• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.5-17
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• 2018

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck the city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea on November 15, 2017. Many sand volcanoes were observed on paddy fields, parks and roads. This phenomenon was the first to be observed as a sign of soil liquefaction in South Korea. In this study, two different kinds of ejected Pohang sands were collected from a liquefied paddy field. Those sands were reconstituted into loose and dense conditions and then a series of cyclic simple shear tests were conducted under confining stresses of 100 and 200 kPa. A real earthquake motion was also repetitively applied to the specimen. As a result of constant shear stress tests, the cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) of loose sand was 0.12-0.14, while the CRR value of dense sand was 0.17-0.21. It was shown that the relative density was more influencing factor on liquefaction resistance than the sand types and initial confining stress. When a real Pohang earthquake motion was repetitively applied to the specimen, a loose sand was liquefied at the second earthquake motion but the dense sand at the third earthquake motion.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.167-175
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• 1985

Geothermal heat flow distribution of Korea is investigated in the light of geophysical data, seismicity, tectonics and gravity as well as heat flow measurements and surface temperature of hot springs. The average heat flow in Korea is found to be $1.65{\mu}cal/cm^2{\cdot}sec$ that is greater than the world's average ($1.5{\mu}cal/cm^2{\cdot}sec$). The high heat flow is located at the regions of high seismicity in Korea. They are found to be Bugok of south central, and Haeundae, Pohang and Dongnae of the southest coast in the Peninsula. The anomalously high heat flow, equal to or greater than $1.93{\mu}cal/cm^2sec$ is found in the Kyongsang Basin, indicating that it is extended from the spreading of the East Sea (Japan Sea) and its origin.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.3-10
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• 2019

On November 15, 2017, an earthquake($M_L5.4$) occurred in Pohang. Pohang earthquake was the second largest earthquake since earthquake was observed in Korea, but structural damage caused by earthquake was biggest. Structural damage caused by Pohang earthquake was mainly caused by schools and pilotis, above all damage to pilotis was outstanding. This is because area where pilotis structures are concentrated is located near epicenter, and seismic performance of pilotis structures is not excellent compared with general structures. In this study, described results of damage investigation and analysis of damage causes through analysis of pilotis Structures on 131 buildings that were investigated immediately after Pohang earthquake. In addition, cause of damage was analyzed through analysis of seismic wave. Investigation site was selected to Jangseong-dong, where damage occurred in large numbers. Damage level was classified into A, B, and C level by measuring residual crack width and story drift of structural members.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.83-102
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• 2022

After the earthquake in South Korea (Gyeongju and Pohang), interest in securing the seismic performance of piloti buildings was increasing. In this paper, a study was conducted to propose a seismic retrofit method for piloti building of LH. The proposed seismic retrofit method considers the priority of seismic retrofit and the type of core. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed seismic retrofit method, computational analysis was performed according to the type of core. As a result, it was confirmed that the seismic performance was improved when the proposed seismic retrofit method was used.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.488-505
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• 2007

The purposes of this research are twofold; 1) to verify spatial differences of tectonic movement using the spatial distribution of earthquakes, and 2) to infer mechanisms that generate spatial accumulation patterns of earthquakes in the Korean Peninsula. The first part of this sequential paper (Park, 2007) argues that the Korean Peninsula consists of four geostructural regions in which tectonic deformation and consequent geomorphological development patterns are different from each other Since this conclusion has been made by terrain analyses alone, it is necessary to verify this suggestion using other independent geophysical data. Because earthquakes are results of movement and deformation of land masses moving in different directions, the distribution of earthquake epicenters may be used to identify the direction and rates of land mass movement. This paper first analysed the spatial distribution of earthquakes using spatial statistics, and then results were compared with the spatial arrangement of geostructural regions. The spatial distribution of earthquakes in the Korean Peninsula can be summarized as the followings; firstly, the intensity of earthquakes shows only weak spatial dependency, and shows large difference even at adjacent regions. Secondly, the epicenter distribution has a clear spatial accumulation pattern, even though the intensity of earthquake shows a random pattern. Thirdly, the high density area of earthquakes shows a clear 'L' shape, passing through Pyeongannam-do, centered at Pyeongyang, and Hwanghae-do, Seosan and Pohang. The correlation coefficient between the density of earthquakes and distance from geostructral region boundaries is much higher than those between the density of fault lines and distance from tectonic division boundaries. Since fault lines and tectonic divisions in the Korean Peninsula are the results of long-term geological development, there is an apparent scale discrepancy to find significant correlations with earthquakes. This result verifies the research hypothesis that the Korean Peninsula is divided into four geostructral regions in which each has its own moving direction and spatial deformation characteristics. The existence of geostructural regions is also supported by the movement parrerns of land masses estimated from the GPS measurements. This conclusion is expected to provide a new perspective to understand the geomorphological developments and the earthquake occurrences in the Korean Peninsula.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.469-483
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• 2020

