• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2018

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to identify the road-subsidence mechanism in unsaturated sandy soils. METHODS : A series of soil chamber tests were conducted under various conditions. RESULTS : The cavity-expansion characteristics in unsaturated sandy soils due to seepage were affected by the outlet size, seepage intensity, relative density, and fine content. CONCLUSIONS : In unsaturated sandy soils, the cavity-expansion speed was affected by the outlet size, relative density, seepage intensity, and clay content; however, the cavity-expansion shape was very similar. As the outlet size and seepage intensity increased, the cavity-expansion speed increased. As the relative density increased, the cavity-expansion speed increased because of a sudden decrease in shear strength, resulting from the increased saturation (reduction of matric suction). The cavity expanded faster with the increasing clay content, up to a certain threshold. It expanded at a slower rate once it passed the threshold. Finally, it reached a stable state where the cavity did not expand due to seepage.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.57-64
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• 2007

Since matric suction of unsaturated soil was related to soil and ground water contaminations, it is very important to analyze its mechanism that was represented by shear characteristics. In three phases of soil, a little air makes the condition of unsaturated soil on contract or shrinkage surface between water and air. Capillarity and suction in pore of unsaturated soil cause surface tension and surface force so it makes negative pore water pressure and increases effective stress as a result. Therefore, negative pore water pressure in partially saturated soil affects the soil structure and degree of saturation and it is important to evaluate accurately unsaturate flow and behavior. In this study, the shear strength characteristics of the seven sandy soils were investigated using consolidated drained triaxial tests with special emphasis on the effects of the negative pore pressure and the matric suction. These tests involved shearing under either a constant net confining pressure and varying matric suction or under a constant matric suction and varying net normal stress.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.462-473
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• 2018

The uranium ore residues from the legacies of past uranium mining and milling activities that resulted from the less stringent environmental standards along with the uranium residues from the existing nuclear power plants continue to be a cause of concern as the final uranium residues are not made safe from radiological and general safety point of view. The deposition of uranium in ponds increases the risk of groundwater getting contaminated as these residues essentially leach through the upper unsaturated geological formation. In this context, a numerical model has been developed in order to forecast the $^{238}U$ and its progenies concentration in an unsaturated soil. The developed numerical model is implemented in a hypothetical uranium tailing pond consisting of sandy soil and silty soil types. The numerical results show that the $^{238}U$ and its progenies are migrating up to the depth of 90 m and 800 m after 10 y in silty and sandy soil, respectively. Essentially, silt may reduce the risk of contamination in the groundwater for longer time span and at the deeper depths. In general, a coupled effect of sorption and hydro-geological parameters (soil type, moisture context and hydraulic conductivity) decides the resultant uranium transport in subsurface environment.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 2022

The unsaturated behavior of sandy silt (SM soil) was investigated experimentally. Special attention was given to the stress-strain behavior of unsaturated weathered soil (SM) prior to failure and behavior at failure under monotonic loading. A sandy silt (SM) weathered soil containing a certain amount of fine contents distributed in Korea, was chosen to form samples with different densities of Dr=25%, 60%, and 75%. and matric suctions. The isotopically Consolidated Drain test (CD-test) was performed to maintain a constant matric suction during the shearing process. Based on the experimental results, it was qualitatively identified that the higher the relative density, the greater the virtual friction angle (ϕ^b) value and AEV (Air Entry Value) were induced. Also it is found that the internal friction angle (ϕ') is more or less constant. even if the matric suction is increased.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2003

Treatment of secondary effluent was investigated using sandy soil as a possible alternative to the tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater. Secondary effluent was applied with three different flow rates to the surface of pilot scaled lysimeters, which were filled with sandy soil. Some of the lysimeters were covered with osd, while others were kept bare in order to investigate the role of plantation on the treatment. The concentration changes in COD and nitrogen were measured along the unsaturated soil depth. The same set of experiment as with the secondary effluent was performed using tap water to investigate the dissolution of the contaminants from the soil. from the results it was found that when sandy soil was used for tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater COD removal efficiency reached about 70% regardless of the application rate. The soil depth needed to obtain such efficiency increased along with the application rate, which was about 60 cm at the application rate of 50 L/day. Results also showed that nitrification occurred rapidly. The process was completed in soil depth of first $10{\sim}20\;cm$. Nitrogen removal efficiency was as low as about 20% regardless of the application rate. Some supplementary means should be considered to improve the efficiency. Sod on the soil surface had no significant influence on the contaminant treatment but was helpful to keep the infiltration rate undiminished. Finally, the organic soil was found to release significant amount of contaminants when it was in contact with soil water.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.377-380
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• 2004

