• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.103-124
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• 2019

Present study concerns the safety evaluation of SefidRud dam's block No. 18 regarding probable crack propagation in the foundation gallery under a MCE record. Accordingly, a 3D finite element model of the block in companion with the reservoir and the foundation is modeled. All the associated thermal and structural parameters are derived via calibration with the records of thermometers and pendulums installed inside the dam body. The origination of the cracks and their whereabouts are determined by primary thermal and static analyses and through a linear dynamic analysis the potential failure zone and their extent and level are studied. The foundation gallery is the most probable zone among the other intensive tensile stress area to compromise the dam stability. Therefore, the nonlinear analysis of this risky region is inevitable. The results depict the permissible expansion of the cracks inside the gallery even under another future earthquake in MCE level. As a consequence, the general dam performance is assessed safe in spite of the seepage flow rate growth from the gallery fractures.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.17 no.1 s.50
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• pp.57-64
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• 2007

This study was conducted to characterize on the relationships among rainfall intensity, slope angle and pore water pressure in the gneissic weathered soil by landslide laboratory flume tests. Under the several test conditions dependent on rainfall intensity and slope angle, the authors measured pore water pressure, failure and displacement of slope on a regular time interval. According to the test results, the increasing times of pore water pressures have direct proportional trends to the rainfall intensity. The pore water pressure was increased earlier at the head part of slope than the toe part. Compared with the test results of Chae et al(2006), the results of this study explain that the seepage velocity in the gneissic weathered soil is slower than that in the standard sands. It results in faster and ear-lier increase of pore water pressure at the head part of slope due to slow flow of water in the gneissic weathered soil. In case of the relationship between slope angle and pore water pressure, gentle slope angle has faster increase of pore water pressure than steeper slope angle. It is also thought to be due to slow seepage velocity and flow velocity in the gneissic weathered soil.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.143-154
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• 2016

This study investigated the occurrences, causes, and mitigation of the recent ground subsidence and underground cavity generation events in Korea. Two main causes of ground subsidence are (1) the soil erosion by seepage during tunneling and earth excavation and (2) the damage of underground pipes. The main cause of the soil erosion during tunneling was the uncontrolled groundwater flow. Especially, when excavating soft grounds using a tunnel boring machine (TBM), the ground near TBM operation halt points were found to be the most vulnerable to failure. The damage of underground pipes was mainly caused by poor construction, material deterioration, and differential settlement in soft soils. The ground subsidence during tunneling and earth excavation can be managed by monitoring the outflow of groundwater and eroded soils in construction sites. It is expected that the ground subsidence by the underground pipe damage can be managed or mitigated by life cycle analysis and maintenance of the buried pipes, and by controlling the earth pressure distribution or increasing the bearing capacity at the upper ground of the buried pipes.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.5-15
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• 2013

In this paper, the unsaturated slope stability analysis considering suction stress (Lu and Godt, 2008) was introduced and the results applied for a certain sand slope were analyzed. The unsaturated slope stability analysis considering suction stress can analyze both conditions of steady infiltration and no infiltration, and it can estimate the safety factor of slope as a function of soil depth. Also, the influence of weathering phenomenon at a certain depth from the ground surface can be considered. The stability analysis considering suction stress was applied to the unsaturated infinite slope composed of sand with the relative density of 60%. The suction stress under no infiltration condition was affected by ground water table until a certain influencing depth. However, the suction stress under steady infiltration condition was affected by seepage throughout the soils. Especially, the maximum suction stress was displayed around ground surface. The factor of safety in the infinite slope under no infiltration condition rapidly increased and decreased within the influence zone of ground water table. As a result of slope stability analysis, the factor of safety is less than 1 at the depth of 2.4 m below the ground surface. It means that the probability of slope failure is too high within the range of depths. The factor of safety under steady infiltration condition is greater than that under no infiltration condition due to the change of suction stress induced by seepage. As the steady infiltration rate of precipitation was getting closer to the saturated hydraulic conductivity, the factor of safety decreased. In case of the steady infiltration rate of precipitation with $-1.8{\times}10^{-3}cm/s$, the factor of safety is less than 1 at the depths between 0.2 m and 3 m below the ground surface. It means that the probability of slope failure is too high within the range of depths, and type of slope failure is likely to be shallow landslides.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.83-94
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• 2012

Slopes are commonly formed both above and below roads located in mountainous terrain and along riversides. The Buk-sil site, a cut slope formed below the road, collapsed in October, 2010. A field investigation determined the causes of failure as improper drainage of valley water from the slope above the road and direct seepage of road-surface water. These factors may have accelerated the collapse via complex interaction between water and sub-surface structures such as bedding. Projection analysis of the site showed the possible involvement of plane, wedge, and toppling failure. Safety factors calculated by Limit Equilibrium Analysis for plane and wedge failure were below the standard for wet conditions. The wetness index, analyzed using topographic factors of the study area, was 9.0-10.5, which is high compared with the values calculated for nearby areas. This finding indicates a high concentration of water flow. We consider that water-flow control on the upper road is crucial for enhancing slope stability at the Buk-sil site.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.35-45
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• 2014

