• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.149-166
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• 2018

Many large earthquakes have continuously been reported and resulted in significant human casualties and extensive damages to properties globally. The accident of Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan was caused by a mega-tsunami, which is a secondary effect associated with the Tohoku large earthquake (M=9.0, 2011. 3. 11.). Most earthquakes occur by reactivation of pre-existing active faults. Therefore, the importance of paleoseismological study have greatly been increased. The Korean peninsula has generally been considered to be a tectonically stable region compared with neighboring countries such as Japan and Taiwan, because it is located on the margin of the Eurasian intra-continental region. However, the recent earthquakes in Gyeongju and Pohang have brought considerable insecurity on earthquake hazard. In particular, this region should be secure against earthquake, because many nuclear facilties and large industrial facilities are located in this area. However, some large earthquakes have been reported in historic documents and also several active faults have been reported in southeast Korea. This study explains the evaluation methods of geological structures on active fault, fault damage zone, the relationship between earthquake and active fault, and respect distance. This study can contribute to selection of safe locations for nuclear facilities and to earthquake hazards and disaster prevention.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.59-70
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• 2022

There is a growing interest in evaluating earthquake damage and determining disaster prevention measures due to the magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Pohang, Korea. Since the liquefaction phenomena occurred extensively in the residential area as a result of the earthquake, there was a demand for research on liquefaction phenomenon evaluation and liquefaction disaster prediction. Liquefaction is defined as a phenomenon where the strength of the ground is completely lost due to a sudden increase in excess pore water pressure caused due to large dynamic stress, such as an earthquake, acting on loose sand particles in a short period of time. The liquefaction potential index, which can identify the occurrence of liquefaction and predict the risk of liquefaction in a targeted area, can be used to create a liquefaction hazard map. However, since liquefaction assessment using existing field testing is predicated on a single borehole liquefaction assessment, there has been a representative issue for the whole targeted area. Spatial interpolation and geographic information systems can help to solve this issue to some extent. Therefore, in order to solve the representative problem of geotechnical information, this research uses the kriging method, one of the geostatistical spatial interpolation techniques, and constructs a geotechnical information database for liquefaction and spatial interpolation. Additionally, the liquefaction hazard map was created for each return period using the constructed geotechnical information database. Cross validation was used to confirm the accuracy of this liquefaction hazard map.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.559-569
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• 2022

This study investigated the acidification and mixing with seawater of groundwater, stream water, and reservoir water in the Hunghae area of Pohang City, as well as the source of water expelled to the stream by liquefaction induced by the Pohang earthquake on 15 November 2017. Geologically, the area consists of Tertiary sedimentary rocks. We collected six samples of groundwater, five of reservoir water, four of stream water, two of liquefaction water, and one of seawater to analyze the chemical composition and stable isotopes (𝛿D and 𝛿¹⁸O). Gogkang Stream flows eastward through the central part of the study area into the East Sea. The groundwater and reservoir water in the lower part of the stream are acidic (pH < 4), have a Ca(Mg)-SO₄ composition, and high concentrations of Al, Fe, and Mn, likely due to the oxidation of pyrite in Tertiary rocks. The groundwater in the upper part of the stream have a Ca(Na)-HCO₃(Cl) composition, indicating the mixing of seawater with the stream water. The 𝛿D and 𝛿¹⁸O isotope data indicate the isotopic enrichment of reservoir water by evaporation. Based on the chemical and isotopic data, it is inferred that the two samples of liquefaction water originated from alluvium water in a transition zone with stream water, and from deep and shallow groundwaters that has been infiltrated by seawater, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.4
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• pp.431-440
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• 2017

