• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.361-368
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• 2000

In other to examine the compressibility characteristics of cohesive soils in the mouth of the Nakdong river, the oedometer tests were peformed on undisturbed and reconstituted samples obtained by continuous boring typically at 3 different sites. It is meaningful to compare the consolidation behavior of natural clays with a reference state because the natural clays are depending on the stress history, sedimentary environment and geological history. In this study, the insitu state of the Pusan clays was investigated using the concepts of ISL(Nagaraj, 2000) and ICL and SCL(Burland, 1990). And for the purpose of confirming the existence of the underconsolidated clays, a standpipe type piezometer test and a dissipation test by piezocone were performed at their sites. Consequently, the Pusan clays were evaluated as normally consolidated clays.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.45-54
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• 2009

The electrical characteristics of soils have been used for investigating soil properties. The purpose of this study is the development and application of the electrical resistivity cone probe (ERCP) for the evelation of the porosity in the field with high precision. The shape of the probe tip is a cone shape to minimize the disturbance during penetration. In addition, the four terminal pair configuration is adopted to minimize the electrical interference. The electrical resistances are continuously measured during penetration of the ERCP using penetration rigs with 0.33 mm/sec penetration rate at Incheon and Busan sites. With the measured resistance profile and electrical resisivity of electrolyte of undisturbed samples, soil porosity profiles are obtained by using Archie's law. The empirical coefficients for the Archie's law are obtained based on the electrolyte extracted from the undisturbed samples. The estimated porosity profiles show similar trends to those of in-situ penetration tests such as SPT, CPT, and DMT. This study suggests that the ERCP may be an effective tool for the porosity estimation in the field with minimum disturbance.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.57-65
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• 2014

For economic and technical reasons, it is difficult to obtain high quality undisturbed cohesionless samples, hence most researchers rely on preparing remolded and reconstituted representative samples of sandy soils. In this study, moist tamping, air pluviation, and dry deposition methods were applied to make remolded samples at similar relative densities. A series of isotropically consolidated drained tests were conducted with accompanied by measured elastic wave velocities in order to evaluate a difference between sample preparation methods and relative densities. For the elastic wave velocity measurements, piezoelectric elements were installed on the top and bottom cap of the triaxial device. The results showed that soil behavior relies on sample preparation methods, and that the trend of shear wave velocity was the same with volumetric strain behavior.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-70
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• 1998

Samples of silty sands and hydraulic fill ground were investigated by dynamic triaxial teats in order to evaluate the liquefaction strengths. In the tests, (1) undisturbed and disturbed samples were prepared, (2) dynamic shear strengths were measured under isotropic and anisotropic condition, and (3) the test results were compared with the other results which were tested by domestic and foreign researchers. The liquefaction shear strengths under ismtropic test condition were presented in terms of the relative densities. The amount of silt under 30o hardly influenced on the liquefaction strength. In the test results of anisotropically consolidated samples the liquefaction strength was dependent on the magnitude of the effective consolidation ratio. These teat results show that the liquefaction strength of the silty sand in Korea went coast exists within the boundary of the values suggested by Seed and Peacock(1971).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

The unconfined compression strength (UCS) of soils is commonly used either before or during the construction of geo-structures. In the pre-design stage, UCS as a mechanical property is obtained through a laboratory test that requires cumbersome procedures and high costs from in-situ sampling and sample preparation. As an alternative way, the empirical model established from limited testing cases is used to economically estimate the UCS. However, many parameters affecting the 1D soil compression response hinder employing the traditional statistical analysis. In this study, gene expression programming (GEP) is adopted to develop a prediction model of UCS with common affecting soil properties. A total of 79 undisturbed soil samples are collected, of which 54 samples are utilized for the generation of a predictive model and 25 samples are used to validate the proposed model. Experimental studies are conducted to measure the unconfined compression strength and basic soil index properties. A performance assessment of the prediction model is carried out using statistical checks including the correlation coefficient (R), the root mean square error (RMSE), the mean absolute error (MAE), the relatively squared error (RSE), and external criteria checks. The prediction model has achieved excellent accuracy with values of R, RMSE, MAE, and RSE of 0.98, 10.01, 7.94, and 0.03, respectively for the training data and 0.92, 19.82, 14.56, and 0.15, respectively for the testing data. From the sensitivity analysis and parametric study, the liquid limit and fine content are found to be the most sensitive parameters whereas the sand content is the least critical parameter.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.111-122
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• 2014

