• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.167-181
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• 2022

Soil liquefaction has been one of the most important concerns in geotechnical earthquake engineering in recent years, due to its damages to structures and its destructive effects. The cyclic liquefaction of silty sands, in particular, remains of great interest for both research and application. Although many factors are known that affect the liquefaction resistance of sands, the effect of fine grain content is perhaps one of the most studied and still controversial. In this study, 48 deformation-controlled cyclic simple shear tests were performed on BS and CS silt samples mixed with 5%, 15% and 30% by weight of Krk085, Krk042 and Krk025 sands in constant-volume conditions to determine the liquefaction potential of silty sands. The tests were carried out at 30% and 50% relative density and under 100 kPa effective stress. The results revealed that the liquefaction potential of silty sand increases with increasing average particle size ratio (D_50sand / d_50silt) of the mixture for a fixed silt content. Furthermore, for identical base sand, the liquefaction potentials of coarse grained sands increase with increasing silt content, while the respective potentials of fine grained sands generally decrease. However, this situation may vary depending on the silt grain structure and is affected by the nature of the fine grains. In addition, the variation of the void ratio interval was shown to provide a good intuition in determining the liquefaction potentials of silty sands, while the intergranular void ratio alone does not constitute a criterion for determining the liquefaction potentials of silty sands.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.182-189
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• 2000

This paper presents a simple and reliable constitutive model for predicting the nonlinear response of reinforced concrete subjected to general membrane loadings. Based on the concept of equivalent uniaxial strain, constitutive relations of concrete are presented in the axes of orthotropy. The behavior of cracked concrete is described by a system of orthogonal cracks, which follows the principal strain directions and rotates according to the loading history. Simple hysteretic rules defining the cyclic stress-strain curves of concrete and steel are used. In addition, the stiffness and strength degradation of cracked concrete is included in the formulation. Correlation studies between analytical results and experimental values from idealized shear panel tests are conducted with the objective to establish the validity of the proposed model.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.243-254
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• 2020

Due to the permanent damage to structures during earthquakes, soil liquefaction is an important issue in geotechnical earthquake engineering that needs to be investigated. Typical examples of soil liquefaction have been observed in many earthquakes, particularly in Alaska, Niigata (1964), San Fernando (1971), Loma Prieta (1989), Kobe (1995) and Izmit (1999) earthquakes. In this study, liquefaction behavior of uniform sands of different grain sizes was investigated by using the energy-based method. For this purpose, a total of 36 deformation-controlled tests were conducted on water-saturated samples in undrained conditions by using the cyclic simple shear test method and considering the relative density, effective stress and mean grain size parameters that affect the cumulative liquefaction energy. The results showed that as the mean grain size decreases, the liquefaction potential of the sand increases. In addition, with increasing effective stress and relative density, the resistance of sand against liquefaction decreases. Multiple regression analysis was performed on the test results and separate correlations were proposed for the samples with mean grain size of 0.11-0.26 mm and for the ones with 0.45-0.85 mm. The recommended relationships were compared to the ones existing in the literature and compatible results were obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.49-59
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• 2016

We develop liquefaction resistance curves, which represent the correlation between cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) and number of cycles (N) to estimate the build-up of residual excess pore pressure from simple shear tests performed for this study and also from published literature. The liquefaction curve is calculated from two models. The comparisons show that one of the models is not reliable because it underestimates CRR. The scatter of the data is shown to be significantly reduced when CRR is normalized to the resistance ratio at N = 15 ($CRR_{N=15}$). Use of the normalization is particularly useful because CRR can be easily estimated from field tests. From normalization, we propose mean, upper, and lower curves. The corresponding design equation and its parameters are also proposed. We believe that the proposed curves can be used for effective stress site response analyses and evaluation of the seismic performance of port structures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.61-71
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• 2006

