• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.191-205
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• 2020

Soil shear strength parameters play a remarkable role in designing geotechnical structures such as retaining wall and dam. This study puts an effort to propose two accurate and practical predictive models of soil shear strength parameters via hybrid artificial neural network (ANN)-based models namely genetic algorithm (GA)-ANN and particle swarm optimization (PSO)-ANN. To reach the aim of this study, a series of consolidated undrained Triaxial tests were conducted to survey inherent strength increase due to addition of polypropylene fibers to sandy soil. Fiber material with different lengths and percentages were considered to be mixed with sandy soil to evaluate cohesion (as one of shear strength parameter) values. The obtained results from laboratory tests showed that fiber percentage, fiber length, deviator stress and pore water pressure have a significant impact on cohesion values and due to that, these parameters were selected as model inputs. Many GA-ANN and PSO-ANN models were constructed based on the most effective parameters of these models. Based on the simulation results and the computed indices' values, it is observed that the developed GA-ANN model with training and testing coefficient of determination values of 0.957 and 0.950, respectively, performs better than the proposed PSO-ANN model giving coefficient of determination values of 0.938 and 0.943 for training and testing sets, respectively. Therefore, GA-ANN can provide a new applicable model to effectively predict cohesion of fiber-reinforced sandy soil.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.115-123
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• 2002

This study was performed to provide basic data for development and construction of reinforced soil wall that mixed with reinforcements such as calcium carbonate, monofilament fiber. In order to determine proper moisture content and mixing ratio by weight of reinforcement, Poisson's ratio and compressive strength tests for sandy soil had been conducted. Model tests for long-term behavior of reinforced soil wall were carried out to investigate the effect of reinforcement during loads and under static loads. The results of creep and model tests for sandy soil compared with clayey soil. Reinforced sandy soil mixed with calcium carbonate and cement showed brittle rupture by shear but that of mixed with monofilament fiber showed ductile rupture due to the tension force of fiber. It was shown that when age increased, creep strain of reinforced soil under sustained load approached constant values.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.361-375
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• 2015

Constructions over soft and loose soils are one of the most frequent problems in many parts of the world. Cement and cement-lime mixture have been widely used for decades to improve the strength of these soils with the deep soil mixing method. In this study, to investigate the freeze-thaw effect of sand improved by polymers (i.e., styrene-acrylic-copolymer-SACP, polyvinyl acetate-PVAc and xanthan gum) and fly ash, unconfined compression tests were performed on specimens which were exposed to freeze-thaw cycles and on specimens which were not exposed to freeze-thaw cycles. The laboratory test results concluded that the unconfined compressive strength increased with the increase of polymer ratio and curing time, whereas, the changes on unconfined compressive strength with increase of freeze-thaw cycles were insignificant. The overall evaluation of results has revealed that polymers containing fly ash is a good promise and potential as a candidate for deep soil mixing application.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.61-67
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• 2014

With a view to resolving environmental problems of hazardous cement, this study seeks to identify the unconfined compressive strength and bending strength of the vegetation block designed herein by utilizing high-strength natural soil stabilizer instead of cement. Soil stabilizer is mainly made of mixture of short fiber extracted from natural fiber and lime, etc. Soil stabilizer reinforces the shearing strength of soil to improve block supportive power and durability while preventing flood and frost damages. For the unconfined compressive strength test, test pieces were prepared by mixing soil stabilizer and weathered soil in different ratios of 6 %, 12 % and 18 %. Experiments were carried out according to curing periods of 5th, 7th, 14th and 28th of the day. For bending strength test, blocks were made in the same mixture ratios as for the unconfined compressive test and tested for each stage. Also, to evaluate for the field applicability, proposed optimum water content considering the characteristics of the soil stabilizer. Permeability test result for the vegetation block, satisfied by the KS F 4419 quality standards.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.101-110
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• 2008

This paper investigates the mechanical characteristics of monofilament-reinforced bottom ash mixtures for recycling dredged soil. Reinforced bottom ash mixture is a lightweight soil added with monofilament in order to increase its shear strength. Test specimens were fabricated by various mixing conditions including monofilament content, its length and its diameter. Then several series of unconfined compression tests and direct shear tests were performed to investigate mechanical characteristics of reinforced lightweight soil. The experimental results indicated that stress-strain behaviors of reinforced lightweight soil were strongly influenced by mixing conditions of monofilament content, its length and diameter. The compressive strength of reinforced lightweight soil generally increased by adding monofilament. In this test, the maximum increase in compressive strength was obtained at 0.5% content and 4cm length of monofilament. These results were similar to those of direct shear tests. The unconfined compressive strength of reinforced lightweight soil with monofilament of 0.25mm in diameter was greater than that of reinforced lightweight soil with monofilament of 0.5mm in diameter.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.335-344
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• 2003

