• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.49-60
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• 2010

Unsaturated permeability function is an important factor in the design and analysis of various unsaturated soil structures. Generally the permeability characteristics decrease as the mat ric suction increases and the trend is similar to water retention characteristics of a soil. The permeability of unsaturated soils can be obtained directly by laboratory tests or indirectly by estimation methods from other soil properties. For unsaturated soils sampled from 7 areas in KOREA, SWCCs and unsaturated permeability functions were obtained by experimental tests. The unsaturated permeability results were also compared with the unsaturated permeability functions derived from the SWCCs theoretically. However, the current estimation models of unsaturated permeability function did not express the unsaturated permeability characteristics. Therefore, the FXK-M permeability function was modified to predict more accurate permeability functions for Korean weathered soils using a correction factor that can be calculated from the air-entry value of SWCC. The new estimation model resulted in good agreements for all tested soils.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.116-123
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• 2000

A numerical model of three-dimensional soil water distribution for drip irrigation management under cropped conditions was developed using Richards equation in Cartesian coordinates. The model accounts for both seasonal and diurnal changes in evaporation and transpiration, and the growth of plant root and the shape of root zone. Solutions were numerically approximated using the Crank-Nicolson implicit finite difference technique on the block-centered grid system and the Gauss-Seidel elimination in tandem. The model was tested under several conditions to allow the flow rates and configurations of drip emitters vary. In general, simulation results agreed well with experimental results and were as follows. The velocity of soil-water flow decreased drastically with distance from the drip source, and the rate of expansion of the wetted zone decreased rapidly during irrigation. The wetting front of wetted zone from a surface drip emitter traveled farther in vertical direction than in horizontal direction. Under this experimental weather condition, water use efficiency of a drip-irrigated apple field was greatest for 4-drip-emitter system buried at 25 cm, resulting from 10% increase in transpiration but 20% reduction in soil evaporation compared to those for surface 1-drip emitter system. Soil moisture retention curve obtained using disk tension infiltrometer showed significant difference from the curve obtained with pressure plate extractor.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.59-68
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• 2005

The rainfall-runoff potential of Jangseong reservoir watershed was studied based on SCS (Soil Conservation Service, which is now the NRCS, Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA) runoff curve number (CN) technique. Precipitation and reservoir operation data had been collected. The rainfall-runoff pairs from the watershed for ten years was estimated using reservoir water balance analysis using reservoir operation records. The maximum retention, S, for each storm event from rainfall-runoff pair was estimated for selected storm events. The estimated S values were arranged in descending order, then its probability distribution was determined as log-normal distribution, and associated CNs were found about probability levels of Pr=0.1, 0.5, and 0.9, respectively. A subwatershed that has the similar portions of land use categories to the whole watershed of Jangseong reservoir was selected and hydrologic monitoring was conducted. CNs for subwatershed were determined using observed data. CNs determined from observed rainfall-runoff data and reservoir water balance analysis were compared to the suggested CNs by the method of SCS-NEH4. The $CN_{II}$ measured and estimated from water balance analysis in this study were 78.0 and 78.1, respectively. However, the $CN_{II}$, which was determined based on hydrologic soil group, land use, was 67.2 indicating that actual runoff potential of Jangseong reservoir watershed is higher than that evaluated by SCS-NEH4 method. The results showed that watershed runoff potential for large scale agricultural reservoirs needs to be examined for efficient management of water resources and flood prevention.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.329-333
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• 2006

Most of volcanic ash soils in South Korea are distributed in Jeju province which is an island placed on southern part of Korea and has steep slope mountain area. There are many soils containing high contents of organic matter (OM) derived from volcanic ash in Jejudo, also. Therefore, irrigation and drainage in volcanic ash soil different with general soil which has low OM content have to be applied with another management way, but studies searching appropriate methods for them are set on insufficient situation because the area of volcanic ash soil in South Korea is only 1.3% (130,000ha). This study was conducted for analysis of soil water content and irrigation quantity appropriate for crops cultivated in volcanic ash soil with high OM content. Although soils with different soil color have the same soil texture, soil water characteristics curve by soil color showed the difference of water retention capability by OM content. But, this characteristics classified with soil color could be unified by scaling technique with similitude analysis method which get dimensionless water content using a present water content, a residual water content and saturated water content (or water content at 10kPa). A relation of gravimetric soil water content (GSWC) and dimensionless water content by the results showed a form of power function. The dimensionless water content (DWC) express a relative saturation degree of present water content. This was also expressed by van Genuchten model which describe the relation between relative saturation degrees and matric potentials. These results on soil water characteristics curve (SWCC) of volcanic ash soil will be the basic of irrigation plan in area having high organic contents into soil.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.41-57
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• 2021

This study evaluated the application of water quality management measures using the SWAT model and the effectiveness of the measures using the load duration curve targeting the Seohwacheon watershed located upstream of Daecheongho. As water quality management measures, artificial wetlands, reduction of neglected livestock, reduction of runoff from greenhouses, restoration of ecological rivers, application of LID technology, and management of point sources were applied. The applied technology evaluated the efficiency of water quality improvement measures by using the target water quality excess rate and the degree of load reduction for each sulfur through the load duration curve. The load duration curve was created by creating a long-term flow duration curve using SWAT and multiplying it by the target water quality. For the target water quality, the value corresponding to the 60th percentile was set as the target water quality using the 10-year data from the Okcheoncheon water quality observation point located in the downstream of Seohwacheon. Through this study, it was possible to confirm the applicability of various water quality measures through the SWAT model, and to examine the applicability of each period according to the sulfur through the load retention curve.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2011