To identify the effect of landfill waste for groundwater and unsaturated air environment, soil gas survey and hydrogeochemical study were executed. The geology of the study area is granite and aquifer is mainly composed of sandy soil. The results of spatial distribution from soil gas showed the boundary of buried waste and processes and degree of waste decomposition. Groundwater contamination by leachate from landfill is controlled by groundwater flow attributed by the original topography and liner.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.232-236
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• 2005

In-situ Air Sparging (IAS, AS) is a groundwater remediation technique, in which organic contaminants are volatilized into air as it rises from saturated to vadose soil zone. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of environmental conditions on the degradation of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and $CO_2$ in the unsaturated zone and TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) in saturated zone of sandy loam. In the laboratory, diesel (10,000 mg TPH/kg)-contaminated saturated soil. After heating the soil for 36 days, the equilibrium temperature of soil reached to $34.9{\pm}2.7^{\circ}C$ and TPH concentration was reduced to 78.9% of the initial value, Volatilization loss of VOCs in TPH was about 2%, The reduction gradient of $CO_2$ concentration was 0.018/day in air space and 0.0007/day in unsaturated zone.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.343-353
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• 2024

The hydraulic anisotropic behavior of unsaturated soil has not been fully explored in relation to the grain-size distribution. The present study conducted laboratory assessments to examine the hydraulic anisotropy condition of statically compacted specimens in various initial states. The investigation incorporated the concept of hydraulic anisotropy by employing two discrete forms of soil stratification: horizontal-layering (HL) and vertical-layering (VL). The examined soils comprised sandy silt and silty sand, exhibiting either unimodal or bimodal soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). This study aimed to investigate the potential correlation between the hydraulic anisotropy ratio and soil properties. The present study established a correlation between the hydraulic anisotropy ratio and several soil parameters, including fine content, dry density, plastic limit, and liquid limit. The study results indicate a non-linear relationship between the percentage of fine and dry density in soils with unimodal and bimodal soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and hydraulic anisotropy ratio.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.41-47
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• 2013

Well-graded and dense soils have good engineering properties. Unsaturated soil properties such as shear strength, compressibility and permeability are closely related to the soil-water characteristic curve of the soil. Therefore it is important to study the effects of the coefficient of uniformity and the porosity on the soil-water characteristic curve of the sandy soils, which are also related to the grain size distribution and the density of the soil, respectively. In this study soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) for six sandy soil specimens were investigated using Tempe pressure cells. The test data were best-fitted to Fredlund and Xing equation. The obtained fitting parameters and the characteristic points of SWCCs were discussed and correlated with the porosity and the coefficient of uniformity of the specimens. The results show that the smaller the porosity of the specimen becomes, the larger the value of the residual matric suction becomes, whereas the larger the coefficient of uniformity of the specimen becomes, the larger the value of the residual matric suction becomes. Regardless of the coefficient of uniformity, the smaller the porosity of the specimen, the flatter the max. slope of SWCC.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 1984

A study was carried out to develop a modified Gardner's method, which enabled us to obtain simultaneously both the unsaturated hydraulic conductivities and the moisture retention curves by the use of a soil moisture pressure-plate extractor. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was calculated from soil moisture changes under different tension ranges in the pressure- plate extractor by means of Gardner's pressure-plate outflow equation. From 30mbar-tension to 10bar-tension, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivities obtained on three soils (Bonryang sandy loam, Yesan silt loam, and Pogog clay loam) varied $3.09{\times}10^{-2}cm/day{\sim}4.06{\times}10^{-6}cm/day$, $1.34{\times}10^{-2}cm/day{\sim}7.30{\times}10^{-6}cm/day$, and $1.83{\times}10^{-2}cm/day{\sim}8.50{\times}10^{-6}cm/day$, respectively. In comparison with the outflow method, it is inconvenient to perform the periodic determinations of the soil moisture content that require release of the applied Pressure before readjusting the pressure desired for each measurement. Nevertheless, the main advantage of the modified method is that the unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of different soils can be calculated simultaneously with a small amount of each soil sample. It is concluded that the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity can be calculated from soil moisture changes in the soil moisture pressure-plate extractor.