• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.237-246
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• 2022

Based on the random-vibration-theory methodology, dynamic responses of nuclear facilities subjected to obliquely incidental and incoherent earthquake ground motions are calculated. The spectral power density functions of the 6-degree-of-freedom motions of a rigid foundation due to the incoherent ground motions are obtained with the local wave scattering and wave passage effects taken into consideration. The spectral power density function for the pseudo-acceleration of equipment installed on a structural floor is derived. The spectral acceleration of the equipment or the in-structure response spectrum is then estimated using the peak factors of random vibration. The approach is applied to nuclear power plant structures installed on half-spaces, and the reduction of high-frequency earthquake responses due to obliquely incident incoherent earthquake ground motions is examined. The influences of local wave scattering and wave passage effects are investigated for three half-spaces with different shear-wave velocities. When the shear-wave velocity is sufficiently large like hard rock, the local wave scattering significantly affects the reduction of the earthquake responses. In the cases of rock or soft rock, the earthquake responses of structures are further affected by the incident angles of seismic waves or the wave passage effects.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.7-20
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• 2020

In this study, the dynamic behavior of a single pile foundation was investigated by using an analytical and numerical studies. The emphasis was given on quantifying a function about the coefficient of dynamic horizontal subgrade reaction from 3D analysis. Based on the numerical analysis, a modified correction factor (α), which is used to obtain the coefficient dynamic horizontal subgrade reaction, was proposed by considering shear wave velocity of soil and confining stress. It was found that the prediction by pseudo-static analysis using the proposed coefficient is in good agreement with the general trends observed by dynamic analysis, and it represents a practical improvement in the prediction of behavior for pile foundations subjected to dynamic loads.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.67-78
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• 1998

Microtunnelling is a technique applied to install a small-size tunnel in a soft cohesionless ground. In microtunnelling, a series of concrete tubular segments are pushed from a starting pit to power-line tunnel under a runway of JFK international airport at New York. During the microtunneling process, bentonite is jetted with very hyh pressure through a nozzle to advance disturbance in the subgrade caused by the pressurized bentonite in the aspects of subgrade stiffness. SASW measurements were performed on the runway above the center line of the shear wave velocity profiles. Besides the change of subgrade stiffness, the change of subgrade strength was also evaluated by the site-specific relationships between shear wave velocity and N value, which was determined by N values. The estimated N values gave a clue to the understanding of the change of subgrade strength.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.67-75
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• 2014

In this paper, isotropically consolidated drained triaxial compression test device installed with bender elements is used to measure stress, stain, and shear wave velocity, from which the characteristics of shear strength and Poisson'ratio are investigated. The results show that there is a unique relationship between maximum shear modulus determined from shear wave velocity and effective vertical stress at failure, which is defined as the sum of vertical and radial stresses at failure. The correlation is very useful since it is possible to predict the shear strength and internal friction angle from shear wave velocity. In addition, Poisson's ratio is determined from measured axial and volumetric strains. It is demonstrated that the range of measured Poisson's ratio is between 0.15 and 0.6, and increases with the axial strain. The ratios at axial strains smaller than 0.2% corresponds to the range recommended in design codes, which are approximately from 0.3~0.35. However, at axial strains exceeding 1%, the measured ratios are between 0.5 and 0.6. It is therefore shown that use of ratios commonly used in practice will result in pronounced underestimation at large strains.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.775-791
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• 2017

Surface wave techniques are widely used as non-invasive method for geotechnical site characterization. Field surface wave data are collected and analyzed using different processing techniques to generate the dispersion curves, which are further used to extract the shear wave velocity profile by inverse problem solution. Characteristics of a dispersion curve depend on the subsurface layering information of a vertically heterogeneous medium. Sometimes soft layer can be found between two stiff layers in the vertically heterogeneous media, and it can affect the wave propagation dramatically. Now most of the surface wave techniques use the fundamental mode Rayleigh wave propagation during the inversion, but this may not be the actual scenario when a soft layer is present in a vertically layered medium. This paper presents a detailed and comprehensive study using finite element method to examine the effect of soft layers which sometimes get trapped between two high velocity layers. Determination of the presence of a soft layer is quite important for proper mechanical characterization of a soil deposit. Present analysis shows that the thickness and position of the trapped soft layer highly influence the dispersion of Rayleigh waves while the higher modes also contribute in the resulting wave propagation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.352-359
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• 2005

