• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.561-572
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• 2017

Seismic base isolation has been accepted as one of the most popular design procedures to protect important structures against earthquakes. However, due to lack of information and experimental data the application of base isolation is quite limited to nuclear power plant (NPP) industry. Moreover, the effects of inelastic behavior of soil beneath base-isolated NPP have raised questions to the effectiveness of isolation device. This study applies the wavelet analysis to investigate the effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the seismic response of a base-isolated NPP structure. To evaluate the SSI effects, the NPP structure is modelled as a lumped mass stick model and combined with a soil model using the concept of cone models. The lead rubber bearing (LRB) base isolator is used to adopt the base isolation system. The shear wave velocity of soil is varied to reflect the real rock site conditions of structure. The comparison between seismic performance of isolated structure and non-isolated structure has drawn. The results show that the wavelet analysis proves to be an efficient tool to evaluate the SSI effects on the seismic response of base-isolated structure and the seismic performance of base-isolated NPP is not sensitive to the effects in this case.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.5-13
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• 2015

Wave overflow can cause a failure of sea dike structure. Based on the results of the field surveys on mound-type sea dike, the failure of vicinity of crown and the scouring of toe at the landward was revealed as the most representative failure example. One of the main factors related to this failure pattern is overflow-induced pressure and velocity. Thus, in this study the analytical equations which can determine the pressure and the velocity induced by overflow in sea dike were proposed and verified. To accomplish this, assumed that the flow is quasi-steady and irrotational, and concentric circular streamlines around the vicinity of crown and toe of the sea dike. Flow was assumed as critical state and Bernoulli equation was used to develop the equations that can determine the pressure and velocity at the vicinity of crown and toe of the sea dike. Using these equations, the pressure and the velocity were calculated in condition of various overflow depths and radiuses of circular streamline. Based on the calculation results, while a negative pressure was occurred at the vicinity of crown, a significant amount of positive pressure occurred at the toe. The existence of flow-induced shear stresses was also confirmed. In addition, the limitation of the proposed equations was discussed.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.169-177
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• 2021

In this paper, horizontal seismic responses of a structure built on a sunken mat foundation were compared with those built on a solid embedded mat foundation to investigate the effect of a sunken mat foundation on the horizontal response of a structure. Seismic analyses of a structure laid on the embedded mat foundation were performed by utilizing a pseudo-3D finite element software of P3DASS. Three bedrock earthquake records downloaded from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center database were scaled to reproduce weak-moderate earthquakes. Weak, medium, and stiff soil layers were considered for the seismic analyses of the structure-foundation-soil system. Parametric studies were performed for foundation radius, foundation embedment depth, and shear wave velocity of a soil layer to investigate their effect on the seismic response spectrum. The study result showed that the design spectrum of a structure built on a sunken mat foundation was similar to that with a solid embedded mat foundation showing a slight difference due to almost the same seismic base motion beneath both embedded foundations.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.55-66
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• 2015

Big tidal differences, which range from 3.0 m to 8.0 m, exist with regional locations at south and west shores of Korea. Under this ocean circumstance, since a large scour may occur due to multi-directional tidal current and transverse stress of the wind, the scour surrounding the wind turbine structure can make instability of the system due to unexpected system vibration. The hydraulic resistance capacity of soils consolidated under different pressures are evaluated by Erosion Function Apparatus (EFA) under unidirectional and bi-directional flows in this study. It was found that the flow direction change affects significantly on the sour rate and critical shear stress, regardless of soil types while the consolidation pressure affects mainly cohesive soil. Among geotechnical parameters, the undrained shear strength can be well-correlated with the hydraulic resistance capacity, regardless soil type while the shear wave velocity shows the proportional relationships with the hydraulic resistance capacities of fine grained soil and coarse grained soil, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.337-344
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• 2006

This paper is concerned with the simplified criterion given in ASCE 4-98, for determining whether soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis is required for seismic response analysis of nuclear power plant structures. In this study, the criterion is evaluated for a couple of example structures including an existing nuclear power plant and the Hualien large-scale seismic test building. Forced vibration analysis and seismic response analysis are carried out using the simple stick model with soil springs and an elaborated SSI analytical model. From the numerical analyses, it is found that the criterion may not allow the fixed-base analysis for bedrock with shear wave velocity of greater than 1,100m/s which is a well-known criterion for a rock site. In addition, it is indicated that peak amplification as well as the peak broadening specified in NRC RG 1.122. shall be considered to include the effects of SSI.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.5-17
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• 2009

In HWAW method, experimental dispersion curve is obtained through time-frequency analysis, and inversion procedure is based on the forward modeling which considers full wavefield. Therefore, it enables us to use relatively short testing setup and has advantage for two dimensional subsurface imaging compared with another surface wave methods. Numerical study was performed to verify that the HWAW method can be applied to non-horizontally layerd soil structure. The experimental dispersion curves obtained from HWAW method agreed with the theoretical dispersion curves based on full wavefield. Experimental dispersion curves are mainly more affected by the region between two receivers than by the region from source to the first receiver. Fluctuation phenomena of dispersion curve can be reduced by adequate receiver spacing setup. From numerical study, it was thought that reliable Vs distribution map can be constructed by HWAW method and finally subsurface imaging was tried in the real field.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.17-29
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• 2009

