• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2020

This paper presents a kinematic limit analysis for passive earth pressure of rigid retaining structures considering the unsaturation of the backfill. Particular emphasis in the current work is focused on the effects of the spatial change in the degree of saturation on the passive earth pressure under different steady-infiltration/evaporation conditions. The incorporation of change of effective unit weight with degree of saturation is the main contribution of this study. The problem is formulated based on the log-spiral failure model rather than the linear wedge failure model, in which both the spatial variations of suction and soil effective unit weight are taken into account. Parametric studies, which cover a wide range of flow conditions, soil types and properties, wall batter, back slope angle as well as the interface friction angle, are performed to investigate the effects of these factors on the passive pressure and the corresponding shape of potential failure surfaces in the backfill. The results reveal that the flow conditions have significant effects on the suction and unit weight of the clayey backfill, and hence greatly impact the passive earth pressure of retaining structures. It is expected that present study could provide an insight into evaluation of the passive earth pressure of retaining structures with unsaturated backfills.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.435-445
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• 2019

A series of element tests with different drainage conditions and strain rates were performed on compacted unsaturated non-plastic silt in unconfined conditions. Soil samples were compacted at water contents from dry to wet of optimum with the degree of saturation varying from 24 to 59.5% while maintaining the degree of compaction at 80%. The tests performed were shear infiltration tests in which specimens had constant net confining pressure, pore air pressure was kept drained and constant, just before the shear process pore water pressure was increased (and kept constant afterwards) to decrease matric suction and to start water infiltration. In constant water content tests, specimens had constant net confining pressure, pore air pressure was kept drained and constant whereas pore water pressure was kept undrained. As a result, the matric suction varied with increase in axial strain throughout the shearing process. In both cases, maximum shear strength was obtained for specimens prepared on dry side of optimum moisture content. Moreover, the gradient of stress path was not affected under different strain rates whereas the intercept of failure was changed due to the drainage conditions implied in this study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.944-955
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• 2009

In this thesis the model tests were performed to the pull-out characteristics of a suction pile subjected to a pull-out in sands. For this model tests, three different soil conditions ($D_r$=45, 65, 82%), three pile diameters (D=100, 150, 200mm) and three pile lengths (L=100, 150, 200mm), were changed. And the experimental results were also compared with those by the theoretical methods. The results by the experimental and theoretical analysis are as follows. The ultimate pull-out resistances increased as the relative density of sands, pile diameter, length and the ratio of pile length to diameter increased. The ultimate pull-out resistance by Meyerhof method(1973) overestimated that by the model test, but the results using the soil-pile friction angle suggested by Aas(1966) in the Meyerhof(1973) method were in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.129-139
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• 2012

Accurate modeling rainfall induced landslide and slope stability requires a detailed knowledge of the distribution of material strength characteristics and suction distribution. However, material properties obtained from the drying cycle are still used for infiltration analysis in many cases, even though material properties of wetting cycle are quite different from those of drying cycle due to hydraulic hysteresis and air occlusion. Therefore, the selection of proper material properties such as soil-water retention curve (SWRC) and the hydraulic conductivity function (HCF) reflecting characteristics of wetting cycle and air occlusion is an essential prerequisite in order to simulate the infiltration phenomena and to predict the suction and water content distribution in unsaturated soils. It is concluded that the simulation of infiltration with material properties from the drying cycle did not reasonably match with experimental outputs. Further discussion is made on how to describe the material properties considering air occlusion during wetting cycle over the entire suction range in order to simulate infiltration phenomena.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 1973

The newly devised column set is better than the conventional method with centrifuge, suction filter instruments for saturating of the salt and washing out the excess of salt for C. E. C. determination in soils. 1. The new method has a high significance with one suction filter set. 2. The new method deminishes the time and effort of analysis by one third. It can analyze many samples at a time. 3. It is able to analyze without expensive instruments (e. g. vaccum pump, shaker, suction apparatus and centrifuge).

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.41-47
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• 2019

This paper deals with the reliability analysis of foundation for an offshore wind turbine system. Reliability analyses were carried out for suction bucket foundation considering the uncertainties in soil and structural parameters. In reliability analysis, the vertical and lateral resistances are defined as base limit states. The case studies were carried out using the preliminarily designed foundations at western-south mainland sea of Korea. From reliability analyses, vertical resistance for free-slip condition has overall lower reliability index, and submerged unit weight and internal friction angle of seabed soil are governing factors in vertical and lateral resistance in this case.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.109-122
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• 2024

Standard triaxial cells are commonly used to measure the mechanical behavior of saturated soils. However, this type of standard system is difficult to use for unsaturated soil specimens since it cannot measure the changes in the pore-air volume and pressure. This paper proposes to extend the measurement possibilities of the standard triaxial testing device in a simple way and to adapt it to partially saturated soils. The system is supplied by two hygrometers installed at each end of the cylindrical unsaturated specimen to measure local relative humidity, which allows the derivation of suction. The volumetric strain of the specimen is calculated by analyzing digital photos captured from the outside of the transparent cell wall. Specimens made of kaolin clay, having different hydraulic properties, were tested to verify the reliability of the measurements, and thus, the relevance of the proposed techniques to study the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.117-126
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• 2011

Based on thermodynamics, the mathematical framework governing the hydro-mechanical behavior of partially saturated soil is derived by using balance equations, and the numerical analysis through implementation of various effective stress definitions is performed. Effective stress on partially saturated soil describes the soil strength which is presented by the relationship between water content and soil suction. For the estimation of hydro-mechanical behavior on partially saturated soil, effective stress parameter ${\chi}$ defined from various literatures is especially analyzed to understand the conditions of constitutive equations regarding residual saturation and displacement of soil. As a result, effective stress parameter ${\chi}$ has an influence on the variation of matric suction in soil with an external load and seepage. However it was found that the effect of each parameter ${\chi}$ varies with residual degree of saturation, and that of each parameter ${\chi}$ decreased with decrease in displacement of soil caused by an external load.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2015

This study has obtained Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC) of the unsaturated soil from the volumetric pressure plate extractor test and the triaxial compression tests was also conducted. By using the rainfall data measured in the site the seepage analysis of unsteady flow was performed with the program of SEEP/W in Geostudio 2007 and stability of the slope was analyzed with SLOPE/W program. Results of analyses show that shear strength of the unsaturated soil increases with the increase of matric suction. And it was also found that the net volumetric stress and the apparent cohesion increased with the matric suction. The seepage analysis of rainfall represents that the increasing rate of negative pore pressure at the zone of large negative pore pressure is appeared to be high even though lower rainfall intensity, but this tendency declines with ground depth. The stability analysis of slope was carried out for the actual plane of failure with the data representing the field condition. The factor of safety thus calculated was about unity (1.0) or just below, which means that the adopted method of analysis is in good agreement with the field condition.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.25-34
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• 2017

The soil-water characteristics is the most important state parameter for understanding changes in suction and water contents of unsaturated soil slopes. In the field, the hysteretic behaviors of drying and wetting soil-water characteristic curve are real and the adoption of path-dependent suction-water content is needed to predict the hydro-mechanical analysis of unsaturated soils. In this study, in-situ monitored hydraulic behavior of various soil slopes are compared with the data from numerical analysis with the laboratory soil water characteristic curve. Then, the verifications are performed based on the field monitored data respectively. Therefore, the use of path-dependent soil-water characteristic curves could be more rational for design and analysis of unsaturated soil slopes under rainfall conditions.