The 2016 Gyeongju Earthquake ($M_L$ 5.8) (occurred on September 12, 2016) and the 2017 Pohang Earthquake ($M_L$ 5.4) (occurred on November 15, 2017) caused unprecedented damages in South Korea. It is necessary to establish basic data related to earthquake-induced mountainous sediment-related disasters over worldwide. In this study, we analyzed previous international studies on the earthquake-induced mountainous sediment-related disasters, then classified research areas according to research themes using text-mining and co-word analysis in VOSviewer program, and finally examined spatio-temporal research trends by research area. The result showed that the related-researches have been rapidly increased since 2005, which seems to be affected by recent large-scale earthquakes occurred in China, Taiwan and Japan. In addition, the research area related to mountainous sediment-related disasters induced by earthquakes was classified into four subjects: (i) mechanisms of disaster occurrence; (ii) rainfall parameters controlling disaster occurrence; (iii) prediction of potential disaster area using aerial and satellite photographs; and (iv) disaster risk mapping through the modeling of disaster occurrence. These research areas are considered to have a strong correlation with each other. On the threshold year (i.e., 2012-2013), when cumulative number of research papers was reached 50% of total research papers published since 1987, proportions per unit year of all research areas should increase. Especially, the proportion of the research areas related to prediction of potential disaster area using aerial and satellite photographs is highly increased compared to other three research areas. These trends are responsible for the rapidly increasing research papers with study sites in China, and the research papers examined in Taiwan, Japan, and the United States have also contributed to increases in all research areas. The results are could be used as basic data to present future research direction related to mountainous sediment-related disasters induced by earthquakes in South Korea.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.205-213
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• 2019

In the Pohang Earthquake in 2017, considerable damage to non-structural elements, such as ceiling systems, exterior finishes, and curtain walls, was reported; thus, the seismic designs of non-structural elements are important. In this study, the modal characteristics of a ceiling system were investigated through the impact hammer test. The frequency and damping ratio according to the length of the hanger bolt were identified. In addition, collision experiments were conducted to obtain the impact duration for exactly considering the impact effects of the ceiling against a wall or other adjacent elements. Based on the identified dynamics and impact duration of the ceiling system, the seismic responses of the ceiling system were obtained numerically in case of collision. Numerical simulation results show that the impact load tends to increase with the clearance between the ceiling and adjacent elements, and is not correlated with the length of the hanger bolt.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.323-332
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• 2018

Recent two moderate earthquakes (2016 $M_w=5.4$ Gyeongju and 2017 $M_w=5.5$ Pohang) in Korea provided the unique chance of developing a set of relations to estimate instrumental seismic intensity in Korea by augmenting the time-history data from MMI seismic intensity regions above V to the insufficient data previously accumulated from the MMI regions limited up to IV. The MMI intensity regions of V and VI was identified by delineating the epicentral distance from the reference intensity statistics in distance derived by using the integrated MMI data obtained by combining the intensity survey results of KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) and 'DYFI (Did You Feel It)' MMIs of USGS. The time-histories of the seismic stations from the MMI intensity regions above V were then preprocessed by applying the previously developed site-correction filters to be converted to a site-equivalent condition in a manner consistent with the previous study. The average values of the ground-motion parameters for the three ground motion parameters of PGA, PGV and BSPGA (Bracketed Summation of PGA per second for 30 seconds) were calculated for the MMI=V and VI and used to generate the dataset of the average values of the ground-motion parameters for the individual MMIs from I to VI. Based on this dataset, the linear regression analysis resulted in the following relations with proposed valid ranges of MMI. $MMI=2.36{\times}log_{10}(PGA(gal))+1.44$ ($I{\leq}MMI$$MMI=2.44{\times}log_{10}(PGV(kine))+4.86$ ($I{\leq}MMI$$MMI=2.59{\times}log_{10}(BSPGA(gal{\cdot}sec))-1.02$ ($I{\leq}MMI$

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.252-262
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• 2019

Following the earthquake in Gyeongju (2016) and Pohang (2017), South Korea is no longer a safe place for earthquakes. Accordingly, the need for shelters suitable for disaster environments is increasing. In this study, a lightweight composite panel was used to produce post-disaster housing for refugees to compensate for the disadvantages of existing evacuation facilities. For this purpose, an evaluation of structural performance and thermal environment for post-disaster housing for refugees composed of lightweight composite panels was performed. To assess the structural performance, a lateral loading test was conducted on a system made of lightweight composite panels. The specimens consisted of two types, which differed according to the bonding method, as a variable. In addition, the seismic and wind loads were calculated in accordance with KBC 2016 and compared with the experimental results. Regarding the energy performance, optimization of south-facing window planning and window-wall ratio and solar heat gain coefficient were analyzed to minimize heating, cooling, and lighting energy. As a result, the specimens composed of lightweight composite panels will perform sufficiently safely for lateral loads and the optimized window planning will lead to a low-energy operation.