A numerical procedure is presented fur evaluating seismic liquefaction on sloping ground sites. The procedure uses a fully coupled dynamic effective stress analysis with a plastic constitutive model called UBCSAND. The model was first calibrated against laboratory element behavior. This involved cyclic simple shear tests performed on loose sand with and without initial static shear stress. The numerical procedure is then verified by predicting a centrifuge test with a slope performed on loose Fraser River sand. The predicted excess pore pressures, accelerations and displacements are compared with the measurements. The results are shown to be in good agreement. The shear stress reversal patterns depend on static and cyclic shear stress levels and are shown to play a key role in evaluating liquefaction response in sloping ground sites. The sand near the slope has low effective confining stress and dilates more. When no stress reversals occur, the sand behaves in a stiffer manner that curtails the accumulated downslope displacements. The numerical procedure using UBCSAND can serve as a guide for design of new soil structures or retrofit of existing ones.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.35-46
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• 2020

The input parameters for numerical simulation of the liquefaction phenomenon need to be properly evaluated from laboratory and field tests, which are difficult to be performed in practical situations. In this study, the numerical simulation of the cyclic direct simple shear test was performed to analyze the applicability of Finn and PM4Sand models among the constitutive models for liquefaction simulation. The analysis results showed that the Finn model properly predicted the time when the excess pore water pressure reached the maximum, but failed to simulate the pore pressure response and the stress-strain behavior of post-liquefaction. On the other hand, the PM4Sand model properly simulated those behaviors of the post liquefaction. Finally, the evaluation procedure and the equations of the input parameters in the PM4Sand model were developed to mach the liquefaction cyclic resistance ratio corresponding to design conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.345-352
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• 2000

It is very important to evaluate the reliable nonlinear modulus characteristics of soils not only in the analysis of geotechnical structures under working stress conditions but also for the soil dynamic problems. For the evaluation of modulus characteristics of soils, various tests have been mostly employed in laboratory. However, different testing techniques are likely to have different ranges of reliable strain measurements, different applied stress level, and different loading frequencies, and the modulus of soils can be affected by these variables. For reliable evaluation, therefore, those effects on the modulus need to be considered, and measured values should be effectively adjusted to actual conditions where the soil is working. In this paper, to evaluate the modulus characteristics of soils, laboratory testing such as free-free resonant column (FF-RC), resonant column (RC), torsional shear (TS), static TX, and cyclic M/sub R/ tests were performed. The effects of strain amplitude, loading frequency, loading cycles, confining pressure, density, and water content on modulus were investigated. It is shown that the FF-RC test, which is simple and inexpensive testing technique, can provide a reliable estimation of small strain Young's modulus (E/sub max/), and the modulus evaluated by various laboratory tests are comparable to each other fairly well when the effects of these factors are properly taken into account.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

Earthquake is one of the factors to affect the stability of geotechnical structures. Numerous past earthquakes have shown that earthquakes have taught that damage of soil structures could occur on fine soils as well as coarse soils. For that reason, earthquake-induced decreasing tendency for strength on both coarse and fine soils has been investigated using direct simple shear (DSS) tests in laboratory. Based on the testing results the decreasing tendency for strength on coarse and fine soils is clearly identified in terms of the concept of volume decrease potential and plasticity index, respectively. Most of the soils except the weathered soil have shown similar reduction tendency of strength with the increasing number of cycles. Liquefaction strength of coarse and fine soils appears to decrease with the increment of volume decrease potential and the decrement of plasticity index, respectively. Reduction of strength on the weathered soil is particularly remarkable rather than others, which might be owing to the collapse phenomenon. From the DSS test results for soils, proposed is a simple method to evaluate strength decrement with the increasing number of cycles, and it can help estimate decrement of strength with the number of cycles easily.

• 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.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.7-20
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• 1987

To obtain meaningful data of the tests for cyclic loading triaxial test, cyclic loading simple shear test ; and Shake table studies, it is necessary to test uniformly densified specimens. However, there is still some question about the assumed uniform density within a specimen when subjected to the process of densification. A study is conducted to investigate the density variation It within the specimen and analyze the effect of various parameters during the process of vibratory densification. It is found that variation of the ideally graded sand having a homogeneous initial density results in large inhomogeneities within the specimen after vibration. The degree of density variation within the speimen becomes more pronounced by the gradation of sand, surcharge and the intensity of acceleration.