• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.83-100
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• 2015

Water and energy supplies are the key factors affecting the economic development and environmental improvement of Turkey. Given their important role and the fact that a large part of Turkey is in seismically active zones dams should be accurately analyzed since failure could have a serious impact on the local population environment and on a wider level could affect the economy. In this paper, a procedure is proposed for the static, slope stability, seepage and dynamic analysis of an earth dam and the Pamukcay embankment dam. The acceleration time history and maximum horizontal peak ground accelerations of the $Bing\ddot{o}l$ (2003) earthquake data was used based on Maximum Design Earthquake (MDE) data. Numerical analysis showed that, the Pamukcay dam is likely to experience moderate deformations during the design earthquake but will remain stable after the earthquake is applied. The result also indicated that, non-linear analysis capable of capturing dominant non-linear mechanism can be used to assess the stability of embankment dams.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09c
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• pp.49-54
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• 2010

In order to study the performance of levees reinforced with steel sheet piles under high water condition, a series of model tests was conducted by simulating the high water condition before and after applying severe seismic loading history. As a result, the seepage behavior through the subsoil layers underlying the levee was not significantly affected by the seismic loading history. It was also verified that, irrespective of the seismic loading history, the sheet piles installed at the levee crest or shoulder are effective in preventing the breakage of levees caused by overflow. In addition, applicability of drainage works at the foot of the levee in preventing the seepage failure was confirmed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.55-66
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• 2009

At the mudstone slope located on the roadside of the Seokri area in Donghae-myeon, Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, this study was performed to analyze the effects of rainfall on the stability of slope through seepage analysis according to the precipitation type of the mudstone slope, referring to the actual case of slope failure. For this, precise geological survey, geophysical exploration and drilling survey for the slope where the failure occurred were performed and followed by analysis of detailed soil layer. For the section where failure surface located, the durability reduction of rocks was measured through slaking/swelling tests and the permeability was measured through in-situ permeability tests for each soil layer. In addition, the change of strength parameter and process of instability were analyzed by back analysis, using Talren 97 and Slope/W programs, in the slope. By applying different precipitation conditions to the geographical conditions of the slope that had actual failure records, the slope stability was analyzed by seepage analysis according to duration of rainfall and rise of groundwater level resulting from the flow of rainfall caused by development of geological structures and the slope surface condition.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.109-114
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• 2013

This paper describes the global stability of the reinforced earth wall, which was collapsed by heavy rainfall. The seepage analysis was conducted to confirm the change effect of groundwater level on slope with reinforced earth wall. The seepage analysis result confirmed that the change of groundwater level is greatly influenced by rainfall. According to the change of groundwater level, the global stability analysis with reinforced earth wall was conducted based on the results of seepage analysis. The safety factor of the slope was 0.476 when the wall is collapsed firstly. The collapse cause analyzed that soil strength was weaken because the ground was saturated by continuous rainfall. Therefore, the global stability, which is considered heavy rainfall, should be conducted at design and construction of reinforced earth wall.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.41-54
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• 2021

In this study, probabilistic steady seepage behavior of soil foundation beneath water retaining structures according to the location of cutoffs was studied. A Monte Carlo Simulation based on the random finite element method that considers the uncertainty and spatial variability of soil permeability was performed to evaluate the probabilistic seepage behavior. Fragility curves were developed by calculating the failure probability conditional on the occurrence of a given water level from the probability distribution obtained from Monte Carlo simulations. The fragility curve was prepared for the flow quantities such as flow rate through foundation soil, uplift force on the base of structure, and exit gradient in downstream to examine the reliability of the water retaining structure and the foundation soil. From the fragility curves, the effect of the location of cutoff wall on the reliability of water retaining structure and foundation soil according to the rise in water level was studied.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.5-16
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• 2016

A rainfall induced slope failure is a common natural hazard in mountainous areas worldwide. Sudden and rapid failures which have a high possibility of occurrence in a steep slope are always the most dangerous due to their suddenness and high velocities. Based on a series of experiments this study aimed to determine a critical angle which could be considered as an approximate threshold for a sudden failure. The experiments were performed using 0.42 mm mean grain size sand in a 200 cm long, 60 cm wide and 50 cm deep rectangular flume. A numerical model was created by integrating a 2D seepage flow model and a 2D slope stability analysis model to predict the failure surface and the time of occurrence. The results showed that, the failure mode for the entire material will be sudden for slopes greater than $67^{\circ}$; in contrast the failure mode becomes retrogressive. There is no clear link between the degree of saturation and the mode of failure. The simulation results in considering matric suction showed good matching with the results obtained from experiment. A subsequent discarding of the matric suction effect in calculating safety factors will result in a deeper predicted failure surface and an incorrect predicted time of occurrence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.736-744
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• 2009

