• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.381-393
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• 2021

Physical, mechanical, hydraulic, and geophysical tests were applied to validate methods of inspecting the effectiveness of grouting on an agricultural reservoir dam. Data obtained from series of in situ and laboratory tests considered four stages: before grouting; during grouting; immediately after grouting; and after aging the grouting for 28 days. The results of SPT and triaxial tests, including the unit weight, compressive strength, friction angle, cohesion, and N-value, indicated the extent of ground improvement with respect to grout injection. However, they sometimes contained errors caused by ground heterogeneity. Hydraulic conductivity obtained from in situ variable head permeability testing is most suitable for identifying the effectiveness of grouting because the impermeability of the ground increased immediately after grouting. Electric resistivity surveying is useful for finding a saturated zone and a seepage pathway, and multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) is suitable for analyzing the effectiveness of grouting, as elastic velocity increases distinctly after grouting injection. MASW also allows calculation from the P- and S- wave velocities of dynamic properties (e.g., dynamic elastic modulus and dynamic Poisson's ratio), which can be used in the seismic design of dam structures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.29-37
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• 2021

Since many geotechnical structures are constructed on a weathered granite layer, it is important to evaluate their characteristics. As a seismic design is the more important nowadays, the demands to estimate a shear wave velocity (V_S) based on acceptable methods are increasing. In this study, an empirical equation predicting V_S of the weathered granite layer is suggested based on the nonlinear multiple variable regression analysis whose independent variables are both SPT (Standard penetration test)-N₆₀ and chemical weathering index. It is concluded that the accuracy of the empirical equation estimating V_S of the weathered granite layer increases when it considers the chemical weathering index as an additional independent variable compared to the result of simple regression analysis using only N₆₀.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.13-23
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• 2022

The ground-structure interaction of the bridge foundation has been pointed out as a major factor influencing the behavior of the bridge during earthquakes. In this study, the effect of characteristics of ground and bridge foundation on the earthquake vulnerability is investigated. From the pseudo-static analysis, it is confirmed that non-linearity becomes lesser and horizontal load becomes greater when surcharge is considered. It is also found that as the ground worsens and the size of foundation decreases, horizontal load reduces. To derive reasonable structural model for bridge foundation, fragility curve is obtained considering four conditions (fixed condition, equivalent linear condition, non-linear without surchage condition, non-linear with surcharge condition) and compared. Seismic analysis is performed on single pier with Opensees. From the earthquake vulnerability analysis, it is found that shallow foundation can be assumed as fixed condition. In conservative approach, stiffness of spring can be obtained based on Korean highway bridge design code for pile foundation which can consider the ground condition.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.33-40
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• 2023

The lateral load which is applied to the pile foundation supporting the superstructure during an earthquake is divided into the inertia force of the upper structure and the kinematic force of the ground. The inertia force and the kinematic force could cause failure to the pile foundation through different complex mechanisms. So it is necessary to predict and evaluate interaction of the ground-pile-structure properly for the seismic design of the foundation. The interaction is affected by the lateral behavior of the structure, the length of the pile, the boundary conditions of the head, and the relative density of the ground. Confining pressure and ground stiffness change accordingly when the relative density changes, and it results that the coefficient of subgrade reaction varies depending on each system. Horizontal bearing behavior and capacity of the pile foundation vary depending on lateral load condition and relative density of the sandy soil. Therefore, the 1g shaking table tests were conducted to confirm the effect of the relative density of the dried sandy soil to dynamic behavior of the group pile supporting the superstructure. The result shows that, as the relative density increases, maximum acceleration of the superstructure and the pile cap increases and decreases respectively, and the slope of the p-y curve of the pile decreases.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2023

A simplified calculation method of natural vibration characteristics of high-speed railway multi-span bridge-longitudinal ballastless track system is proposed. The rail, track slab, base slab, main beam, bearing, pier, cap and pile foundation are taken into account, and the multi-span longitudinal ballastless track-beam-bearing-pier-cap-pile foundation integrated model (MBTIM) is established. The energy equation of each component of the MBTIM based on Timoshenko beam theory is constructed. Using the improved Fourier series, and the Rayleigh-Ritz method and Hamilton principle are combined to obtain the extremum of the total energy function. The simplified calculation formula of the natural vibration frequency of the MBTIM under the influence of vertical and longitudinal vibration is derived and verified by numerical methods. The influence law of the natural vibration frequency of the MBTIM is analyzed considering and not considering the participation of each component of the MBTIM, the damage of the track interlayer component and the stiffness change of each layer component. The results show that the error between the calculation results of the formula and the numerical method in this paper is less than 3%, which verifies the correctness of the method in this paper. The high-order frequency of the MBTIM is significantly affected considering the track, bridge pier, pile soil and pile cap, while considering the influence of pile cap on the low-order and high-order frequency of the MBTIM is large. The influence of component damage such as void beneath slab, mortar debonding and fastener failure on each order frequency of the MBTIM is basically the same, and the influence of component damage less than 10m on the first fourteen order frequency of the MBTIM is small. The bending stiffness of track slab and rail has no obvious influence on the natural frequency of the MBTIM, and the bending stiffness of main beam has influence on the natural frequency of the MBTIM. The bending stiffness of pier and base slab only has obvious influence on the high-order frequency of the MBTIM. The natural vibration characteristics of the MBTIM play an important guiding role in the safety analysis of high-speed train running, the damage detection of track-bridge structure and the seismic design of railway bridge.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.83-94
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• 2011

