• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.831-847
• /
• 2017

Conventional geotechnical engineering soil binders such as ordinary cement or lime have environmental issues in terms of sustainable development. Thus, environmentally friendly materials have attracted considerable interest in modern geotechnical engineering. Microbial biopolymers are being actively developed in order to improve geotechnical engineering properties such as aggregate stability, strength, and hydraulic conductivity of various soil types. This study evaluates the geotechnical engineering shear behavior of sand treated with xanthan gum biopolymer through laboratory direct shear testing. Xanthan gum-sand mixtures with various xanthan gum content (percent to the mass of sand) and gel phases (initial, dried, and re-submerged) were considered. Xanthan gum content of 1.0% sufficiently improves the inter-particle cohesion of cohesionless sands 3.8 times and more (up to 14 times for dried state) than in the untreated (natural) condition, regardless of the xanthan gum gel condition. In general, the strength of xanthan gum-treated sand shows dependency with the rheology and phase of xanthan gum gels in inter-granular pores, which decreases in order as dried (biofilm state), initial (uniform hydrogel), and re-submerged (swollen hydrogel after drying) states. As xanthan gum hydrogels are pseudo-plastic, both inter-particle friction angle and cohesion of xanthan gum-treated sand decrease with water adsorbed swelling at large strain levels. However, for 2% xanthan gum-treated sands, the re-submerged state shows a higher strength than the initial state due to the gradual and non-uniform swelling behavior of highly concentrated biofilms.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.51-61
• /
• 2001

A series of model tests and analyses by load transfer function were performed to study load-settlement behaviour with relative compaction ratio of soil and embeded depth of pile. In the model tests, embeded depth ratio(L/D) of pile were installed 15, 20, 25 and relative compaction of soil(RC) is 85%, 95% and then cement were injected at around perimeter of pile. For analysis of embedded pile, the paper were compared results of model tests with analysis results by Vijayvergiya model and Castelli model, Gwizdala model of elastic plasticity-perfect plastic model and then the fitness load transfer mechanism was proposed to predict load-settlement behaviour of embeded pile. The analysis results of predicted bearing capacity by load transfer function, ultimate bearing capacity of embeded pile were approached to measured value and behaviour of initial load-settlement curve were estimated that load transfer function by Castelli were similar to measured value. The result of axial load analysis of bored pile shows that skin friction estimated by load transfer mechanism is investigated more a little than that of measured values.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.43-51
• /
• 2020

About 90% of groundwater wells in Jeju Island are reported to be under the threat of contamination by infiltration of the surface pollutants. Most of those wells have improperly grouted annulus which is an empty space between the well and the inner casing. As a remedy to this problem, some of the wells were re-grouted by filling the annulus with cement without lifting an inner casing. In order to evaluate whether this method is appropriate for the geological structure of Jeju Island, two wells (W1 and W2) were selected and this method was applied. The water holding capacity did not decrease while the nitrate levels decreased from 16.8 and 20.2 to 6.8 and 13.8 mg/L in W1 and W2, respectively. The higher nitrate level in W2 is deemed to be influenced by the livestock farms located in the upper area of the well. In addition, transmissivity of the vedose zone was higher in W2 than W1, potentially facilitating the transport of nitrate to the groundwater. The overall result of this study suggests re-grouting of wells for the purpose of protecting water quality of goundwater should take into account geological structure of vadose zone as well as appropriate source control of the contaminants.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.500-506
• /
• 2011

The deep mixing method, which is generally considered as a method for improving soft ground, is assessed in terms of its applicability for urban construction. Using small equipment tailored to perform deep mixing in congested urban areas, deep mixing was performed to reinforce the foundation ground of a retaining wall in a redevelopment site in Seoul. Strengths characteristics, construction vibrations and displacements induced to an adjacent old masonry wall were evaluated by laboratory tests and field monitoring. The results indicate that the strength of ground was improved appropriately whilst the vibrations and displacements induced by deep mixing were slight enough to satisfy the general requirements for construction works in urban environments. Therefore, it is concluded that deep mixing method can be a practical option for foundation methods in urban construction works where minimizing noise and vibrations is an important concern.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.89-99
• /
• 1984

Engineering properties of soils is studied by permeating injection of water-glass chemical grout by use of a large sized grouting equipment of 1.5 shot system. Furthermore, the effectiveness of chemical groutinig by taking water-glass chemical grout combined with portland-cement for the purpose of improving the soil strength is confirmed. Relationships between main factors which cause the effectiveness of chemical grouting are described, and the factors are velocity and temperature of flowing water; grain size distribution and density of soils; density, viscosity, gel time and volume of grouts; injection pressure and grouting process. Improvement of the effectiveness of chemical grouting in flowing water by preventing the dilution and flowing down of grouts is investigated. Moreover, local shear failures and upheaval phenomena of ground are also investigated by field measurement.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.51-55
• /
• 2013

