• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.331-344
• /
• 2009

Large landslides occurred since 1990 on natural terrain, Korea were reviewed with the existing data to characterize them in terms of the condition of rainfall, geology and geometry. Ten landslide areas over the nationwide are selected for this study. Among them, five areas consist of granite basement, four areas of granite and metamorphic rocks and the remaining an area of gabbro. The basement lithology on which landslides most dominantly occurred is granite, on which 58% of landslides among the total 3,435 are taken place, the next dominant one is metamorphic rocks where 24% of landslides are occurred, and the remaining 18% are on the areas of volcanic and sedimentary rocks which are partly distributed in some areas. The landslide occurrences may depend on the rainfall intensities rather than durations. We applied the theories of Caine's threshold and Olivier's final response coefficient to the Korean cases. The rainfall conditions at the landslide areas were all satisfied enough with the landslide triggering conditions suggested by Caine and Olivier. The triggering mechanism and type of landslides may largely depend on the weathering and geomorphic characteristics of basement lithology. The granite areas are characterized by being relatively shallow but consistent weathering profiles and almost no outcrop, and therefore, shallow translational slides are dominant. Whereas metamorphic areas are characterized by consisting of steep slope, weathered outcrops on ridges and partly on flanks and irregular weathering profiles, and relatively large debris flows are dominant.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.29-38
• /
• 2010

Micro-piles have been used to increase the bearing capacity or to restrain settlement of existing shallow foundation. Recently, micro-piles are used to support the shallow foundation, to stabilize the slope and to resist the sliding of retaining wall. Using the micro-piles in geotechnical engineering, some investigators have studied the effective installing method by model test or field test. But most of previous studies are chiefly focused on the micro-piles in sand or clay layer. If a rock layer exists in soil, the installing length of micro-piles may be determined by the depth of rock layer. In this case, the stiffness of pile may be changed by the installing length of pile, and so the installing method has to be altered by the changed stiffness of pile. Model tests have been conducted to study the installation method of micro-pile in soil with rock layer. As a result, when the ratio of length of pile is below 50 ($L/d{\leq}50$), installing of micro-piles in vertical position is effective regardless of the depth of rock layer. If the depth of rock layer is deeper than soil failure zone and the ratio of the length of pile exceeds 50 (L/d>50), installing of the micro-piles in sloped position is effective.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.65-78
• /
• 2008

In case of cut-slopes or shallow-depth tunnels, sliding along with discontinuities or rotation could play a critical role in judging stability. Although numerical analysis is widely used to check the stability of these cut-slopes and shallow-depth tunnels in early design process, common analysis programs are based on continuum model. Performing continuum model analysis regarding discontinuities is possible by reducing overall strength of jointed rock mass. It is also possible by applying ubiquitous joint model to Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria. In numerical analysis of cut-slope, main geotechnical properties such as cohesion, friction angle and elastic modulus can be evaluated by empirical equations. This study tried to compare two main systems, RMR and GSI system by applying them to in-situ hazardous cut-slopes. In addition, this study applied ubiquitous joint model to simulation model with inputs derived by RMR and GSI system to compare with displacements obtained by in-situ monitoring. To sum up, numerical analysis mixed with GSI inputs and ubiquitous joint model proved to provide most reliable results which were similar to actual displacements and their patterns.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.91-103
• /
• 2009

Slope failure depends upon the climatic features related to related rainfall, structural geology and geomorphological features as well as the variation of the mechanical behaviors of soil constituting a slope. In this paper, among many variables, effects of soil layer thickness on the slope failure process, and variations of matric suction and volumetric water content were observed. When the soil layer is relatively thick, the descending wetting front decreases matric suction and the observed matric suction reaches to "0" value. When the wetting front reaches to the impermeable boundary, the bottom surface of steel soil box, ascending wetting front was observed. This observation can be postulated to be the effects of various sizes of pores. When macro size pores exist, the capillary effects can be reduced and infilling of pore will be limited. The partially filled pores would be filled with water during the ascending of the wetting front, which bounces from the impermeable boundary. This assumption has been assured from the observation of variation of the volumetric water contents at different depth. When the soil layer is thick (thickness = 20 cm), for granular material, erosion is a cause triggering the slope failure. It has been found that the initiation of erosion occurs when the top soil is fully saturated. Meanwhile, when the soil layer is shallow (thickness = 10 cm), slope slides as en mass. The slope failure for this condition occurs when the wetting front reaches to the interface between the soil layer and steel soil box. As the wetting front approaches to the bottom of soil layer, reduction of shear resistance along the boundary and increase of the unit weight due to the infiltration occur and these produce complex effects on the slope failure processes.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.33-42
• /
• 2014

The shear strength and deformation characteristics of granular soils at low confining stresses differ from those with high confining stresses. Thus, the clear understanding of geotechnical problems related to the low confining stress state such as the stability of shallow foundations, embankments, slope failure, debris flow characteristics and liquefaction as well as the various laboratory model tests is needed. In this study, drained triaxial compression tests with the cell pressures from 5 kPa to 300 kPa were performed on dry Jumunjin sand. The results show that the internal friction angle and deformation modulus are dependent on the confining stress. Also, the correlations between them on the dense and loose sand were established.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.5-11
• /
• 2018