The hypothesis on effective stress of unsaturated soil is validated by $K_0$ consolidation results of triaxial tests for the compacted residual soil. The stress characteristic curve (SSCC) can describe unsaturated soil behavior on water contents, which was defined from shear strength or from soil water characteristic curves. In this study, it was found that the stress path of $K_0$ consolidation can also define the SSCC. The effective stress was defined by SSCC. $K_0$ paths for various matric suctions could be described as a unique line by effective stress. The measured values of $K_0$ were interpreted by effective stress as a constant with respect to matric suction. Since the SSCC from $K_0$ consolidation agrees with that from the shear strength, the SSCC from soil water retention curve could describe effective stress behavior consistently on both $K_0$ consolidation path and stress at failure. The effective stress based on SSCC can describe the entire unsaturated behavior from consolidation to failure.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2006

This paper outlines the methodology of grid-based water balance for estimating the spatial distribution of recharge, which is applied to Woedo catchment in the northern area of the Jeju Island. The catchment is divided into grids and a daily water balance in each grid is computed for the period of 5 years. Daily rainfall data in each grid is interpolated from the data of 10 rainfall gauging stations. The spatial distributions of parameters such as SCS curve number, soil water retention capacity and crop coefficients are derived from GIS analyses of soil and land use characteristics. The SCS curve number is obtained by calibrating simulated runoffs with respect to the observed runoffs. The results show that the average annual rainfall increases from 1,665 mm/year to 3,382 mm/year in accordance with the topographic elevation, and the average annual recharge varies from 372 mm/year to 2,576 mm/year according to the average annual rainfall increases. Spatial variability of recharge is the highest among the water balance components such as rainfall, direct runoff, evaprotranspiration and recharge because the rate of runoff and evapotranspiration in the area with relatively low rainfall is higher than the other area.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.615-626
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• 2019

Soil moisture and runoff have very close relationship. Especially the water retention capacity and drainage characteristics of the soil are determined by various factors of the soil. In this study, a total of 40 rainfall events were identified from the entire rainfall events of Sulma basin in 2016 and 2017. For each selected events, the constant-K method was used to separate direct runoff and baseflow from total flow and calculate the runoff coefficient which shows positive exponential curve with Antecedent Soil Moisture (ASM). In addition to that, the threshold of soil moisture was determined at the point where the runoff coefficient starts increasing dramatically. The threshold of soil moisture shows great correlation with runoff and depth to water table. It was founded that not only ASM but also various factors, such as Initial Soil Moisture (ISM), storage capacity of soil and precipitation, affect the results of runoff response. Furthermore, wet condition and dry condition are separated by ASM threshold and the start and peak response are analyzed. And the results show that the response under wet condition occurred more quickly than that of dry condition. In most events occurred in dry condition, factors reached peak in order of soil moisture, depth to water table and runoff. However, in wet condition, they reached peak in order of depth to water table, runoff and soil moisture. These results will help identify the interaction among factors which affect the runoff, and it will help establish the relationship between various soil conditions and runoff.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.329-338
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• 2019

Suction of unsaturated bentonite buffers is a very important input parameter for hydro-mechanical performance assessment and design of an engineered barrier system. This study analyzed suction measurement techniques and constitutive models of unsaturated porous media reported in the literature, and suggested suction measurement techniques and constitutive models suitable for bentonite buffer in an HLW repository. The literature review showed the suction of bentonite buffer to be much higher than that of soil, as measured by total suction including matric suction and osmotic suction. The measurement methods (RH-Cell, RH-Cell/Sensor) using a relative humidity sensor were suitable for suction measurement of the bentonite buffer; the RH-Cell /Sensor method was more preferred in consideration of the temperature change due to radioactive decay heat and measurement time. Various water retention models of bentonite buffers have been proposed through experiments, but the van Genuchten model is mainly used as a constitutive model of hydro-mechanical performance assessment of unsaturated buffers. The water characteristic curve of bentonite buffers showed different tendencies according to bentonite type, dry density, temperature, salinity, sample state and hysteresis. Selection of water retention models and determination of model input parameters should consider the effects of these controlling factors so as to improve overall reliability.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.15-23
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• 2023

In this study, the infiltration behavior of slopes composed of mixed soils with clay contents of 0%, 5%, and 10% in weathered Gneiss soil, which is a representative weathered soil in Korea, was investigated, and the stability of unsaturated slopes due to rainfall infiltration was examined. For this, in this study, the soil water characteristic curve was obtained through the water retention test, and the strength constant was obtained through the triaxial compression test. Based on the obtained results, the influence of clay content and antecedent rainfall effect (i.e., initial suction) on the formation of saturated zone (i.e., wetting band) and slope stability due to rainfall infiltration was examined through infiltration and stability analyses. As a result, it was found that the hig her the initial suction, the slower the formation of the saturated zone on the slope. In addition, it was found that as the clay content increases, the shear strength of the ground increases and the resistance to rainfall infiltration increases, and eventually the slope stability is greatly improved.