• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2007.09a
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• pp.481-501
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• 2007

Excessive rainfalls due to climatic changes can trigger an increase in rainfall-induced slope failures that pose real threats to both lives and properties. Many high slopes in residual soils could stand at a steep angle, but failed during or after rainfall. Commonly, these slopes have a deep groundwater table and negative pore-water pressures in the unsaturated zone above the groundwater table contribute to the shear strength of soil and consequently to factor of safety of the slope. Stability assessment of slope under rainfall requires information on rate of rainwater infiltration in the unsaturated zone and the resulting changes in pore-water pressure and shear strength of soil. This paper describes the application of unsaturated soil mechanics principles and theories in the assessment of rainfall effect on stability of slope through proper characterization of soil properties, measurement of negative pore-water pressures, seepage and slope stability analyses involving unsaturated and saturated soils. Factors controlling the rate of changes in factor of safety during rainfall and a preventive method to minimize infiltration are highlighted in this paper.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.285-304
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• 2016

The effects of large rotations and p-delta on the dynamic response of a structure subjected to seismic loading and local uplift of its foundation were analyzed in this work. The structure was modeled by an equivalent flexible mat mounted on a rigid foundation that is supported either by a Winkler soil type or a rigid soil. The equations of motion of the system were derived by taking into account the equilibrium of the coupled foundation-mat system where the structure was idealized as a single-degree-of-freedom. The obtained nonlinear coupled system of ordinary differential equations was integrated by using an adequate numerical scheme. A parametric study was performed then in order to evaluate the maximum response of the system as function of the intensity of the earthquake, the slenderness of the structure, the ratio of the mass of the foundation to the mass of the structure. Three cases were considered: (i) local uplift of foundation under large rotation with the p-delta effect, (ii) local uplift of foundation under large rotation without including the p-delta effect, (iii) local uplift of foundation under small rotation. It was found that, in the considered ranges of parameters and for moderate earthquakes, assuming small rotation of foundation under seismic loading can yield more adverse structural response, while the p-delta effect has almost no effect.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.195-211
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• 2014

Stone columns (or granular column) have been used to increase the load carrying capacity and accelerating consolidation of soft soil. Recently, the geosynthetic reinforced stone column technique has been developed to improve the load carrying capacity of the stone column. In addition, reinforcement prevents the lateral squeezing of stone in to surrounding soft soil, helps in easy formation of stone column, preserve frictional properties of aggregate and drainage function of the stone column. This paper investigates the improvement of load carrying capacity of isolated ordinary and geotextile reinforced sand column through field load tests. Tests were performed with different reinforcement stiffness, diameter of sand column and reinforcement length. The results of field load test indicated an improved load carrying capacity of geotextile reinforced sand column over ordinary sand column. The increase in load carrying capacity depends upon the sand column diameter, stiffness of reinforcement and reinforcement length. Also, the partial reinforcement length about two to four time's sand column diameter from the top of the column was found to significant effect on the performance of sand column.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.147-188
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• 1997

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.235-261
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• 2009

This study illustrates the differences between the elasto-plastic cap model and Lade's model with Cosserat rotation through the analyses of two large-scale geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) retaining wall tests that were brought to failure using a monotonically increasing surcharge pressure. The finite element analyses with Lade's model were able to reasonably simulate the large-scale plane strain laboratory tests. On average, the finite element analyses gave reasonably good agreement with the experimental results in terms of global performances and shear band occurrences. In contrast, the cap model was not able to simulate the development of shear banding in the tests. In both test simulations the cap model predicted failure loads that were substantially less than the measured ones.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.353-362
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• 2012

In this paper decay and mapped elastodynamic infinite elements, based on modified Bessel shape functions and appropriate for Soil-Structure Interaction problems are described and discussed. These elements can be treated as a new form of the recently proposed Elastodynamic Infinite Elements with United Shape Functions (EIEUSF) infinite elements. The formulation of 2D horizontal type infinite elements (HIE) is demonstrated, but by similar techniques 2D vertical (VIE) and 2D corner (CIE) infinite elements can also be formulated. It is demonstrated that the application of the elastodynamical infinite elements is the easier and appropriate way to achieve an adequate simulation including basic aspects of Soil-Structure Interaction. Continuity along the artificial boundary (the line between finite and infinite elements) is discussed as well and the application of the proposed elastodynamical infinite elements in the Finite Element Method is explained in brief. Finally, a numerical example shows the computational efficiency of the proposed infinite elements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.95-110
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• 2014

