• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1025-1037
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• 2015

Flexible base isolation bearings that separate superstructure from ground have been widely used in the construction field because they make a significant contribution to increasing the fundamental period of the structure, thereby decreasing response acceleration transmitted into the superstructure. However, the established bearing devices installed to uphold the whole building give rise to some problems involved with failure and collapse due to lack of the capacity as modern structures are getting more massive and higher. Therefore, this study suggests new isolation bearings assembled with additional restrainers enabled to reinforcing and recentering, and then evaluates their performance to withstand the seismic load. The superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) bars are installed into the conventional lead-rubber bearing (LRB) devices in order to provide recentering forces. These new systems are modeled as component spring models for the purpose of conducting nonlinear dynamic analyses with near fault ground motion data. The LRB devices with steel bars are also designed and analyzed to compare their responses with those of new systems. After numerical analyses, ultimate strength, maximum displacement, permanent deformation, and recentering ratio are compared to each model with an aim to investigate which base isolation models are superior. It can be shown that LRB models with superelastic SMA bars are superior to other models compared to each other in terms of seismic resistance and recentering effect.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.271-305
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• 2020

An effect of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical and chemical (THMC) behavior is an essential part of the performance and safety assessment of geological disposal systems for high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Furthermore, numerical models and modeling techniques are necessary to analyze and predict the coupled THMC behavior in the disposal systems. However, phenomena associated with the coupled THMC behavior are nonlinear, and the constitutive relationships between them are not well known. Therefore, it is challenging to develop numerical models and modeling techniques to analyze and predict the coupled THMC behavior in the geological disposal systems. It is also difficult to verify and validate the development of the models and techniques because it requires expensive laboratory tests and in-situ experiments that need to be performed for a long time. DECOVALEX was initiated in 1992 to efficiently develop numerical models and modeling techniques and validate the developed models and techniques against the lab and in-situ experiments. In Korea, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has participated in DECOVALEX-2011, DECOVALEX-2015, and DECOVALEX-2019 since 2008. In this study, all tasks in the three DECOVALEX projects were introduced to the researcher in the field of rock mechanics and geotechnical engineering in Korea.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

To evaluate methods of determining near-surface shear-wave velocities (${\nu}_s$), we derived dispersion curves of Rayleigh waves generated by both passive and active sources in Chuncheon, Korea. Microtremors were recorded for 5 minutes in each of four triangular arrays with radii of 5 ~ 40 m. Those data were analyzed using the Spatial Autocorrelation method. Rayleigh waves were also generated by a hammer source and recorded in the same area for 2 s using 24 4.5-Hz geophones. Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves was applied to those data. Velocity spectra were derived with relatively high signal-to-noise ratios in the frequency ranges of 7 ~ 19 and 11 ~ 50 Hz for the microtremors and synthetically generated Rayleigh waves, respectively. The resultant dispersion curves were combined as one and then input to inversion to derive shear wave velocities that were compared with a lithology log from a nearby well. Shearwave velocities in the top soil and soft-rock layers are almost constant with values of 221 and 846 m/s, respectively; while the inverse-modeled ${\nu}_s$ increases linearly in the gravelly sand, cobbles, and weathered-rock layers. If rock type is classified based on shear-wave velocity, the inversion-derived boundary between weathered-rock and soft rock may be about 5 m deeper than in the well log.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.271-277
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• 2013

The BNWF (Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation) model is one of the simplest idealizations for a pile embedded in soil as it ignores the continuity of the soil. This method is difficult to model the behavior of pile group foundation subjected to lateral loading. The limitation can be overcome with the utilization of the finite element method (FEM) or finite different method (FDM) to represent a pile element embedded in a soil medium. Both the ground and piles are modeled with soild elements. The solid elements, which do not have rotational degree of freedom, is not appropriate for modeling piles. It can be overcome by substantially increasing the number of elements, which can be prohibitive for 3D modeling. This paper used the beam element and rigid link incorporated in the OpenSees to model the pile. The accuracy of the model is validated through comparison with lateral load test and BNWF analysis. It is shown that the method can capture the measured behavior accurately. It is therefore recommended to be used in group pile analyses.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.129-137
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• 2020

In performing the structural analysis, the foundation is considered to be a fixed end as a plastic hinge model. In this study, the displacements of the foundation, pier, and shoe were compared when the foundation modeled as a fixed end, a shallow foundation constructed on bedrock of 2m depth, and a pile foundation constructed in the 10m to 20m depth of bedrock. The shear force was also compared, and the probability of damage was calculated and compared for the critical condition. When calculated as a fixed end, the displacement of the foundation converged to 0mm, but the shallow foundation built on the bedrock with a depth of 2m caused relatively displacement, and the pile foundation constructed to contact the bedrock with a depth of 18m caused a larger displacement. In addition, it was analyzed that the displacement of the foundation, which is the lower structure, affects the displacement of the super structure, but the difference in shear force applied to the foundation was insignificant in the three cases. There was no difference between the shallow foundation and the pile foundation in the influence on the displacement of the top of the pier, but there was a big difference from the analysis assuming as a fixed end.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.371-380
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• 2023

To calculate seismic fragility, it is important to select input earthquake ground motions that can properly express the characteristics of the target site. This study analyzed the seismic fragility of a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model based on input earthquake ground motions in strong and low-to-moderate seismic regions. As a first step, a total of four sets of input earthquake ground motions were selected,: two sets measured near or far from overseas strong earthquake records and two sets exhibiting the characteristics of low-to-moderate earthquake regions in South Korea. A nonlinear SDOF model for three natural periods was applied to the target structure, and incremental dynamic analysis was used for fragility analysis. In addition, four damage states were defined, and seismic fragility results for each natural period of the nonlinear SDOF model for the four aforementioned input earthquake ground motion sets were obtained for each damage state.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.593-608
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• 2018

If a problem occurs in the strut during the construction of the braced wall, they may cause excessive deformation of the braced wall. Therefore, in this study, the behavior of the braced wall and existing tunnel adjacent to excavation were investigated assuming that the support function of strut is lost during construction process. For this purpose, a series of model test was performed. As a result of the study, the earth pressure in the ground behind wall was rearranged due to the deformation of the braced wall, and the ground displacements caused the deformation of adjacent tunnels. When the struts located on the nearest side wall from the tunnel were removed, the deformation of the braced wall and the tunnel deformation were the largest. The magnitude of transferred earth pressure depended on the location of tunnel. The increase of the cover depth of tunnel from 0.65D to 2.65D caused the increase of the earth pressure by 25.6%. As the distance between braced wall and tunnel was increased from 0.5D to 1.0D, the transferred earth pressure increased by 16% on average. Horizontal displacements of braced wall by the removal of the strut tended to concentrate around the removed struts, and the horizontal displacement increased as the strut removal position is lowered. The tunnel displacement was maximum, when the cover depth of tunnel was 1.15D and the horizontal distance between braced wall and the side of tunnel was 0.5D. The minimal displacement occurred, when the cover depth of tunnel was 2.65D and the horizontal distance between braced wall and the side of tunnel was 1.0D. The difference between the maximum displacement and the minimum displacement was about 2 times, and the displacement was considered to be the largest when it was in the range of 1.15D to 1.65D and the horizontal distance of 0.5D.