• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.300-307
• /
• 2009

The transport of landfill leachate in the subsurface formations of unlined landfill sites is considered. The impacts of hydrogeological and chemical heterogeneities on the leachate transport are assessed by examining the results from a series of Monte-Carlo simulations. The landfill system simulated in this study is hypothetically represented with three levels of spatial variability for the hydrogeological and chemical parameter; (1) homogeneous hydraulic conductivity (K) and distribution coefficient ($K_d$), (2) K heterogeneity only, and (3) combined heterogeneities of K and $K_d$. To calculate the transport of leachate through negatively-correlated random hypothetical K-$K_d$ fields generated using geostatistical input parameters, a saturated flow model is linked with a contaminant transport model. Point statistic values such as mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation of the concentration were obtained from 100 Monte-Carlo trials. Results of point statistics show that the heterogeneities of K and $K_d$ in the landfill site prove to be an important parameter in controlling leachate concentrations. Consideration of combined K and $K_d$ heterogeneities results in enhancing the variability of contaminant transport. The variability in the leachate concentration for different realizations also increases as the distance between source and monitoring well increase.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.545-552
• /
• 2017

Ground subsidence can result in the formation of sinkholes, potholes, settlement of structures, and road subsidence. Road subsidence is described as the sudden collapse of the road surface into subsurface cavities caused by the loss of bearing capacity in the ground, such as the dissolution of limestone by fluid flow in the surface causing the formation of voids leading to subsidence at the surface. Road subsidence occurs about 665 times annually, and this incidence has been increasing until 2013. Damaged underground facilities, management negligence, and lowering of the ground water table have been the causes of road subsidence in Seoul. Seoul metropolitan government announced special management counter plans to relieve the anxieties and make the roads safe for passing. Construction sites, such as excavation works, need to be managed properly because they have strong potential to induce road subsidence. The aim of this study was to identify the main causes of road subsidence and suggest management plans. First, life cycle cost analysis revealed the daytime construction to be more appropriate than nighttime. In addition, by analyzing the limitations of using sand as a backfill material, it is proposed to use a flowable backfill material instead of sand. Finally, to reduce the blind spots, which is a problem in surveying the road pavement conditions of local governments, the road to be managed is divided into several zones, and a specialized agency is selected for each zone and a method of surveying the blind spots through collaboration is suggested.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.231-242
• /
• 2011

Recently, the green spaces in the urban areas were greatly reduced due to urbanization and industrialization. As urban structures such as roads and buildings are built, the amount of impervious area within a watershed increases. High impervious surfaces are the common causes of high runoff volumes as the soil infiltration capacity decreases and the volume and rate of runoff increase thereby decreasing the groundwater recharge. These effects are causing many environmental problems, such as floods and droughts, climate change, heat island phenomenon, drying streams, etc. Most cities attempted to reduce sewer overflows by separating combined sewers, expanding treatment capacity or storage within the sewer system, or by replacing broken or decaying pipes. However, these practices can be enormously expensive than combined sewer overflows. Therefore, in order to improve these practices, alternative methods should be undertaken. A new approach termed as "Low Impact Development (LID)" technology is currently applied in developed countries around the world. The purpose of this study was to effectively manage runoff by adopting the LID techniques. Small Constructed Wetland(Horizontal Subsurface Flow, HSSF) Pilot-scale reactors were made in which monitoring and experiments were performed to investigate the efficiency of the system in removing pollutants from runoff. Based on the results of the Pilot-plant experiments, TSS, $COD_{Cr}$, TN, TP, Total Pb removal efficiency were 95, 82, 35, 91 and 57%, respectively. Most of the pollutants were reduced after passing the settling tank and the vertical filter media. The results of this study can contribute to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems and restoration of natural water cycle in the urban areas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2009.09a
• /
• pp.133-144
• /
• 2009