Extra heavy oil reservoirs are distributed over the world but most of them is deposited in the northern part of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, in the area of 5,500 $km^2$, This region, which has been commonly called "the Orinoco Oil Belt", contains estimated 1.3 trillion barrels of original oil-in-place and 250 billion barrels of established reserves. The Venezuela extra heavy oil has an API gravity of less than 10 degree and in situ viscosity of 5,000 cP at reservoir condition. Although the presence of extra heavy oil in the Orinoco Oil Belt has been initially reported in the 1930's, the commercial development using in situ cold production started in the 1990's. The Orinoco heavy oil deposits are clustered into 4 development areas, Boyaco, Junin, Ayachoco, and Carabobo respectively, and they are subdivided into totally 31 production blocks. Nowadays, PDVSA (Petr$\'{o}$leos de Venzuela, S.A.) makes a development of each production block with the international oil companies from more than 20 countries forming a international joint-venture company. The Eastern Venezuela Basin, the Orinoco Oil Belt is included in, is one of the major oil-bearing sedimentary basins in Venezuela and is first formed as a passive margin basin by the Jurassic tectonic plate motion. The major source rock of heavy oil is the late Cretaceous calcareous shale in the central Eastern Venezuela Basin. Hydrocarbon materials migrated an average of 150 km up dip to the southern margin of the basin. During the migration, lighter fractions in the hydrocarbon were removed by biodegradation and the oil changed into heavy and/or extra heavy oil. Miocene Oficina Formation, the main extra heavy oil reservoir, is the unconsolidated sand and shale alternation formed in fluvial-estuarine environment and also has irregularly a large number of the Cenozoic faults induced by basin subsidence and tectonics. Because Oficina Formation has not only complex lithology distribution but also irregular geology structure, geological evolution and characteristics of the reservoirs have to be determined for economical production well design and effective oil recovery. This study introduces geological formation and evolution of the Venezuela extra heavy oil reservoirs and suggest their significant geological characteristics which are (1) thickness and geometry of reservoir pay sands, (2) continuity and thickness of mud beds, (3) geometry of faults, (4) depth and geothermal character of reservoir, (5) in-situ stress field of reservoir, and (6) chemical composition of extra heavy oil. Newly developed exploration techniques, such as 3-D seismic survey and LWD (logging while drilling), can be expected as powerful methods to recognize the geological reservoir characteristics in the Orinoco Oil Belt.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

To reveal and classify site characteristics in densely populated areas in Chuncheon, Korea, Rayleigh-waves were recorded at 50 sites including four sites in the forest area using four 1-Hz velocity sensors and 24 4.5-Hz vertical geophones during the period of January 2011 to May 2013. Dispersion curves of the Rayleigh waves obtained by the extended spatial autocorrelation method were inverted to derive shear-wave velocity ($v_s$) models comprising 40 horizontal layers of 1-m thickness. Depths to weathered rocks ($D_b$), shear wave velocities of these basement rocks ($v_s^b$), average velocities of the overburden layer ($\bar{v}_s^s$), and the average velocity to a depth of 30 m ($v_s30$), were then derived from those models. The estimated values of $D_b$, $v_s^b$, $\bar{v}_s^s$, and $v_s30$ for 46 sites at lower altitudes were in the ranges of 5 to 29 m, 404 to 561 m/s, 208 to 375 ms/s, and 226 to 583 m/s, respectively. According to the Korean building code for seismic design, the estimated $v_s30$ indicates that the lower altitude areas in Chuncheon are classified as $S_C$ (very dense soil and soft rock) or $S_D$ (stiff soil). To determine adequate proxies for $v_s30$, we compared the computed values with land cover, lithology, topographic slope, and surface elevation at each of the measurement sites. Due to a weak correlation (r = 0.41) between $v_s30$ and elevation, the best proxy of them, applications of this proxy to Chuncheon of a relatively small area seem to be limited.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.5-15
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• 2020

The liquefaction phenomenon that occurred during the Pohang earthquake (M_L=5.4) brought new awareness to the people about the risk of liquefaction caused by the earthquake. Liquefaction hazard maps with 2 km grid made in 2014 used more than 100,000 borehole data for the whole country, and regions without soil investigation data were produced using interpolation. In the mapping of macro liquefaction hazard for the whole country, the site amplification effect and the ground water level 0 m were considered. Recently, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (2018) published a new site classification method and amplification coefficient of the common standard for seismic design. Therefore, it is necessary to rewrite the liquefaction hazard map reflecting the revised amplification coefficient. In this study, the results of site classification according to the average shear wave velocity in soils before and after revision were compared in the whole country. Also, liquefaction assessment results were compared in Gangseo-gu, Busan. At this time, two ground accelerations corresponding to the 500 and 1,000 years of return period and two ground water table, 5 m for the average condition and 0 m the extreme condition were applied. In the drawing of liquefaction hazard map, a 500 m grid was applied to secure a resolution higher than the previous 2 km grid. As a result, the ground conditions that were classified as S_C and S_D grounds based on the existing site classification standard were reclassified as S₂, S₃, and S₄ through the revised site classification standard. Also, the result of the Liquefaction assessments with a return period of 500 years and 1,000 years resulted in a relatively overestimation of the LPI applied with the ground amplification factor before revision. And the results of this study have a great influence on the liquefaction assessment, which is the basis of the creation of the regional liquefaction hazard map using the amplification factor.