For accurate laboratory evaluations of soil deposits, it is essential that the samples are undisturbed. An artificial ground-freezing system is the one of the most effective methods for obtaining undisturbed samples from sand deposits. The objective of this study is to estimate the shear strengths and the characteristics of elastic waves of frozen-thawed and unfrozen specimens through the undrained triaxial compression test. For the experiments, Jumunjin standard sands are used to prepare frozen and unfrozen specimens with similar relative densities (60% and 80%). The water pluviation method is used to simulate the fully saturated condition under the groundwater table. When thawing the frozen specimens, the temperature is measured every minute. After the specimens are completely thawed, undrained triaxial compression tests are conducted using the same procedures as for the unfrozen specimens. During the triaxial tests (saturation, consolidation, and shear phase), compressional and shear waves are measured. The results show that the freeze-thaw process has minor effects on the peak deviatoric stress and shear strength values, and that the process does not affect the internal friction angle. The compressional wave velocity increases with increasing B-value to 1800 m/s in the saturation phase, but tends to remain constant in the process of consolidation and shearing. The shear wave velocity decreases with increasing B-value in the process of saturation, but changes velocity in accordance with the change in effective stress in the processes of consolidation and shearing. The compressional wave velocity has similar values regardless of the freeze-thaw process, but values of shear wave velocity are slighly lower in frozen-thawed specimens than in unfrozen specimens. This study is a preliminary experiment for estimating the shear strength and characteristics of elastic wave velocity in undisturbed frozen specimens that have been obtained using the artificial ground-freezing method.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.127-140
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• 1999

In this study, decomposed granite soil samples were taken from 16 different regions and their weathering properties were investigated by testing their physical and chemical properties. According to the results, the Chemical Weathering Index (CWI) ranges from 15.5 to 30 in general and 12 out of the 16 regions show over 20 in CWI. The 12 regions are categorized into complete granite soil areas by Sueoka's classification. CWI, Li. $SiO_2,\; \DeltaS/S$ and SAR are all correlated significantly and used as indicators by which the degree of weathering can be judged. The degree of weathering can be measured especially through Li or $SiO_2$ which is considered as an easy approach of geotechnical classification. Also, the relationship between the value of N and Li is regarded as a good indicator in estimating the degree of weathering.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.27-40
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• 1993

This paper proposes a new procedure carrying out a series of consolidated-undrained triaxial tests with a specimen. In this procedure high confining pressure applied to the specimen keeps constant during the test and each stage of consolidation can be controlled by partial drainage. With this procedure the test time is remarkably reduced by performing a series of triaxial tests with a single specimen. In order to verify the appliesbility of the procedure, standard triaxial compression tests and conventional multi -stage triaxial testy are performed for both undisturbed and disturbed samples and the results are compared with those of the proposed procedure. The comparison shows that strength parameters determined by the proposed procedure are well agreed with those of the other tests and thus it can be said that the procedure is very effective and practical in determining strength parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.67-74
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• 2004

A case study was performed to verify the applicability of existing formulae for predicting bridge scour in cases where its piers are founded in fine-grained soils. The object of study was the Kanghwa Choji Bridge area where the streambed consists of mainly clayey soil. Site investigation included: direct measurement of scour depths around piers using an ultrasonic probe; and collection of undisturbed soil samples which were later used to determine geotechnical properties and scour rate under different stream velocities. Scour depth prediction was made by employing several conventional methods and compared with the measured value. All methods, not taking soil's intrinsic property against erosion into consideration, overestimated scour depth by a factor of 3.6 to 6.5. On the other hand, the SRICOS method yielded a reasonably acceptable overestimation by a factor of 1.7.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.239-251
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• 2012

The analysis of laterally loaded piles is generally carried out by idealizing the soil mass as Winkler springs, which is a crude approximation; however this approach gives reasonable results for many practical applications. For more precise analysis, the three- dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) is one of the best alternatives. The FEA uses the modulus of elasticity $E_s$ of soil, which can be determined in the laboratory by conducting suitable laboratory tests on undisturbed soil samples. Because of the different concepts and idealizations in these two approaches, the results are expected to vary significantly. In order to investigate this fact in detail, three-dimensional finite element analyses were carried out using different combinations of soil and pile characteristics. The FE results related to the pile deflections are compared with the closed-form solutions in which the modulus of subgrade reaction $k_s$ is evaluated using the well-known $k_s-E_s$ relationship. In view of the observed discrepancy between the FE results and the closed-form solutions, an improved relationship between the modulus of subgrade reaction and the elastic constants is proposed, so that the solutions from the closed-form equations and the FEA can be closer to each other.