Incheon Bridge, 18.4 km long sea-crossing bridge, will be opened to the traffic in October 2009 and this will be the new landmark of the gearing up north-east Asia as well as the largest & longest bridge of Korea. Incheon Bridge is the integrated set of several special featured bridges including a magnificent cable-stayed girder bridge which has a main span of 800 m width to cross the navigation channel in and out of the Port of Incheon. Incheon Bridge is making an epoch of long-span bridge designs thanks to the fully application of the AASHTO LRFD (load & resistance factor design) to both the superstructures and the substructures. A state-of-the-art of the geotechnologies which were applied to the Incheon Bridge construction project is introduced. The most Large-diameter drilled shafts were penetrated into the bedrock to support the colossal superstructures. The bearing capacity and deformational characteristics of the foundations were verified through the world's largest static pile load test. 8 full-scale pilot piles were tested in both offshore site and onshore area prior to the commencement of constructions. Compressible load beyond 30,000 tonf pressed a single 3 m diameter foundation pile by means of bi-directional loading method including the Osterberg cell techniques. Detailed site investigation to characterize the subsurface properties had been carried out. Geotextile tubes, tied sheet pile walls, and trestles were utilized to overcome the very large tidal difference between ebb and flow at the foreshore site. 44 circular-cell type dolphins surround the piers near the navigation channel to protect the bridge against the collision with aberrant vessels. Each dolphin structure consists of the flat sheet piled wall and infilled aggregates to absorb the collision impact. Geo-centrifugal tests were performed to evaluate the behavior of the dolphin in the seabed and to verify the numerical model for the design. Rip-rap embankments on the seabed are expected to prevent the scouring of the foundation. Prefabricated vertical drains, sand compaction piles, deep cement mixings, horizontal natural-fiber drains, and other subsidiary methods were used to improve the soft ground for the site of abutments, toll plazas, and access roads. Light-weight backfill using EPS blocks helps to reduce the earth pressure behind the abutment on the soft ground. Some kinds of reinforced earth like as MSE using geosynthetics were utilized for the ring wall of the abutment. Soil steel bridges made of corrugated steel plates and engineered backfills were constructed for the open-cut tunnel and the culvert. Diverse experiences of advanced designs and constructions from the Incheon Bridge project have been propagated by relevant engineers and it is strongly expected that significant achievements in geotechnical engineering through this project will contribute to the national development of the longspan bridge technologies remarkably.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.215-234
• /
• 2002

Groundwater Dam is one of the reliable techniques to get huge amount of groundwater abstraction for municipal, agricultural, drinking, industrial water supply system. It can be a major technique to solve water shortage problems when it based on the sufficient watershed, proper topology, and adequate aquifer distribution and pollution control, Groundwater Dam had initiated its construction by RDC(former KARICO) in early eighties in Korea and 4 of it in total were added more until late eighty. However, this technique has shrunken its application due to gradually decreased yield rate after sever years of construction. After we studied several existing sites precisely, we concluded that the main reason of decreasing yield rate was come form engineering roughness on construction in early nineties. Theoretically, the technique itself seemed to be little detectives however, there were a little application in the fields in Korea. With the recent advance in engineering fields, those defects in construction would be no longer obstacle to construct underground wall and the technique could be a one of major ground water production technique in the future. It is essential to study following items thoroughly before select the appropriate site. The topography and the site of the underground wall, aquifer distribution, the specific technique for wall construction to block groundwater flow effectively and strict quality control during construction are critical. The surface and ground water monitoring data should be collected. Sustainability of the Groundwater Dam with huge groundwater abstraction in long term should be based on the long-term water balance analysis for each site. The water quality, environmental effect analysis and maintenance achedule should be also analyzed and planned in prior. It is suggested that the two consecutive underground wall in the coastal area to prevent seawater intrusion beneath a single wall.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2006

The objective of this study is to assess impacts of sorption heterogeneity on the transport of leachate leaked from unlined landfill sites and is accomplished by examining the results from a series of Monte-Carlo simulations. For random distribution coefficient ($K_{d}$) fields with four different levels of heterogeneity ranging from homogeneous to highly heterogeneous, the transport of leachate was investigated by linking a saturated flow model with a contaminant transport model. Impacts of a chemical heterogeneity were evaluated using point statistics values such as mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation of the concentration obtained at monitoring wells from 100 Monte-Carlo trials. Inspection of point statistics shows that the distribution of distribution coefficient in the landfill site proves to be an important parameter in controlling leachate concentrations. In comparison to homogeneous sorption, heterogeneous $K_{d^-}$ fields produce the variability in the leachate concentration for different realizations. The variability increases significantly as the variance in the $K_{d^-}$ field and the travel time between source and monitoring well increase. These outcomes indicate that use of a constant homogeneous $K_{d}$ value for predicting the transport of leachate can result in significant error, especially when variability in $K_{d}$ is high.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.54-62
• /
• 2018

