• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.5-18
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• 2014

Many regions around the world are vulnerable to rainfall-induced slope failures. A variety of methods have been proposed for revealing the mechanism of slope failure initiation. Current analysis methods, however, do not consider the effects of non-homogeneous soil profiles and variable hydraulic responses on rainfall-induced slope failures. In this study, probabilistic stability analyses were conducted for weathered residual soil slopes with different soil thickness overlying impermeable bedrock to study the rainfall-induced failure mechanisms depending on the soil thickness. A series of seepage and stability analyses of an infinite slope based on one-dimensional random fields were performed to consider the effects of uncertainty due to the spatial heterogeneity of hydraulic conductivity on the failure of unsaturated slopes due to rainfall infiltration. The results showed that a probabilistic framework can be used to efficiently consider various failure patterns caused by spatial variability of hydraulic conductivity in rainfall infiltration assessment for a infinite slope.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.541-547
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• 2021

To assess the stability of a slope and the likelihood of its loss or collapse requires information about the ground, such as the composition of the stratum and its mechanical characteristics. This information is generally gathered through standard penetration testing (SPT) and cone penetration testing. SPT is not widely used due to problems with accessing slopes, most of which are steep and without ramps. A drop cone penetrometer, a portable device that can make up for these shortcomings, can be used in a limited way in some circumstances. Therefore, we developed a portable drilling machine and a small dynamic cone penetration test module that can easily access a slope site and perform SPT. The correlation of the developed system's results with those from SPT was analyzed. Analysis of the correlation between the energy shear rate passing to the load during the different test types established that the energy shear rate is reflected in the test result. The correlation between corrected dynamic cone penetration testing and corrected SPT was N_d' = 3.13 N'.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2019

More than 64% of Korea's land is occupied by mountain regions, which have terrain characteristics that make it vulnerable to mountain disasters. The trails of Taebaeksan Mountain National Park-the region considered in this study-are located in the vicinity of steep slopes, and therefore, the region is vulnerable to landslides and debris flow during heavy storms. In this study, a slope stability model, which is a deterministic analysis method, was used to examine the potential occurrence of landslides. According to the soil classification of the detailed soil map, the specific weight of soil, effective cohesion, internal friction angle of soil, effective soil depth, and ground slope were used as the parameters of the model, and slope stability was evaluated based on the DEM of a 1 m grid. The results of the slope stability analysis showed that the more hazardous the area was, the closer the ratio of groundwater/effective soil depth is to 1.0. Further, many of the private houses and commercial facilities in the lower part of the national park were shown to be exposed to danger.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.23 no.2_2
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• pp.245-254
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• 2020

This study investigated the so far little-researched characteristics of the behaviors of rock slopes at the time of an earthquake. For the selection of the rock block, a proper model was formed by applying the similarity in consideration of the roughness and strength of the rock slope(10m) on the site, and shaking table tests were carried out according to seismic excitement acceleration, and seismic waves. In the case of the inclination angle of the joint plane of 20°, the long period wave at 0.3g or more at the time of the seismic excitement surpassed the length of 100mm, the permissible displacement (0.01H, H:slope height), which brought about the collapse of the rock; the short period wave surpassed the permissible displacement at 0.1g, which caused the collapse of the slope. The rock slope was close to a rigid block and a structure more vulnerable to the long period wave than to the short period wave. It collapsed in the short period wave even at the seismic amplitude smaller than the maximum design acceleration in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.137-151
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• 2004

Many of today's environmental problems are regional in scope and their effects overlap and interact. The purpose of this paper is to developed a simple method for an integrated assessment of environmental conditions across the Mid-Nakdong River Region, by combining data on land use, impervious cover, roads, streams, riparian areas, forest patches, population, pollutant loadings, soil erosion and topography. A cluster analysis was used to identify groups of sub-watersheds with similar environmental characteristics. The mean value for each group was used to find watershed that may be more vulnerable to future environmental degradation. Watersheds in cluster I and II had high amount of forest, but the amount of riparian vegetation was low. Watersheds in cluster III, which located in the middle Geumho River and the main course of Nakdong River, had a greater proportion of their agriculture, a greater proportion of agriculture on steep slopes, and less forest adjacent to streams. Watersheds in cluster IV and V were in the most urbanized areas of the region. The principal adverse impacts for watersheds in this group were high scores for urban area, impervious cover, pollutant loadings, population density, forest fragmentation, and low amounts of forest and riparian forest cover. Notwithstanding the exploratory nature of cluster analysis, it appears to be a useful tool for grouping watersheds with similar environmental characteristics.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.187-195
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• 2023