In conventional analytical solutions for rainfall-induced soil slope stability, the Green-Ampt (1911) equation for estimating the saturation depth and the Skempton & DeLory (1957) equation for calculating the infinite slope shallow failure were compared with the numerical analysis to confirm the error. In the simple evaluation of the reason of soil slope instability due to rainfall using the conventional equations, there are many errors and, overestimation or underestimation of the calculation results. In this study, the equation consisting of the results obtained from infiltration analysis on unsaturated soil slope is proposed by applying the average range of the strength parameters of the granite weathered soils, and its reliability is verified by comparing with the numerical analysis results. The developed equation can be used easily in various fields for the estimation of slope safety factor by checking the rainfall duration and saturation depth.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.49-55
• /
• 2006

Quick lime made from limestone that are deposited abundantly in Korea has excellent potentials for stabilization of clayey soils. If Korea is able to take advantage of its abundant supply, economical efficiency could be achieved through mass production as well as being able to take advantage of utilization of natural resources. For stabilizing of clayey soil with lime, it is necessary to determine the required quantities of lime firstly and to evaluate the degree of stabilization with lime content. In this test, the quantity of lime required for 2 clayey soils which located in Seunggok and Bugok province respectively, and for 2 clay minerals-kaolinite and montmorillonite-were determined by ASTM C 977-92 and were evaluated for solidification of each samples with changing lime contents by Atterberg limit test and pH test. It was also evaluated for the improvement of each sample with lime content and curing time. The sample which added lime content determined by ASTM C 977-92 increased plastic limit, unconfined compression strength, and decreased pH in increasing trend.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 2003

Rainfall-induced landslides in a weathered granite soil slope usually happen on shallow slip surfaces above the groundwater table. The pore-water pressure of soil above the groundwater table is usually negative. This negative pore-water pressure (or matric suction) has been found to make a large contribution to the slope stability. Therefore, the variation of in-situ matric suction profiles with time elapse in a soil slope should be understood. In this study, a field measurement program was carried out from June to August, 2001 in order to monitor in-situ matric suctions and volumetric water contents in a weathered granite soil slope. Finite-element transient seepage analyses are also conducted using SEEP/W. The influence of climatic conditions on the variation of in-situ matric suctions could be found to decrease rapidly with the change of depth. It could be found that decrement of matric suction induced by precipitation is affected not only by the amount and duration of rainfalls but also by the initial matric suction just prior to rainstorms. The soil-water characteristic from the field monitoring tends toward the wetting path of SWCC obtained from the laboratory test.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.2 s.69
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2006

Steel, as a reinforcing mechanism in concrete, provides the tensile strength that is lacking in concrete, alone, and the high alkaline environment (pH 12.5) in concrete offers satisfactory protection against most corrosion of the steel. However, the corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete can occur by chloride attack or carbonation, and it can cause a loss of integrity a section and concrete failure through cracking and spalling. In this study, a transient electro magnetic method (TEM) of a nondestructive technique is adapted to study the measuring method of steel corrosion in mortar. The sensor was made of an enameled wire, with a diameter of 0.25mm and anacril. He sensor configuration used was a coincident loop type. The secondary electro motive force (2nd EMF) was measured with SIROTEMIII, which equipped the accelerator. The accelerator allowsthe transmitter to turn off approximately $10\sim15$ times faster than normal. The high-resolution time series, used for very shallow or a high resistivity investigation was selected. After steels were corroded by the salt spray, during 4, 8, 15 and 25 days, they were embedded in mortar. The content results acquired in this study are as follows. The variation of the secondary electro motive force (2nd EMF) was shown by the change of steel surface with different corrosion time steel. It was confirmed that measurement of steel corrosion in mortar by a transient electro-magnetic method (TEM) can be possible.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.125-141
• /
• 1998

Recent test results of steel moment connections repaired with a haunch on the bottom side of the beam have been shown to be a very promising solution to enhancing the seismic performance of steel moment-resisting frames. Yet, little is known about the effects of using such a repair scheme on the global seismic response of structures. When haunches are incorporated in a steel moment frame, the response prediction is complicated by the presence of "dual" panel zones. To investigate the effects of a repair on seismic performance, a case study was conducted for a 13-story steel frame damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It was assumed that only those locations with reported damage would be repaired with haunches. A new analytical modeling technique for the dual panel zone developed by the author was incorporated in the analysis. Modeling the dual panel zone was among the most significant consideration in the analyses. Both the inelastic static and dynamic analyses did not indicate detrimental side effects resulting from the repair. As a result of the increased strength in dual panel zones, yielding in these locations were eliminated and larger plastic rotation demand occurred in the beams next to the shallow end of the haunches. Nevertheless, the beam plastic rotation demand produced by the Sylmar record of 1994 Northridge earthquake was still limited to 0.017 radians. The repair resulted in a minor increase in earthquake energy input. In the original structure, the panel zones should dissipate about 80% (for the Oxnard record) and 70% (for the Sylmar record) of the absorbed energy, assuming no brittle failure of moment connections. After repair, the energy dissipated in the panel zones and beams were about equal.