Nutrients generated from various land uses lead to eutrophication during the influx of water, and it is necessary to apply the LID techniques to reduce nutrients from nonpoint sources in order to mitigate the occurrence of the algal bloom. This study was carried out to derive the design factors of hybrid artificial wetland (HCW) to increase the removal efficiency of nutrients. HCW system was constructed in the year 2010 for the treatment of rainfall runoffs from parking lots and roads composed of 100% impervious floors in the Cheonan campus of Kongju University. The average nutrients removal efficiency of TN and TP was 74% and 72%, respectively. Both TN and TP removal efficiencies were higher than those of free surface wetlands and subsurface flow wetlands due to activated physical and ecological mechanisms. The critical design parameters for the efficient nutrients removal in the artificial wetlands were the ratio of the surface area to the catchment area (SA/CA), land use, the rainfall runoff, and the rainfall intensity. The optimal carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio was estimated at 5: 1 to 10.3: 1. The results of this study can be applied to the efficient design of hybrid artificial wetlands to treat nutrients in urban runoff with high efficiency.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.107-119
• /
• 2022

Excavation-Disturbed Zone (EDZ) is an important design factor in constructing final disposal facilities for spent nuclear fuel, since EDZ affects mechanical stability including a spacing between disposal holes, and the hydraulic properties within EDZ plays a significant role in estimating in-flow rate of groundwater as well as a subsequent corrosion rate of a canister. Thus, it is highly required to characterize in-situ EDZ with precision and control the EDZ occurrence while excavating disposal facilities and constructing relevant underground research facilities. In this report, we not only reviewed EDZ-related researches carried out in the ONKALO facility of Finland but also examined appropriate methods for field inspection and quality control of EDZ occurrence. From the review, GPR can be the most efficient method for in-situ characterization of EDZ since it does not demand drilling a borehole that may disturb a surrounding environment of caverns. And the EDZ occurrence was dominant at a cavern floor and it ranged from 0 to 70 cm. These can provide useful information in developing necessary EDZ-related regulations for domestic disposal facilities.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.26 no.10
• /
• pp.61-68
• /
• 2010

A pilot-scale model test was performed to estimate the availability of new material, Fe-loaded zeolite, as the filling material in permeable reactive barrier (PRB) against the contaminated groundwater with both Cd and Cr(VI). Aquifer was simulated by filling up a large scale soil tank with sands, and mobilizing the water flow by the head difference of water level in both ends of the tank. Then, the mixture of concentrated Cd and Cr(VI) solution was injected into the aquifer to form a contaminant plume, and its behavior through Fe-loaded zeolite barrier was monitored. The test results showed that Fe-loaded zeolite barrier successfully treated the contaminant plume containing both Cd and Cr(VI) and that the immobilized contaminants in the barrier were not desorbed or released. The results indicated that the Fe-loaded zeolite could be a promising material in PRBs against the multiple contaminants with different ionic forms like Cr(VI) and Cd.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.142-152
• /
• 2023

Infiltration is a process by which precipitation infuses into subsurface soils. The process determines the surface flow and baseflow volume, and it is one of most important hydrological processes regarding nonpoint source pollution management. Therefore, the Ministry of Environment has developed a guideline to determine the impervious area ratio to understand the hydrological process in administrative districts and watersheds. The impervious area ratio can be determined using land use or land cover maps. Three approaches were explored to determine the impervious area ratio in 25 districts in Seoul. The impervious area ratio was determined by employing the Land registration map and Land property data in the first approach, Land property map in the second approach, and Land cover map in the third approach. The ratio ranged from 38.96% to 83.01% in the first approach, 38.98% to 83.02% in the second approach, and 37.62% to 76.63% in the third approach. Although the ranges did not provide any significant differences in the approaches, some districts displayed differences up to 9.48% by the approach. These differences resulted from the fact that the data were land use or land cover, especially in the area of airport, residential complex area, and school sites. In other words, division of the pervious and impervious areas in an individual plot was not allowed in the Land registration map, while it was allowed in the Land cover map. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a need to revise the guideline so that a reasonable impervious area ratio can be determined in the districts.