Intensive rainfall during the summer season in Korea has triggered numerous devastating landslides outside of downtown in mountainous areas. The 2D slope stability analysis that is generally used for cut slopes and embankments is inadequate to model slope failure in mountainous areas. This paper presents a new 3D slope stability formulation using the global sliding vector in the limit equilibrium method, and it uses an ellipsoidal slip surface for static and quasi-static analyses. The slip surface's flexibility of the ellipsoid shape gives a lower FS than the spherical failure shape in the Fellenius, Bishop, and Janbu's simplified methods. The increasing sub-columns of each column tend to increase the FS and converge to a steady value. The symmetrical geometric conditions of the convex turning corners do not indicate symmetrical failure of the surface in 3D analysis. Pseudo-static analysis shows that the horizontal seismic force decreases the FS and increases the mass volume at the critical failure state. The stability index takes the FS and corresponding sliding mass into consideration to assess the potential risk of slope failure in complex mountainous terrain. It is a valuable parameter for selecting a vulnerable area and evaluating the overall risk of slope failure.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.393-403
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• 2017

Mountain disasters in Korea have caused massive social and economic damage. During the period 2005-2014 there has been an annual average of 7 deaths and disaster recovery costs of 79.8 billion won in the country's 4393 ha of mountainous areas. The primary mountain disasters are landslides on mountain slopes, and secondary debris flows can spread along mountain streams, damaging facilities and settlements in lower areas. Typhoons and local rainfall can cause such disasters, while anthropogenic factors include development that damages the mountainous terrain. The study area was divided into three basins. For each basin, a debris flow vulnerability assessment method was proposed considering FLO-2D analysis results and the local topography, geology, and forestation. To establish an in situ investigation, analysis, and evaluation plan for potential mountain disasters, we selected mountain basins that are potentially vulnerable to mountain disasters through analysis of their mountain slopes and streams. This work suggests the establishment of a comprehensive plan for disaster prevention based on a mountain basin feature.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.13-21
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• 2020

In Korea, small reservoirs have been constructed for the supply of agricultural water, but most of them have been over 50 years from the year of construction. Aging agricultural reservoirs are being investigated for serious defects such as leaks and movements in slope, which are very vulnerable to safety. Accordingly, grouting methods are used to reinforce aging agricultural reservoirs in Korea. However, cement used as a grouting injection material consumes natural resources and generates a large amount of greenhouse gases during production. In addition, there is a problem that sufficient reinforcement is not made due to various factors such as the injection amount, the compounding ratio, the injection pressure, and etc. Therefore, due to these problems, the development of new materials and methods that can replace the grouting method and cement is required. In order to solve these problems, this study conducted an laboratory test on the surface stabilizer used to secure the stability of road and rail slopes. In addition, the program was analyzed and the reinforcing effect was examined when the surface stabilizer was used as reinforcement material for aging agricultural reservoir. As a result of the laboratory test, when the surface stabilizer is mixed, the increase of cohesion is possible up to 9% and there is no change in the friction angle. The results of the program analysis showed that the 1.0m reinforcement of slopes increased the factor of safety by 1.4 times, making it possible to reinforce the aging agricultural reservoir using surface stabilizers. And as a reinforcement method, it was analyzed that it is most appropriate to reinforce the slope and the bottom of slope simultaneously.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.383-390
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• 2006

The SharkHartmann wavefront sensors are the most popular devices to measure wavefront in the field of adaptive optics. The Shack-Hartmann sensors measure the centroids of spot irradiance distribution formed by each corresponding micro-lens. The centroids are linearly proportional to the local mean slopes of the wavefront defined within the corresponding sub-aperture. The wavefront is then reconstructed from the evaluated local mean slopes. The uncertainty of the Shack-Hartmann sensor is caused by various factors including the detector noise, the limited size of the detector, the magnitude and profile of spot irradiance distribution, etc. This paper investigates the noise propagation in two major centroid evaluation algorithms through computer simulation; 1st order moments of the irradiance algorithms i.e. center of gravity algorithm, and correlation algorithm. First, the center of gravity algorithm is shown to have relatively large dependence on the magnitudes of noises and the shape & size of irradiance sidelobes, whose effects are also shown to be minimized by optimal thresholding. Second, the correlation algorithm is shown to be robust over those effects, while its measurement accuracy is vulnerable to the size variation of the reference spot. The investigation is finally confirmed by experimental measurements of defocus wavefront aberrations using a Shack-Hartmann sensor using those two algorithms.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.57-67
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• 2023

Slope failures during rainfall have been observed in mountainous areas of South Korea as a result of the presence of solar power facilities. The seepage behavior and pore pressure distribution differ from typical slopes due to the presence of impermeable solar panels, and the load imposed by the solar power structures also affects the slope behavior. This study aims to develop a method for evaluating the stability of slopes with solar power facilities and to analyze vulnerable points by considering the maximum slope displacement. To assess the slope stability and predict behavior while considering rainfall seepage, a combined seepage analysis and finite difference method numerical analysis were employed. For the selected site, various variables were assumed, including parameters related to the Soil Water Characteristic Curve, strength parameters that satisfy the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, soil properties, and topographic factors such as slope angle and bedrock depth. The factors with the most significant influence on the factor of safety (FOS) were identified. The presence of solar power facilities was found to affect the seepage distribution and FOS, resulting in a decreasing trend due to rainfall seepage. The maximum displacement points were concentrated near the upper (crest) and lower (toe) sections of the slope.