The results of long-term groundwater level and quality monitoring can be used not only as the basic data for evaluating the impact of various disasters including climate change and establishing responses, but also as key data for predicting and managing geological disasters such as earthquakes. Some countries use groundwater level and quality monitoring for researches to predict earthquakes and to assess the impacts of the earthquake disaster. However, a few cases in Korea report on individual groundwater quality factors (i.e., dissolved ions) observed before and after the earthquakes, being different from other countries. To establish the abnormality criteria for groundwater quality in Pohang, groundwater samples were collected and analyzed five times from 14 agricultural or private wells existing in Shingwang-myeon and Heunghae-eup. As a result of the analysis, it was found that Ca2+ was the dominant cation in Shingwang-myeon, while Na+ was the dominant cation in Heunghae-eup. The elevated NO3- concentration in Shingwang-myeon is contributed to the agricultural activity in the area. A high concentration of Fe was detected in a well on Heunghae-eup; the concentration exceeded the drinking water standard by nearly 100 times. Relatively higher dissolved ions were observed in the groundwater of Heunghae-eup, and it is considered as the result of the flow velocity difference and water-rock reaction accompanying the difference in bedrock and sediment characteristics. The groundwater of Shingwang-myeon appeared to be most affected by the weathering of granite and silicates, while that of Heunghae-eup was mainly affected by the weathering of silicates and carbonate. The background concentrations (baselines) of groundwater Shingwang-myeon and Heunghae-eup was identified through the survey; however, the continuous monitoring is required to monitor the possible changes and the repeatability of seasonal variation.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.379-386
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was to the fragility evaluation of I-shape curved beam structure subjected to strong ground motions including Gyeongju and Pohang earthquakes Method: In particular, to conduct the analytical model, ABAQUS and ANSYS platform was used in this study. Furthermore, the analytical model using 3D Finite Element Model (FEM) was validated, in comparison to the theoretical solutions at the location of 025L, 05L, and 0.75L in static loading condition. In addition, in order to evaluate the seismic fragility of the curved beam structure, 20 seismic ground motions were selected and Monte-Carlo Simulation was used for the empirical fragility evaluation from 0.2g to 1.5g. Result: It was interesting to find that the probability of the system failure was found at 0.2g, as using 190 MPa limit state and the probability of the failure using 390 MPa limit state was starting from 0.6g. Conclusion: This study showed the comparison of the theoretical solution with analytical solution on I-shaped curved beam structures and it was interesting to note that the system subjected to strong ground motions was sensitive to high frequency earthquake. Further, the seismic fragility corresponding to the curved beam shapes must be evaluated.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2020

Water pipes are important facilities and consist of pipes of various specifications and materials. The annual average number of earthquakes in Korea is steadily increasing. Therefore, in case of the water pipe, it is estimated necessary to prepare for earthquakes. Damages to the water pipe by the earthquake can cause problems such as water supply and fire suppression, and cause damage to life and property. In Korea, however, it is difficult to find examples of seismic performance evaluation of water pipes based on experimental study. Damage to the water pipes by the earthquake is caused by the displacement-controlled behavior of the ground which is the liquifaction and fault lines. Especially, The damage to the water pipes by the earthquake is concentrated on the joint of the pipe. In particular, piping less than 200mm in diameter was found to be dangerous. Thus, in this study, the seismic and settlement performance of iPVC buried water pipes with fixed joints with a clamp of 150mm was evaluated with a test approach.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.169-174
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• 2018

A total of 594 reservoirs (17%), which are managed by KRC, equipped with earthquake-resistant facilities whereas remaining ones did not. In addition, reservoirs were placed without the effect of geological structures (i.e., fault and lineament). Therefore, development on technique for alleviating the potential hazards by natural disasters along faults and lineaments has required. In addition, an effective reinforcement guideline related to the geological vulnerabilities around reservoirs has required. The final goal of this study is to suggest the effective maintenance for the safety of earth fill dams. A radius 2 km, based on the center of the reservoir in the study area was set as the range of vulnerability impacts of each reservoir. Seismic design, precise safety diagnosis, seismic influence and geological structure were analyzed for the influence range of each reservoir. To classify the vulnerability of geological disasters according to the fault distribution around the reservoir, evaluation index of seismic performance, precise safety diagnosis, seismic influence and geological structure were also developed for each reservoir, which were a component of the vulnerability assessment of geological disasters. As a result, the reservoir with the highest vulnerability to geological disasters in the pilot district was analyzed as Kidong reservoir with an evaluation index of 0.364. Within the radius of 100km from the epicenter of the Pohang earthquake, the number of agricultural infrastructure facilities subject to urgent inspections were 1,180 including reservoirs, pumping stations and intakes. Four reservoirs were directly damaged by earthquake among 724 agricultural reservoirs. As a result of the precise inspection and electrical resistivity survey of the reservoir after the earthquake, it was reported that cracks on the crest of reservoirs were not a cause of concern. However, we are constantly monitoring the safety of agricultural facilities by Pohang aftershocks.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.129-137
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• 2018

On November 15, 2017, Pohang earthquake occurred. Its local magnitude was announced to be $M_L=5.4$ by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Ground motion data recorded at KMA stations were obtained from their data bases. From the data, horizontal and vertical response spectra, and V/H ratio were calculated. The horizontal spectra were defined as GMRotI50 spectra. From the statistical analysis of the GMRotI50 spectra, a mean plus one standard deviation spectrum in lognormal distribution is obtained. Regression analysis is performed on this curve to determine the shape of spectrum including transition periods. Applying the same procedure, the shape and transition periods of vertical spectrum were obtained. These results were compared with theKorean standard design spectra, which were developed from domestic and overseas intra-plate earthquake records, and Gyeongju earthquake response spectra. The response spectra of Pohang earthquake were found to be almost identical with the newly proposed design spectra. Even the V/H ratios showed good agreement. These results confirmed that the method adopted when developing the standard design spectra were valid and the developed design spectra were reliable.