• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.37-45
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• 2010

Salt cementation, a typical naturally-cemented phenomenon, may occur due to water evaporation under the change of climate. Capillary force may influence the distribution of cement in granular soils. This study addresses the effect of capillary force on salt cementation using five different techniques: cone penetration test, electrical conductivity measurement, photographic imaging technique, nondestructive imaging technique, and process monitoring by elastic wave. Glass beads modeling a particulate media was mixed with salt water and then dried in an oven to create the cementation condition. Experimental results show that salt cementation highly concentrates at the top of the small particle size specimens and at the middle or the bottom of the large particle specimens. The predicted capillary heights are similar to the locations of high salt concentration in the cemented specimens. Five suggested methods show that the behavior of salt-cemented granular media heavily depends on the capillary force.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2016

This study examined the effects of delayed harvest of Miscanthus on its biomass yield and growth characteristics. The trial was conducted at a 5-year-old demonstration field, using Miscanthus sacchariflorus cv. Geodae 1 and Miscanthus ${\times}$ giganteus. Harvesting was carried out using a mower, baler, and bale picker driven by a 5-ton tractor. Harvesting dates were the $1^{st}$, $10^{th}$, and $17^{th}$ of April, which respectively corresponded with the first, mid, and last emerging dates of new shoots. The sequential changes in stem number due to delayed harvesting were investigated on April $29^{th}$, May $27^{th}$, July $22^{nd}$, and October $30^{th}$, which corresponded to the juvenile, mid, luxuriant, and senescence stem stages, respectively. Soil penetration resistance, biomass yield, and growth characteristics were investigated on October $30^{th}$. There was no difference in soil penetration resistance at a depth of 10 cm, but it increased at a depth of 20 cm in proportion to the delayed harvesting time. The sequential change in stem number due to delayed harvesting was greater in M. sacchariflorus cv. Geodae 1 than in M. ${\times}$ giganteus. In M. sacchariflorus cv. Geodae 1, which was harvested on the last emerging date of new shoots, the stem number was $169/m^2$ in the mid stage but decreased to $70/m^2$ in the luxuriant stage. The diameter of newly developed rhizomes, stem height, and biomass yield decreased in the two Miscanthus species due to delayed harvesting. The ratio of Miscanthus headings, which is a critical characteristic for landscape use, also decreased due to delayed harvesting. Heading of M. sacchariflorus cv. Geodae 1 was not observed in plots harvested on the mid and last emerging dates of new shoots.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

This study was carried out to investigate plow pan characteristics and to grasp the relationship between its particle size distribution fractal dimension ($D_m$) and water transport in paddy plow pan. Twenty four soil sampling sites with different management groups, ordinary and sandy-textured, were selected and investigated for physical properties of soils such as Yamanaka hardness in April, non-submerged condition, before rice seedling transplanting. The plow pan appearing depth and thickness was determined by penetration resistance profile. Undisturbed core samples with five replicates were sampled at plow pan layerwith 2 inch cores for measuring soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The particle size distribution fractal dimension ($D_m$) was calculated by the method following the procedure Tylerand Wheacraft (1992), using the USDA-based particle size analysis datawith fractions of 0-0.002, 0.002-0.053, 0.053-0.1, 0.1-0.25, 0.25-0.5, 0.5-1.0, and 1.0-2.0 mm. The plow pan of investigated fields appeared at a range from 5 to 30 cm depth, showing minimum value in sandy-textured management group and maximum value in ordinary management group. The thickness of plow pan were distributed from 5 to 17 cm, showing both minimum and maximum values in sandy-textured management group. Averagely, the plow appearing depth were deeper in ordinary management group than in sandy-textured management group, whereas the reverse in the thickness of plow pan. The particle size distribution fractal dimension ($D_m$) had higher value with finer textures, with higher fractality in coarser texture. Saturated hydraulic conductivities, $K_s$, of plow pan soils distributed from 0.5 to 1420 mm $day^{-1}$, having the highest value in sandy skeletal soils. The $K_s$ decreased with decreasing clay content and $D_m$, showing power function relationships. The coefficient of determination, $R^2$, of the fitted power functions were higher in $D_m$ as x-axis than in clay content. This means that $D_m$ could give us more effective estimation than clay content. Especially, sandy-textured paddy soils had higher $R^2$, compared to ordinary paddy soils. $K_s$ of relatively coarse-textured soils with less than 18%of clay content, therefore, was more dependent on particle size distribution than that of relatively fine-textured soils. From these results, it could be concluded that the fractal scaling gives us a unique quantity describing particle size distribution and then can be applied to estimate saturated hydraulic conductivity, especially more effective in coarse-textured soils.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.1C
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• pp.29-38
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• 2011

The smaller diameter cone penetrometer has been widely used to estimate the characteristics of local area due to high vertical resolution. The half-bridge cirucits have been adopted to measure the mechnical strength of soil through the smaller diameter cone penetrometer due to the limitation of the areas for configuring the full-bridge circuit. The half-bridge circuit, however, is known as being easily affected to the temperature variation. The objective of this study suggests the temperature-compensated method in mini-cones. The diameter and length of the mini-cone is designed to 15mm and 56mm. The load cell of the mini-cone is extended about 54mm on the behind of the mini-cone to reflect the only temperature variation. The full-bridge circuit is installed to measure the temperature-compensated values in the mini-cone and the half-bridge circuit is also organized to compare the temperature compensated values with uncompensated values. The seasonal variation tests are performed to define the effect of temperature variation under summer and winter temperature condition. The densification tests are also carried out to investigate temperature effects during penetration. The measured mechanical resistances with temperature-compensated method show more reliable and reasonable values than those measured by thermal uncompensated system. This study suggests that the temperature-compensated method of the mini-cone may be a useful technique to obtain the more reliable resistances with minimizing the temperature effect.