Among various construction methods, deep soil stabilization by chemical method have been widely used in order to improve soft ground. Dynamic variables using ground(such as sand, weathered granite soil and rock) -structure interaction design affected by dynamic load and cyclic load were studied a lot. However, there is something yet to learn about earthquake resistant design regarding reinforced ground by grout. Therefore, in this study using RC test, the correlation between shear strain and shear modulus with change of water content and injection rate in normal portland cement and clay was compared and analyzed by using Ramberg-Osgood model normalization As the result, dynamic coefficient was considerably affected by water content and grout injection rate.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.537-545
• /
• 2020

In order to reduce the usage of cement slurry in grouting engineering and consume the tunnel excavation waste soil, a new geopolymeric grouting material (GGM) was prepared by combine completely weathered granite (CWG) and blast-furnace slag (BFS), which can be applied to in-situ grouting treatment of completely weathered granite strata. The results showed CWG could participate in the geopolymerization process, and GGM slurry has the characteristics of short setting time, high flowability, low viscosity, high stone rate and high mechanical strength, and a design method of grouting pressure based on viscosity evolution was proposed. By adjusted the content of completely weathered granite and alkali activator concentration, the setting time of GGM were ranged from 5 to 30 minutes, the flowability was more than 23.5 cm, the stone rate was higher than 90%, the compressive strength of 28 days were 7.8-16.9 MPa, the porosity were below 30%. This provides a novel grouting treatment and utilizing excavated soil of tunnels in the similar strata.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.421-431
• /
• 2018

Analyses of the three-storied stone pagoda at the Bulguksa temple in Gyeongju were carried out in order to identify the cause for material characteristics of inorganic contaminants and conservation treatment materials. Results indicated that foreign soil or weathering soil caused yellow discoloration of the pagoda, reddish-brown contaminants were formed by goethite (FeOOH), an iron oxide mineral, and black pollutants were formed by manganese (Mn) oxide, leading to discoloration of the rock. Among the restoration materials used in the past, cement mortar could cause whitening by reacting with the external environment. The results were used as basic standards to evaluate the material characteristics of the surface contaminants and identify a set of effective conservation treatments. Nevertheless, continuous monitoring is required, as there is a high possibility of regeneration of pollutants in the future because of the continuous exposure of the pagoda to the external environment.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.293-306
• /
• 2023

This study proposes and demonstrates a smart monitoring system that uses transmission lines embedded in a reinforced concrete structure to detect the presence of defects through changes in the electromagnetic waves generated and measured by a time-domain reflectometer. Laboratory experiments were first conducted to identify the presence of voids in steel-concrete composite columns. The results indicated that voids in the concrete caused a positive signal reflection, and the amplitude of this signal decreased as the water content of the soil in the void increased. Multiple voids resulted in a decrease in the amplitude of the signal reflected at each void, effectively identifying their presence despite amplitude reduction. Furthermore, the electromagnetic wave velocity increased when voids were present, decreased as the water content of the soil in the voids increased, and increased with the water-cement ratio and curing time. Field experiments were then conducted using bored piles with on-center (sound) and off-center (defective) steel-reinforcement cage alignments. The results indicated that the signal amplitude in the defective pile section, where the off-center cage was poorly covered with concrete, was greater than that in the pile sections where the cage was completely covered with concrete. The crosshole sonic logging results for the same defective bored pile failed to identify an off-center cage alignment defect. Therefore, this study demonstrates that electromagnetic waves can be a useful tool for monitoring the health and integrity of reinforced concrete structures.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to fabricate a full scale road embankment using lightweight air foamed soil as a soil material on soft ground and to investigate its material characteristics and behavior in order to promote dredged soil utilization and minimize ground improvement. As a result of the laboratory test of the onsite mixed samples, the total unit weight of the specimens decreased almost linearly until curing 28 days. In particular, the total unit weight after 28 days of curing was reduced to about 81% of the slurry state before curing, which will be useful in the formulation of similar native soil materials in the future. The unconfined compressive strength began to decrease with the 14th day of curing as shown in the previous study. When the cement content is increased, the strength decreases sharply at a small strain change after the occurrence of the maximum compressive strength, and the maximum strength is exhibited in a range of a smaller axial strain than normal range. The settlement at the surface layer of the ground due to the lightweight embankment was about 1 / 2.75 of the soil embankment and was in agreement with the unit weight ratio (1 / 2.7) of the embankment materials. This indicates the cause and effect of the settlement due to the difference in self weight of the embankments. Also, the difference in settlement between soil and lightweight embankment increased with increasing depth. This shows that the difference in the point at which the settlement is terminated is clear. The ground horizontal displacement under the lightweight embankment was about 15~20% smaller than that of the soil embankment and the depth of occurrence was also 4.5~5.0m shallower in the lightweight embankment.