In this study, seismic refraction survey and MASW at dam crest and down-hole test and cross hole test in the boring holes located in dam crest through the core are performed to fin out dynamic material properties, are needed to evaluate dynamic safety of rockfill dam using dynamic analysis method. From the field test and geophysical exploration, applied such as above, p-wave and s-wave velocity profile of each layer of dam body. Dynamic material properties, such as elastic modulus, shear modulus, poissong's ration, are obtained from p-wave and s-wave velocity profile and density profile from formation density logging test.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.609-618
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• 2018

A new mechanical model for predicting the vibration of a pipe pile embedded in longitudinally layered visco-elastic media with radial inhomogeneity is proposed by extending Novak's plain-strain model and complex stiffness method to consider viscous-type damping. The analytical solutions for the dynamic impedance, the velocity admittance and the reflected signal of wave velocity at the pile head are also derived and subsequently verified by comparison with existing solutions. An extensive parametric analysis is further performed to examine the effects of shear modulus, viscous damping coefficient, coefficient of disturbance degree, weakening or strengthening range of surrounding soil and longitudinal soft or hard interbedded layer on the velocity admittance and the reflected signal of wave velocity at the pile head. It is demonstrated that the proposed model and the obtained solutions provide extensive possibilities for practical application compared with previous related studies.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.71-81
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• 2005

Surface wave techniques were initially based on 2-D plane waves and were later improved to the techniques based the 3-D based cylindrical waves. However, body-wave interference, near-field effect and limited technology in surface wave measurements restricted the use of 3-D cylindrical waves to the 1-D evaluation of subgrade stiffness. In this study, by the numerical simulation of SASW measurements, the dispersion properties of surface waves including vertical, horizontal Rayleigh waves and Love waves were thoroughly investigated in the 3-D domain, and a new filter criteria to minimize the near-field effect was established, which led to CAP (common-array-profiling)-SASW technique. The CAP-SASW technique enabled the evaluation of subgrade stiffness fur a specific subgrade segment, not for a whole section of measurement array. Therefore, a contour plot of subgrade stiffness with a ground-truth quality can be obtained by the CAP-SASW technique. The procedure proposed in this study was verified by comparing the shear-wave velocity profiles with the shear-wave velocity profiles of downhole testing at two geotechnical sites.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.5-16
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• 2009

Preconsolidation stress is one of the important design parameters in soft soils because the behavior of saturated soft soils changes dramatically at the preconsolidation stress. For the estimation of preconsolidation stress, the global vertical settlement without considering micro strain behavior has been considered. The purpose of this study is to propose and verify a new method called the "shear wave velocity method" for determination of the preconsolidation stress reflecting on particle behavior at the small-strain. In this study, the undisturbed soft soils obtained at Busan, Incheon and Gwangyang in Korea were used. The oedometer cell incoporated with the bender elements is used for the consolidation tests under the $K_0$ condition. The preconsolidation stress determined by the proposed method is compared with that estimated by Casagrande (e-log p'), Sridharan (log (1+e)-log p'), and Onitsuka (In(1+e)-log p') methods. This study suggests that the shear wave velocity method may determine simply the preconsolidation stress with considering the small-strain behavior.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.55-63
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• 2024

Xanthan gum biopolymer is an ecofriendly ground stabilizer that maintains stability in a wide range of temperatures and pH values. The binding effect of sandy soil particles realized by injecting xanthan gum biopolymer is dependent on the xanthan gum matrix, which is formed during the drying process; thus a study on the effects of the drying process of the xanthan gum solution on the changes in stiffness characteristics of sandy soil is required. In this study, shear wave velocity and electrical resistivity were monitored in sandy soil specimens saturated with biopolymer solutions of different gravimetric concentrations to investigate the improvement effects of biopolymer-treated sandy soils with the drying process. The experimental results reveal that both shear wave velocity and electrical resistivity increase during drying process. The results demonstrate the stiffness improvement effects of biopolymer-treated sandy soils. In addition, a higher stiffness improvement effect was monitored in the biopolymer-treated sandy soils with a higher gravimetric concentration. The results of this study may be used to estimate the stiffness improvement effects of sandy soils treated with biopolymer solutions with the drying process.