failure criterion is adopted in the present analysis, and the possible collapse shape of deep tunnel in the layered soils is discussed in this paper. In the layered soils, the internal energy dissipations along velocity discontinuity are calculated, and the external work rates are produced by weight, seepage forces and supporting pressure. With upper bound theorem of limit analysis, two different curve functions are proposed for the two different soil stratums. The specific shape of collapse surface is discussed, using the proposed curve functions. Effects of nonlinear coefficient, initial cohesion, pore water pressure and unit weight on potential collapse are analyzed. According to the numerical results, with the nonlinear coefficient increase, the shape of collapse block will increase. With initial cohesion of the upper soil increase, the shape of failure block will be flat, and with the lower soil improving, the size of collapsing will be large. Furthermore, the shape of collapsing will decrease with the unit weight decrease.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.34-34
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• 2012

Heavy storms rainfall has caused many landslides and slope failures especially in the mountainous area of the world. Landslides and slope failures are common geologic hazards and posed serious threats and globally cause billions in monetary losses and thousands of casualies each year so that studies on slope stability and its failure mechanism under rainfall are being increasing attention of these days. Rainfall-induced slope failures are generally caused by the rise in ground water level, and increase in pore water pressures and seepage forces during periods of intense rainfall. The effective stress in the soil will be decreased due to the increased pore pressure, which thus reduces the soil shear strength, eventually resulting in slope failure. During the rainfall, a wetting front goes downward into the slope, resulting in a gradual increase of the water content and a decrease of the negative pore-water pressure. This negative pore-water pressure is referred to as matric suction when referenced to the pore air pressure that contributes to the stability of unsaturated soil slopes. Therefore, the importance is the study of saturated unsaturated soil behaviors in evaluation of slope stability under heavy rainfall condition. In an actual field, a series of failures may occur in a slope due to a rainfall event. So, this study attempts to develop a numerical model to investigate this failure mechanism. A two-dimensional seepage flow model coupled with a one-dimensional surface flow and erosion/deposition model is used for seepage analysis. It is necessary to identify either there is surface runoff produced or not in a soil slope during a rainfall event, while analyzing the seepage and stability of such slopes. Runoff produced by rainfall may result erosion/deposition process on the surface of the slope. The depth of runoff has vital role in the seepage process within the soil domain so that surface flow and erosion/deposition model computes the surface water head of the runoff produced by the rainfall, and erosion/deposition on the surface of the model slope. Pore water pressure and moisture content data obtained by the seepage flow model are then used to analyze the stability of the slope. Spencer method of slope stability analysis is incorporated into dynamic programming to locate the critical slip surface of a general slope.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.47-62
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• 1993

The laboratorv model test was carried out to investigate the behavior of pore water pressure, the critical amount of rainfall for slope failure, the pattern of failure, and the variation of seepage line at the slope with the uniform material of embankment by changing the slope angles and rainfall intensities. The results were was summarised as follows : 1.At the beginning stage of rainfall, the negative pore pressure appeared at the surface of slope and the positive pore pressure at the deep parts. But, the negative one turned into the positive one as the rainfall continued and this rapidly increased about 50 to 100 minutes before the slope failure. 2.The heavier the rainfall intensity, the shorter the time, and the milder the slope, the longer the time took to reach the failure of slope. 3.As the angle of the slope became milder, the critical amount of rainfall for slope failure became greater. 4.Maximum pore water pressure was 10 to 40g/cm$^2$ at the toe of slope and 50 to 90g/cm$^2$at the deep parts. 5.In the respect of the pattern of slope failure, surface failure of slope occurred locally at the toe of slope at the A-soil and failure of slope by surface flow occurred gradually at the top part of slope at the B-soil. 6.As the rainfall continued and the saturation zone in the embankment was formed, the seepage line went rapidly up and also the time to reach the total collapse of slope took longer at the B-soil. 7.As the position of the seepage line went up and the strength parameter accordingly down, the safety factor was 2.108 at the A-soil and 2.150 at the B-soil when the slope occured toe failure. Minimum safety factor was rapidly down to 0.831 at the A-soil and to 0.936 at the B-soil when the slope collapsed totally at the top part of slope.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.3C
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• pp.167-178
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• 2008

Rainfall-induced slope failures were simulated by seepage and stability analyses for actual slopes of weathered soils. After undisturbed sampling and testing on a specimen of unsaturated conditions, a seepage analysis was performed under actual rainfall and it was found that the pore water pressure increased at the boundary of soil and rock layers. The safety factor of slope stability decreased below 1.0 and the failure of actual slope could be simulated. Under design rainfall intensity, the seepage analysis could not include the effects of the antecedent rainfall and the rainfall duration. Due to these limitations, the safety factor of slope stability resulted in above 1.0, since the hydraulic head of soil layers had not be affected significantly. In the analysis of another slope failure, the parameters of unsaturated conditions were evaluated using artificial neural network (ANN). In the analysis of seepage, the boundary of soil and rock was saturated sufficiently and then the safety factor could be calculated below 1.0. It was found that the failure of actual slope can be simulated by ANN-based estimation.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.591-605
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• 2009

In this study the risk integrated erosion and seepage failure factor and combined risk of the levee embankment were assessed. For the research of the reliability, the risk assessment of erosion, seepage and both of them combined for the levee embankment were conducted using discharge curve and stage hydrograph generated by stochastic rainfall variation method during typhoon and monsoon season. The risk of erosion was evaluated using tractive force and the seepage analysis was performed by selecting representative cross sections for SEEP/W model analysis. And the probability of seepage failure was assessed with MFOSM analysis using critical hydraulic gradient method. Unlike deterministic analysis method, quantitative risk could be obtained and the characteristics of realistic rainfall variation patterns as well as a variety of factors contributing to levee failure could be reflected in this research. The results of this study show significantly enhanced applicability for the combined risk. As this model can be employed to determine dangerous spots for levee failure and to establish flood insurance linked with flood risk map, it will dramatically contribute to the establishment of both efficient and systematic measures for integrated flood management on a watershed.