There has been an increase in the investigation of deep sea sediments with a consequent increase in the amount of energy required to undertake these investigations. The geotechnical characteristics of Ulleung Basin sediment are explored by using depressurized specimens following methane production tests carried out on pressured core samples obtained at 2,100 m water depth and 110 m below sea floor. Geotechnical index tests, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscope are conducted to identify the geotechnical index parameters, clay mineralogy, chemical composition, and microstructure of the sediments. Compressibility, and elastic and electromagnetic wave parameters are investigated for two samples by using a multi sensing instrumented oedometer cell. The strength chatracteristics are obtained by the direct shear tests. The dominant clay minerals are mostly kaolinite, illite, chlorite, and calcite. The SEM shows a well-developed flocculated structure of the microfossil. Void ratio, electrical resistivity, real permittivity, conductivity, and shear wave velocity show bi-linear behavior with the effective vertical stress: as the vertical effective stress increases. The friction angle obtained by the direct shear test is about $21^{\circ}$, which is similar to the value observed in the Ulleung Basin sediments. This study shows that the understanding of the behavior acting on the diatomaceous marine sediment is important because it often maintains the useful energy resources such as gas hydrate and so will be the new engineering field in the next generation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.333-338
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• 2008

The coastal zone is a delicate and dynamic area in which the majority of a water kinetic energy is dissipated. These processes are subsequent to the transport of the beach materials. In comparison to emerged breakwaters, submerged structures permit the passage of some wave energy and in turn allow for circulation along the shoreline zone. This research aims to examine the beach erosion prevention capability of submerged structure by laboratory model. The flow characteristics behind a submerged obstacle with bottom gap were experimentally investigated at Re = $1.2{\times}10^4$ using the two-frame PIV(CACTUS 2000) system. Streamline curvature field behind the obstacle has been obtained by using the data of time-averaged mean velocity information. And the large eddy structure in the separated shear layer seems to have signification influence on the development of the separated shear layer. As bottom gap size increases, the recirculation occurring behind the obstacle moves toward downstream and its strength is weakened.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.66-73
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• 2014

To estimate the shear-velocity ($v_s$) structure beneath the WIZ station on White Island in New Zealand, we applied receiver function (RF) inversion and H-${\kappa}$ stacking methods to 362 teleseismic events (Mw > 5.5) recorded during April 20, 2007 to September 6, 2013. Using 71 RFs with errors less than 20% after 200 iterative computations, we determined that the depth to Moho of $v_s$ = 4.35 km/s is $24{\pm}1km$ within a 15 km radius of the station. In an 1-d $v_s$ model derived by RF inversions, a 4-km thick low-velocity layer (LVL) at depths of 18 ~ 22 km was identified in the lower crust. This LVL, which is 0.15 km/s slower than the rocks above and below it, may indicate the presence of a deep magma reservoir. The H-${\kappa}$ stacking method yielded an estimate of the depth to the Moho of 24.5 km, which agrees well with the depth determined by RF inversions. The low $v_p/v_s$ ratio of 1.64 may be due to the presence of gas-filled rock or hot crystallizing magma.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.139-156
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• 1995

A set of field investigations was performed to estimate accurately the predominant periods of seismic 8round motions and the attenuation characteristics of the seismic ground vibration. Predominant periods of ground motions were estimated from the measurement of the continuous microseismic vibratins of certain periods, inherent in the ground and in the buildings, utilizing the high sensitivity digital velocity seismometer consisting of 3-component geophones and a digital seismograph. Estimated predominant periods of microseismic vibraion of the ground(measured on'the ground surface) and the building (measured on the second floor) were in the range of 0.18~0.235 sec. and 0.26~0.31 sec. respectively. The subsurface structure of the site ground was surveyed by the seismic refraction method utilizing the digital seismicwave probing system. The ground structure was found to be a two-layered system : an upper top soil layer of 7m in thickness with the P-wave velocity of 662m1sec and a lower layer of silty-clayey soils with the P -wave velocity of 2210m1 sec. The attenuation characteristics of the seismic ground vibrations were determined by the amplitude decay measurement method us;ng the Seisgun, which produces strong artificial seismic energy. Measured spatial attenuation coefficients of the ground vibration in vertical(Z) longitudinal(X), transverse(Y) direction were 0.1137, 0.0025, and 0.0290 respectively. Estimated Spartial QP's (inverse of the specific dissipation constant w.r.t. shear waved of X, Y, and Z directions were in the range of 5.913~7.575, 32.371~41.452, 2.794~3.579 re spectively. This indicates that aseimic design of the structures on the site should take stronger consideration regarding the earthquake resistance characteristics of the structures against longitudinal ground motion.