• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.25-32
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• 2020

The underground utilities installed under the ground is an important civil engineering structure, such as water supply and sewerage pipes, underground power lines, various communication lines, and city gas pipes. Such underground utilities can be exposed to risk due to external factors such as concentrated rainfall and vehicle load, and it is important to select and construct an appropriate backfill material. Currently, a method mainly used is to fill the soil around the underground utilities and compact it. But it is difficult to compact the lower part of the buried pipe and the compaction efficiency decreases, reducing the stability of the underground utilities and causing various damages. In addition, there are disadvantages such as a decrease in ground strength due to disturbance of the ground, a complicated construction process, and construction costs increase because the construction period becomes longer, and civil complaints due to traffic restrictions. One way to solve this problem is to use a liquid filler. The liquid filler has advantages such as self-leveling ability, self-compaction, fluidity, artificial strength control, and low strength that can be re-excavated for maintenance. In this study, uniaxial compression strength test and fluidity test were performed to characterize the mixed soil using marine clay, stabilizer, and in-situ soil as backfill material. A freezing-thawing test was performed to understand the strength characteristics of the liquid filler by freezing, and in order to examine the effect of the filling materials on the corrosion of the underground pipe, an electrical resistivity test and a pH test were performed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.4322-4327
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• 2015

Improper backfill materials and compaction controls under pipelines have become one of the major causes of failure in many sewage pipeline systems. A study on backfill materials and compaction controls has been considered for a long time. However, structural supporters under the pipe were recently concerned because of pipeline repair and maintenance. This paper presents a prefabricated plastic foundation for supporting a sewage pipe system and increasing the performance function of the pipes. Several analytical models for the plastic foundations were investigated using finite-element program, ABAQUS, for checking safety. Comparing with the results of analyses, some of economic design sections based on the sizes of pipe diameters, 600mm, 700 and 600mm, were evaluated. These results could be applied to a pipeline system with a prefabricated plastic foundation with respect to pipe diameters and buried depths.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.3-11
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• 2003

Researches on the induced trench method using compressible materials such as clay, mud, straw, or EPS block have been performed to reduce the load acting on buried conduits under a high fill. The induced trench method has the problems that the arching area due to the compressible arching material is one dimensional or localized in a narrow zone. The main purpose of this study is to solve the problems of the induced trench method mentioned above. The various types of laboratory model tests are conducted to find the effects of the variations of EPS block width, multilayer application, soil density, and diameter of the flexible steel pipe. A series of model tests was conducted to evaluate the reduction of earth pressure on conduits using EPS block. Based on modeling test it is found that the magnitude of vertical earth pressure on conduits was reduced about 60% compared with conventional flexible conduit systems.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.121-129
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• 2017

There have been a number of water and sewer pipe breakdown reports followed by ground subsidence. Also, the excavating works for construction due to overcrowding of city have been common. Particularly, in urban areas ground becomes unstable because of the lowered lifeline sinkage followed excavation and backfilling. In order to solve the problem, some reinforcement works for ground by rod tamping or grouting have been applied. However, it is hard to predict when the buried utilities in underground will be damaged. Also, there is a limit for the underground exploration and investigation methods. Therefore, in this study, the estimated about the water soluble polymer pouch including poor mixed admixture which is designed to eliminate the dangerous factors. The reinforcement strength of this method was confirmed by verifying three points: meltiness in a certain period, water solubility in the ground water level, and characteristics of the pouch, which can be stored in daily conditions. It is also proved that this method allows to keep the ground from getting weakened in the installation of water and sewer pipe along with back filling materials.