This study is focused to the physical and shear strength properties of the weathered limestone soils distributed in Changsung and Hwasun area, Chonnam province. Disturbed soil was used as soil samples. To grasp the physical and shear strength properties of weathered limestone soil, specific gravity test, atterberg limit, grain size distribution and direct shear test were conducted in the laboratory. The physical and shear strength properties of the weathered limestone soil in the study areas are as follows. The range of specific gravity (Gs) is 2.78 to 2.80, liquid limits (LL) 37 to 38 (%), plasticity index (PI) 13.7 to 15.4, and soil classification CL. The range of strength parameters by direct shear test (vd, $1.5t/\textrm{m}^3$) is 3.07 to 4.4 ($t/\textrm{m}^2$) of cohesion and 34.8 to $42.4^{\circ}$ of internal friction angle in unsaturated soils. As a result of comparing with the weathered granite soils (Yang, 1997: Mun, 1998: Park, 1998), it is considered that physical properties of the weathered limestone soils in this study are different from the weathered granite soils. On the other hand, internal friction angle of shear parameters is found to be similar.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.17-25
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• 2014

In the present study, it were performed an unconfined compression test and a field applicability test according to a mixed ratio of SS, soil type and curing period to analyze strength and deformation characteristic in order to evaluate engineering characteristics of soil mixed pavements using the eco-friendly soil stabilizer (SS). The test results revealed that SS mixed soil shows fast strength development at the initial curing time while 28-day strength amounted for 97% of the final strength. Furthermore, coarse-grained dredged sand (DS) and weathered granitic soil (WGS) have a larger ratio of deformation coefficient with respect to unconfined compressive strength than fine-grained dredged clay (DC) and organic soil (OS). Moreover, a comparison test between natural and forced drying conditions was conducted and test result showed 54% to 67% of strength degradation while having 55% to 63% of strength degradation in the freezing and thawing test result. Finally, a repeated loading test result showed that DS experiences up to 35% of strength reduction compared to initial strength under 10,000 times loading in maximum. Thus, it was validated that an appropriate amount of fine-grained sand is necessary to secure resistance capability to repeated loading.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.03a
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• pp.193-200
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• 1999

An experimental study is described in which a 305-mm-diameter instrumented drilled shaft was installed in a moderately expansive clay soil during the dry season and monitored over a period of about 18 months. The purpose of the study was In investigate the effects of seasonal moisture changes in the soil on the shear stresses imposed on the sides of the drilled shaft and movements of the shaft head. The soil in the vicinity of the test shaft was instrumented to measure suction and ground surface movement and the relation between suction, total stress and shear strength of the soil at the test site was determined through laboratory triaxial compression testing. Daily rainfall and temperatures were also monitored at the test site, the National Geotechnical Experimentation Site at the University of Houston, where control on surface grading and vegetation existed. Over the course of the study induced unit side shear values of up to 54 kPa were measured in the test shaft. A simple computational model was developed that related observed suction changes to unit side shear induced by the expansion of the soil through the use of the laboratory suction-total stress-shear strength relation.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.361-372
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• 2016

The soil-concrete interface shear strength, although has been extensively studied, is still difficult to predict as a result of the dependence on many factors such as normal stresses, surface roughness, particle sizes, moisture contents, dilation angles of soils, etc. In this study, a well-known rigorous statistical learning approach, namely the least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) realized in a ubiquitous spreadsheet platform is firstly used in estimating the soil-structure interface shear strength. Instead of studying the complicated mechanism, LS-SVM enables to explore the possible link between the fundamental factors and the interface shear strengths, via a sophisticated statistic approach. As a preliminary investigation, the authors study the expansive soils that are found extensively in most countries. To reduce the complexity, three major influential factors, e.g., initial moisture contents, initial dry densities and normal stresses of soils are taken into account in developing the LS-SVM models for the soil-concrete interface shear strengths. The predicted results by LS-SVM show reasonably good agreement with experimental data from direct shear tests.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2004.03b
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• pp.606-613
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• 2004

One of the major forces that causes landslide is the amount of underground water resulted from rainfall and shear strength. As a result of close study on the landslide area affected by typoon Rusa it is observed that many landslides took place at the interface of rock and soil. Based on this observation that shear strength at the interface played a great role in landslide of the hilly area, two shear strengths were measured on different places, one at the interface between rocks and soil and the other just on soil. The two values thus derived were compared and used to review the safety factor for the hilly areas already collapsed. Back analysis was also used to calculate the ground water table according to the different rock types at the time when degradation happened.