The abrupt failure of slope caused by a concentrated rainfall would be a disaster in this country. Specially, the soil slope may be collapsed by the rainfall seepage, however, there is not much information for the mechanism of slope failure during rainfall. As analyzing the stability of slope by rainfall, the conventional method is to put the ground-water level on the surface of slope. However, it may provide the over-reinforcement for the slope stability. Futhermore, although over-reinforcement for the slope was fulfilled, the possibility of potential slope failure still exists. In this study, the slope stability by the conventional design method and the causes of unstable slope during rainfall were investigated. To analyze the slope stability by rainfall, the computer program SEEP/W for the analysis of seepage was used. As changing the intensity and duration of rainfall in SEEP/W, the analysis were performed. After completion of analysis, the porewater pressure data from SEEP/W was applied to SLOPE/W. As a results of this analysis, it is not reasonable that the groundwater level is going up to the surface of slope during rainfall. Therefore, the conventional reinforcement for the slope stability is not obvious to satisfy the criterion safety factor during rainfall. The reasonable counterplan is to install drainage hole on the surface of slope in order to prevent erosion and debris flow.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2023

Hurricane Katrina swept New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, in 2005, causing more than 1,000 fatalities and severe damage to the flood protection system. Recovery activities are complete, however, clarifying failure mechanisms and devising resilient and cost-effective retrofitting techniques for the flood protection system are still of utmost importance to enhance the general structural integrity of water retaining structures. This study presents extensive centrifuge test results to find various failure mechanisms and effective retrofitting techniques for a levee system. The result confirmed the rotational failure and translational failure mechanisms for the London Ave. Canal levee and 17^th St. Canal levee, respectively. In addition, it found that the floodwalls with fresh waterstop in their joints perform better than those with old/weathered waterstop by decreasing pore water pressure build-up in the levee. Structural caps placed on the top of the joints between I-walls could also prevent local failure by spreading the load to surrounding walls. At the same time, the self-sealing bentonite-sand mixture installed along the riverside of floodwalls could mitigate the failure of floodwalls by blocking the infiltration of seepage water into the gap formed between levee soils and floodwalls.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.57-67
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• 2023

Slope failures during rainfall have been observed in mountainous areas of South Korea as a result of the presence of solar power facilities. The seepage behavior and pore pressure distribution differ from typical slopes due to the presence of impermeable solar panels, and the load imposed by the solar power structures also affects the slope behavior. This study aims to develop a method for evaluating the stability of slopes with solar power facilities and to analyze vulnerable points by considering the maximum slope displacement. To assess the slope stability and predict behavior while considering rainfall seepage, a combined seepage analysis and finite difference method numerical analysis were employed. For the selected site, various variables were assumed, including parameters related to the Soil Water Characteristic Curve, strength parameters that satisfy the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, soil properties, and topographic factors such as slope angle and bedrock depth. The factors with the most significant influence on the factor of safety (FOS) were identified. The presence of solar power facilities was found to affect the seepage distribution and FOS, resulting in a decreasing trend due to rainfall seepage. The maximum displacement points were concentrated near the upper (crest) and lower (toe) sections of the slope.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.600-608
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• 2017

The presence of piping in a levee body allows water seepage to occur by producing a large cavity or water tunnel within it, ultimately resulting in the failure of the river levee and differential settlement. In order to properly cope with river levee failure due to piping and establish a proper remediation method for this problem, it is necessary to analyze the failure mechanism of the river levee due to piping. Therefore, this study analyzed the shape and mechanism of river levee failure due to piping through small-scale and large-scale models and evaluated the seepage pressure distribution characteristics in the hydraulic well, which has been suggested as a remediation method for piping. According to the results of this study, as the safety factor for the piping in the river levee decreased, the river levee failure shape was more clearly shown through the small-scale model test. In the large-scale model test, the type of local damage to the levee due to the piping was identified and the evaluation showed that the hydraulic well had the largest effect on the inhibition of piping below the center of the well. A follow-up study is needed to confirm the reliability of the results. However, it is thought that this study can be utilized as the baseline data for research into the piping-induced river levee failure mechanism and for the preparation of a remediation method.