• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.111-118
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the overburden effect on soil-water characteristic curve and unsaturated permeability of unsaturated weathered soils. For this, unsaturated suction and permeability tests under various overburden stress were conducted respectively. Then, the coefficient of unsaturated permeability and moisture capacity of weathered soils were estimated and compared. All these results are presented in the paper.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.139-146
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• 2002

The characteristics and prediction model for the shear strength of unsaturated residual soils was studied. In order to investigate the influence of the net normal stress on the shear strength, unsaturated triaxial tests and SWCC tests were carried out varying the net normal stress, and the experimental data for unsaturated shear strength tests were compared with predicted shear strength envelopes using existing prediction models. It was shown that the soil - water characteristic curve and the shear strength of the unsaturated soil varied with the change of the net normal stress. Therefore, to achieve a truly descriptive shear strength envelope for unsaturated soils, tile effect of the normal stress on the contribution of matric suction to the shear strength has to be taken into consideration. In this paper, a modified prediction model for the unsaturated shear strength was proposed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.637-644
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• 2022

Loess soils are unsaturated and widely distributed in the northwest zone in China. Many steep slope of unsaturated are observed are observed to be naturally stable. However, a low factor of safety (FoS) for these slopes would be computed from the slope stability analysis following local code practices. It seems that the analyzed results following the local code practices do not agree with the real condition as observed in the field. It is commonly known that soil suction plays an important role in slope stability due to a higher shear strength of the unsaturated soil as compared with that of the saturated soil. In this paper, it is observed that the computed FoS can also be affected by unsaturated unit weight of the soil. However, the effect of unsaturated unit weight of the soil on the slope stability is commonly ignored in engineering practice. Therefore, both the effects of shear strength and unit weight of the unsaturated soil on the computed FoS of unsaturated soil slope are investigated in this study. It is observed that the unsaturated unit weight of soil on the computed FoS increases with increase in slope angle. It is also observed that the effects of the unsaturated shear strength and unsaturated unit weight on the computed FoS are more significant than the effect of 3D analyses compared to the 2D analyses on the FoS.

• 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.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.75-87
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• 2021

Because the hydraulic/mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soil is more complicated than that of saturated soil, one of the most important issues in modelling unsaturated soil is to properly couple its stress-strain relationship with its water retention characteristics. Based on the results of a series of tests, the stress-strain relationship and the changes in suction and saturation of unsaturated completely decomposed granite (CDG, also called Masado) vary substantially under different loading/hydraulic conditions. To precisely model the hydraulic/mechanical behaviour of unsaturated Masado, in this study, the superloading concept was firstly introduced into an existing saturated/unsaturated constitutive model to consider the structural influences. Then a water retention curve (WRC) model considering the volumetric change in the soil, in which the skeleton and scanning curves of the water retention characteristics were assumed to shift in parallel in accordance with the change in the void ratio, was proposed. The proposed WRC model was incorporated into the constitutive model, and the validity of the newly proposed model was verified using the results of tests conducted on unsaturated Masado, including water retention, oedometer and triaxial tests. The accuracy of the proposed model in describing the stress-strain relationship and the variations in suction and saturation of unsaturated Masado is satisfactory.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.998-1003
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• 2008

It has been recognized unsaturated soil behaviour playing an important role in geomechanics. Up to now, only a few experimental data are available for the technical difficulties related to both volume changes and suction measurements. In this study, the volume changes of unsaturated compacted silty soil were monitored with proximeter (i.e. non-contactable transducer) during various triaxial compression tests, which gave a realistic estimation in the volume changes of unsaturated soil sample. Various triaxial compression tests for unsaturated soil under different drainage conditions are carried out. The behaviour of the pore pressure, namely, the pore-air pressure and the pore-water pressure, and matric suction during the shearing tests are investigated. The experimental results have revealed that the mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soil can be significantly affected by the matric suction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.377-384
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• 2000

The characteristics and prediction model of the shear strength for unsaturated residual soils was studied. In order to investigate the influence of the initial water content on the shear strength, unsaturated triaxial tests were carried out varying the initial water content, and the applicability of existing prediction models for the unsaturated shear strength was testified. It was shown that the soil - water characteristic curve and the shear strength of the unsaturated soil varied with the change of the initial water content. A sample compacted in the lower initial water content needs a higher suction to get the same degree of saturation while the shear strength of a sample with the lower initial water content displays a lower value. In order to apply the existing prediction models of the unsaturated shear strength to granite residual soils, a correction coefficient, α, on the internal friction angle, ø'was added.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

A semi-analytical solution to responses of overconsolidated (OC) unsaturated soils surrounding an expanding spherical cavity under constant suction condition is presented. To capture the elastoplastic hydro-mechanical property of OC unsaturated soils, the unified hardening (UH) model for OC unsaturated soil is adopted in corporation with a soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and two suction yield surfaces. Taking the specific volume, radial stress, tangential stress and degree of saturation as the four basic unknowns, the problem investigated is formulated by solving a set of first-order ordinary differential equations with the help of an auxiliary variable and an iterative algorithm. The present solution is validated by comparing with available solution based on the modified Cam Clay (MCC) model. Parametric studies reveal that the hydraulic and mechanical responses of spherical cavity expanding in unsaturated soils are not only coupled, but also affected by suction and overconsolidation ratio (OCR) significantly. More importantly, whether hydraulic yield will occur or not depends only on the initial relationship between suction yield stress and suction. The presented solution can be used for calibration of some insitu tests in OC unsaturated soil.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.371-376
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to investigate toughening of unsaturated polyester resin by addition of polyuretane liquid rubber. In general, unsaturated polyester resin has strong brittleness in spite of its high strength Therefore; it is difficult to use unsaturated polyester mortar for the place where impact resistance is demanded. In this study, it was evaluated strength and Gf by using to polyurethane liquid rubber. As a result, the toughness of unsaturated polyester mortar was increased by polyuretane liquid rubber.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.147-152
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• 2001

This study investigated one-dimensional vertical infiltration to an unsaturated residual soil by numerical solutions, FDM. In order to estimate the parameters needed for numerical analysis, tire soil-water characteristic curve(SWCC) of Shinnae-dong soil, one of the most typical residual soils in Korea, were experimentally obtained. Then, the statistical analysis for obtaining the SWCC was performed. The numerical solution to the linearized governing equation for unsaturated groundwater flow provides the infiltration characteristics for the unsaturated residual soil represented by transient pressure profiles and water contents profiles.