Limit equilibrium methods of slope stability analysis have been widely adopted mainly due to their simplicity and applicability. However, the conventional methods may not give reliable and convincing results for various geological conditions such as nonhomogeneous and anisotropic soils. Also, they do not take into account soil slope history nor the initial state of stress, for example excavation or fill placement. In contrast to the limit equilibrium analysis, the analysis of deformation and stress distribution by finite element method can deal with the complex loading sequence and the growth of inelastic zone with time. This paper proposes a technique to determine the critical slip surface as well as to calculate the factor of safety for shallow failure on partially saturated soil slope. Based on the effective stress field in finite element analysis, all stresses are estimated at each Gaussian point of elements. The search strategy for a noncircular critical slip surface along weak points is appropriate for rainfall-induced shallow slope failure. The change of unit weight by seepage force has an effect on the horizontal and vertical displacements on the soil slope. The Drucker-Prager failure criterion was adopted for stress-strain relation to calculate coupling hydraulic and mechanical behavior of the partially saturated soil slope.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.5-12
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• 2010

Soil mixture using bentonite as a cutoff material is used a lot for various structures such as landfills, banks and dams as cutoff materials. But seepage water is expected to seep since shear failure of filter layer occurs due to external load, embankment load when constructed. Generally, only coefficient of permeability of Soil Mixture is considered irrespective of the changes of intensity on amount of additives. This research is to study on how the changes of amount of bentonite affects permeability and strength of soil mixture. So successive experiments for measuring permeability and strength were conducted as the amount of bentonite changes from 0 to 4%, mixing with the bed material and then making specimens. Around construction site of B dam. As a result, 2.085E-07 cm/sec was shown when the amount of Soil Mixture was 4%. It is proved that unconfined compressive strength and tensile strength increase as the amount of bentonite increases, but saturation shear strength of bentonite soil mixture from the CD experiment is hardly influenced by the amount of bentonite.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.135-143
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• 2005

This paper presents a case history of a geosynthetics-reinforced segmental retaining wall, which collapsed during a severe rainfall immediately after the completion of the wall construction. In an attempt to identify possible causes for the collapse, a comprehensive investigation was carried out including physical and strength tests on the backfill, stability analyses on the as-built design based on the current design approaches, and slope stability analyses with pore pressure consideration. The investigation revealed that the inappropriate as-built design and the bad-quality backfill were mainly responsible for the collapse. This paper describes the site condition including wall design, details of the results of investigation and finally, lessons learned. Practical significance of the findings from this study is also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.45-54
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• 2014

Many studies have been made on investigation, design, explanation and treatments etc. to minimize slope failure. However, the problem is that failures of cutting slope and natural slope due to Typhoon and localized heavy rainfall are still not reduced. It is difficult to treat the problem by only strengthening the design standard. And it is very necessary to carry out design and safety analysis under the most suitable conditions considering foundation and rainfall characteristics. In this study, variations of safety factor were discussed from different aspects to investigate the influence of different parameters of rainfall and analysis conditions. Rainfall and foundation conditions are supposed to be the most sensitive parameters to slope stability, and numerical analysis were performed by changing parameters of the two conditions. Rainfall behavior is based on the domestic statistical rainfall and foundation condition is selected as unsaturated soils. Study results show that, application of rainfall characteristics in different area and parameters of unsaturated soils are responding sensitively to variations of slope safety. Therefore, the input parameters should be fully examined when performing the practical design.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.463-483
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• 2013

Considering the influences of fluid penetration, casing, excavation processes of wellbore and perforation tunnels, the seepage-deformation finite element model of oil and gas well coupled with perforating technique is established using the tensile strength failure criterion, in which the user-defined subroutine is developed to investigate the dynamic evolvement of the reservoir porosity and permeability. The results show that the increases of perforation angle and decreases of perforation density lead to a higher fracture initiation pressure, while the changes of the perforation diameter and length have no evident influences on the fracture initiation pressure. As for initiation location for the fracture in wellbore, it is on the wellbore face while considering the presence of the casing. By contrast, the fractures firstly initiate on the root of the tunnels without considering casing. Besides, the initial fracture position is also related with the perforation angle. The fracture initiation position is located in the point far away from the wellbore face, when the perforation angle is around $30^{\circ}$; however, when the perforation angle is increased to $45^{\circ}$, a plane fracture is initiated from the wellbore face in the maximum horizontal stress direction; no fractures was found around perforation tunnels, when the angel is close to $90^{\circ}$. The results have been successfully applied in an oilfield, with the error of only 1.1% comparing the fracture initiation pressure simulated with the one from on-site experiment.