• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.159-168
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• 2014

Holocene plaeoenvironmental changes were interpreted by grain size and mineral analyses of a piston core (HB 13-2), obtained along the western slope of the Hupo Basin, Korea. The core sediments are characterized by two discrete, sedimentary facies: upper unit (0-0.4 mbsf) dominated by bioturbation structures with weak lamination, and lower unit (0.4-3.3 mbsf) characterized by intensified bioturbation toward bottom. Analysis of sensitive grain size and sortable silt demonstrated that the inflow of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) into the Hupo Basin strengthen from the period of sediment deposition over 0.82 mbsf. The minerals of the core sediments are composed mainly of quartz, microcline, orthoclase, albite and clay minerals including chlorite, kaolinite and illite. No noticeable changes of the mineral percentage was observed according to the grain size and depth of the samples. The integral breadth (${\Delta}^{\circ}2{\theta}$) of clay minerals from 1.4 mbsf to top layer shows an increasing trend, which clearly means climate warming from the period of sediment deposition above 1.4 mbsf. This interval correlates with the Holocene climate optimum at Mid Holocene.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.143-149
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• 2016

This study evaluated the shear behavior of geogrid reinforced ballast material using a large scale direct shear test and discrete element method (DEM) based on PFC 3D program. The direct shear test was conducted on ballast materials that have different particle size distributions. Whereas the test results revealed that the shear strength generally increased with the larger particle size of ballast material without geogrid reinforcement, the shear behavior of ballast material was found to change pertaining to the relationship between particle size distribution and geogrid rib size. Generally, it is deemed the effectiveness of reinforcement can be achieved when the rib size is two times greater than average particle size. A numerical analysis based on DEM was conducted to verify the test results. The geogrid modeling was successfully completed by calibration process along with sensitivity analysis to have actual tensile strength provided by manufacturer. With a given geogrid model, the parametric evaluation was further carried out to examine the interactive behavior between geogrid and ballast material. Consequently, it was found that the effectiveness zone of geogrid reinforcement generated within a specific depth.