The study deals with physical modeling of space frame-pile foundation and soil system using finite element models. The superstructure frame is analyzed using complete three-dimensional finite element method where the component of the frame such as slab, beam and columns are descretized using 20 node isoparametric continuum elements. Initially, the frame is analyzed assuming the fixed column bases. Later the pile foundation is worked out separately wherein the simplified models of finite elements such as beam and plate element are used for pile and pile cap, respectively. The non-linear behaviour of soil mass is incorporated by idealizing the soil as non-linear springs using p-y curve along the lines similar to that by Georgiadis et al. (1992). For analysis of pile foundation, the non-linearity of soil via p-y curve approach is incorporated using the incremental approach. The interaction analysis is conducted for the parametric study. The non-linearity of soil is further incorporated using iterative approach, i.e., secant modulus approach, in the interaction analysis. The effect the various parameters of the pile foundation such as spacing in a group and configuration of the pile group is evaluated on the response of superstructure owing to non-linearity of the soil. The response included the displacement at the top of the frame and bending moment in columns. The non-linearity of soil increases the top displacement in the range of 7.8%-16.7%. However, its effect is found very marginal on the absolute maximum moment in columns. The hogging moment decreases by 0.005% while sagging moment increases by 0.02%.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.57-73
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• 2012

The paper presents the analysis of two groups of piles subjected to lateral loads incorporating the non-linear behaviour of soil. The finite element method is adopted for carrying out the parametric study of the pile groups. The pile is idealized as a one dimensional beam element, the pile cap as two dimensional plate elements and the soil as non-linear elastic springs using the p-y curves developed by Georgiadis et al. (1992). Two groups of piles, embedded in a cohesive soil, involving two and three piles in series and parallel arrangement thereof are considered. The response of the pile groups is found to be significantly affected by the parameters such as the spacing between the piles, the number of piles in a group and the orientation of the lateral load. The non-linear response of the system is, further, compared with the one by Chore et al. (2012) obtained by the analysis of a system to the present one, except that the soil is assumed to be linear elastic. From the comparison, it is observed that the non-linearity of soil is found to increase the top displacement of the pile group in the range of 66.4%-145.6%, while decreasing the fixed moments in the range of 2% to 20% and the positive moments in the range of 54% to 57%.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.629-641
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• 2017

Foundation plays a significant role in safe and efficient turbo machinery operation. Turbo machineries generate harmonic load on the foundation due to their high speed rotating motion which causes vibration in the machinery, foundation and soil beneath the foundation. The problems caused by vibration get multiplied if the soil is poor. An improperly designed machine foundation increases the vibration and reduces machinery health leading to frequent maintenance. Hence it is very important to study the soil structure interaction and effect of machine vibration on the foundation during turbo machinery operation in the design stage itself. The present work studies the effect of harmonic load due to machine operation along with earthquake loading on the frame foundation for poor soil conditions. Various alternative foundations like rafts, barrette, batter pile and combinations of barrettes with batter pile are analyzed to study the improvements in the vibration patterns. Detailed computational analysis was carried out in SAP 2000 software; the numerical model was analyzed and compared with the shaking table experiment results. The numerical results are found to be closely matching with the experimental data which confirms the accuracy of the numerical model predictions. Both shake table and SAP 2000 results reveal that combination of barrette and batter piles with raft are best suitable for poor soil conditions because it reduces the displacement at top deck, bending moment and horizontal displacement of pile and thereby making the foundation more stable under seismic loading.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.93-103
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• 2012

A suction-saturation control technique based on flow pump system was developed to investigate hydraulic properties in unsaturated soils. The flow pump system is designed based on the principle of the axis-translation technique and triaxial equipment, and gives the suction-time and suction-saturation curves, the primary relationship needed for interpreting the response of unsaturated soils and link between theory and the material properties in unsaturated soil mechanics. Using the suction-saturation control technique, suction-time relationship and soil-water retention curve (SWRC) during hydraulic hysteresis were investigated with different net confining pressures and porosities. Three types of soils-two sands and a silt were used in this paper. This paper showed the effect of the hysteresis on the SWRC due to different net confining pressures and porosities. This means that a careful decision must be made as to which condition is to be modeled, since the delicate difference of the conditions in physical modeling can cause the different experimental output.