• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 1999

A new numerical method using solution-adaptive grids (SAG) is developed to solve the Richards' equation (RE) for unsaturated flow in porous media. Using a grid generation technique, the SAG method automatically redistributes a fixed number of grid points during the flow process, so that more grid points are clustered in regions of large solution gradients. The method uses the coordinate transformation technique to employ a new transformed RE, which is solved with the standard finite difference method. The movement of grid points is incorporated into the transformed RE, and therefore all computation is performed on fixed grid points of the transformed domain without using any interpolation techniques. Thus, numerical difficulties arising from the movement of the wetting front during the infiltration process have been substantially overcome by the new method. Numerical experiments for an one-dimensional infiltration problem are presented to compare the SAG method to the modified Picard method using a fixed grid. Results show that accuracy of a SAG solution using 41 nodes is comparable with the solution of the fixed grid method using 201 nodes, while it requires only 50% of the CPU time. The global mass balance and the convergence of SAG solutions are strongly affected by the time step size (Δt) and the weighting parameter (${\gamma}$) used for generating solution-adaptive grids. Thus, the method requires automated readjustment of Δt and ${\gamma}$ to yield mass-conservative and convergent solutions, although it may increase computational costs. The method can be effective especially for simulating unsaturated flow and other transport problems involving the propagation of a sharp-front.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1037-1042
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• 2009

Safety regulation of railway embankment is restricted by safety factor in dry season or rainy season in Korea. Safety factor which is results from the limit equilibrium analysis is varied by various external conditions. And because it has no reflection point, it is very difficult to manage the safety of trains. Safety regulation such like warning sign, reduce speed and train stop is the best choice to reduce the damage of embankments where it is worried about occurrence of disasters. In this study, additional index is proposed to support present safety standards based on unsaturated soil mechanics and reliability analysis. It is velocity of failure probability. It has an apparent reflection point near present safety regulation. It is possible to modify the regulation for safety management and monitoring system of embankments by using this index.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.93-105
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• 2017

This study presents direct shear tests, model tests, and numerical simulations to assess the effect of reduction of soil strength because of saturation during formation of ground cave-in caused by damaged sewer pipe lines. The direct shear test results show that the saturation affects the cohesion of soil significantly although it does not influence the friction angle of soil. To experimentally reproduce ground cave-in, the model tests were performed. As ground cave-ins were accompanied with extreme deformation, conventional finite element method has difficulty in simulating them. The present study relies on generalized interpolation material point method, which is one of meshless methods. Although there are differences between the model test and numerical simulation caused by boundary conditions, incomplete saturation, and exclusion of groundwater flow, similar ground deformation characteristics are observed both in the model test and numerical simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.23-32
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• 2008

This paper presents the results of numerical investigation on the stability of reinforced earth wall during rainfall. A series of limit-equilibrium based slope stability analyses within the framework of unsaturated shear strength, coupled with transient seepage analyses, were conducted with due consideration of rainfall characteristics in Korea. It is shown that the factor of safety of the reinforced wall during rainfall decreases with time due to decreases in the suction in the reinforced as well as retained zones. Also revealed is that the decrease in the factor of safety depends not only on the backfill soil type but also on the rainfall characteristics. Practical implications of the findings were discussed.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.55-71
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• 2005

Jeju Island is mainly composed of basaltic lava flows and subordinate amounts of volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks. Jeju Province operates the monitoring wells for seawater intrusion problems around Jeju Island to evaluate of groundwater resources in coastal area. Various surveys and monitoring have been performed in boreholes, and also conventional geophysical well loggings conducted to identify basalt sequences and assess seawater intrusion problems. Various conventional geophysical well logs, including radioactive logs, electrical log, caliper log, and temperature and conductivity log and heat-pulse flowmeter log were obtained in 29 boreholes. The results of geophysical well loggings for saturated rocks are interesting and consistent. Natural gamma logs are useful in basalt sequences to sedimentary interbeds, unconsolidated U formation, and seoguipo formation with higher natural gamma log regardless of saturated or unsaturated basalts. Neutron logs are very effective to discriminate among individual lava flows, flow breaks, and sedimentary interbeds in saturated formation. In hyalocastite, porosity is high and resistivity is low, and we think that hyalocastite is a major pathway of fluid flow. In trachybasalt, porosity has a wide range and resistivity is high. In sedimentary interbeds, unconsolidated U formation and seoguipo formation, porosity is high and resistivity is low. The temperature logs in eastern area in Jeju are useful to interpret the hydrogeological unit and evaluate seawater intrusion in Suan area.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.37-48
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• 2017

Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) has been widely used to estimate the shear strength and coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils. In general, it is divided into the drying path in which the water is discharged and the wetting path in which the water is permeated, and it has a hysteresis indicating different suctions at the same volumetric water content. In reality the field behavior of unsaturated soils is much closer to the wetting path during the infiltration. The drying path has been practically used for various analyses because obtaining the wetting path takes longer than the drying path. Although many approaches for estimating wetting path have been studied till now, these are complex and do not fit well. Therefore, a simple method for estimating wetting path based on empirical approach in this study is proposed in unsaturated soils, and a feasibility study is conducted as well.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.5-21
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• 2014

It has been pointed out that the collapses of unsaturated road embankments caused by earthquake are attributed to high water content caused by the seepage of the underground water and/or the rainfall infiltration. Hence, it is important to study influences of water content on the dynamic stability and deformation mode of unsaturated road embankments for development of a proper design scheme including an effective reinforcement to prevent severe damage. This study demonstrates dynamic centrifugal model tests with different water contents to investigate the effect of water content on deformation and failure behaviors of unsaturated road embankments. Based on the measurement of displacement, the pore water pressure and the acceleration during dynamic loading, dynamic behavior of the unsaturated road embankments with about optimum water content and the higher water content than the optimum one have been examined. In addition, an image analysis has revealed the displacement field and the distributions of strains in the road embankment, by which deformation mode of the road embankment with higher water content has been clarified. It has been confirmed that in the case of higher water content the settlement of the crown is large mainly owing to the volume compression underneath the crown, while the small confining pressure at the toe and near the slope surface induces large shear deformation with volume expansion.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.205-215
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• 2009

The conventional numerical models to analyze flow in subsurface porous media under the transient state usually generate numerical oscillation and unstability due to local flux domain for critical cases such as infiltration into initially dry soil during rainfall period. In this case, it is required refined mesh and small time step, but it decrease efficiency of computation. In this study, numerical unstability in discontinuity domain is removed by applying particle tracking algorithm to simulate unsteady subsurface flow with inflow boundary condition. Finally the hybrid LE FEM improving numerical stability is proposed. The hypothetical domains with unsteady uniform and nonuniform flow field were used to demonstrated algorithm verification. In comparison with analytic solution, we obtained reasonable results and conducted simulation of hypothetical 3-D recharge/pumping area. The proposed algorithm can simulate saturated/unsaturated porous media with more practical problems and will greatly contribute to accuracy and stability of numerical computation.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2005.05b
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• pp.75-79
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• 2005

GSSHA(Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis) 모형은 미 공병단 연구개발센터(USACE ERDC; US Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center)체서 개발된 물리적인 개념의 공간 분포형(PBSD; Physically Based Spatially Distributed) 수문모형으로, CASC2D 모형(Ogden 와 Julien, 2002; Downer 등, 2002)을 개선, 확장한 모형이다. GSSHA 모형의 실행에는 Brigham Young 대학의 컴퓨터그래픽공학연구실에 의해 개발된 미 국방성 WMS(Watershed Modeling System) 인터페이스를 사용하며, 이를 통해 많은 입력과 출력조건을 가지는 분포형 모형의 복잡한 모의 과정을 효과적으로 처리할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 GSSHA 모형을 이용하여 경안천 유역의 물순환 양상을 분석하였다. GSSHA 모형은 유역을 균일한 유한 차분 격자로 나누어 각각의 격자를 기본 단위로 모의한다. 모형의 주요 모의 모듈은 강우 분포, 융설, 차단, 침투, 증발산, 지표면 저류, 2차원 표면류 추적, 1차원 하도 추적, 불포화 층 모의, 2차원 포화 지하 대수층 흐름, 지표면 유사 침식, 하천 유사 추적 등이 포함된다.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2018

The causes of landslides are dependant on rainfall events and the soil characteristics of a slope. For the conventional slope stability, the slope stability analysis has been carried out assuming the saturated soil theory. But, in order to clearly explain a proper soil slope condition by rainfall, the research should be performed using the unsaturated soil mechanism suitable for a soil slope in the field. In the study, by using two major categories of soils in Korea, such as granite and gneiss weathered soils, landslide model test and finite element method have been compared with the difference of seepage and soil stability analysis. The hydraulic conductivity of gneiss weathered soil is slower than that of granite weathered soil, and the gneiss weathered soil contains much finer soils than the granite weathered soil. It was confirmed that the instability of the slope was progressing slowly due to the slow rate of volumetric water content of the surface layer.