• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2010.09c
• /
• pp.37-46
• /
• 2010

Marine clays are soft soil deposits having complicated mineralogy and formation characteristics. Thus, characterization of its geotechnical behavior has been a main issue for geotechnical engineers. Nowadays, the importance and applications of geophysical exploration on marine clays are increasing significantly according to the accuracy, efficiency, and reliability of geophysical survey technology. For marine clays, seismic survey is effective for density and elasticity characterization, while electro-magnetic wave provides the information about the fluid conductivity phenomena inside soil. For practical applications, elastic wave technology can evaluate the consolidation state of natural marine clay layers and estimate important geotechnical engineering parameters of artificially reclaimed marine deposits. Electrical resistivity can provide geophysical characteristics such as particle cementation, pore geometry shape, and pore material phase condition. Furthermore, nondestructive geophysical monitoring is applicable for risk management and efficiency enhancement during natural methane gas extraction from gas hydrate-bearing sediments.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.1-23
• /
• 2022

For its essential importance as a resource, sustainable development of groundwater has been major research interests for many decades. Conventional characterization of aquifer and groundwater has relied on borehole data from observation well. Although borehole data provide useful information on yield and flow of groundwater, it is often difficult and sometimes costly to estimate the spatial distribution of groundwater in entire aquifer. Geophysical probing is an alternative techique that provides such information due to its capability to image subsurface structures as well as to delineate spatial distribution of hydraulic parameters. This study presents various technical information about geophysical probing to estimate main characteristics of aquifer for groundwater exploitation. Subsequently, we analyzed representative cases, in which geophysical methods were applied to identify the location of the groundwater, classify freshwater and brine, derive hydraulic constants, and monitor groundwater.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.217-233
• /
• 2005

Elastic and electromagnetic waves can be used to gather important information about particulate materials. To facilitate smart geophysical characterization of particulate materials, their fundamental properties are discussed and experimental procedures are presented for both elastic and electromagnetic waves. The first application is related to the characterization of particulate materials using shear waves, concentrating on changes in effective stress during consolidation, multi-phase phenomena with relation to capillarity, and microscale characteristics of particles. The second application involves electromagnetic waves, focusing on stratigraphy detection in layered soils, estimation of void ratio and its spatial distribution, and conduction in unsaturated soils. Experimental results suggest that shear waves allow studying particle contact phenomena and the evolution of interparticle forces, while electromagnetic waves give insight into the characteristics of the fluid phase and its spatial distribution.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2009

Geophysical surveys were conducted on an upper part of a natural slope located at Daejeon University. Electrical resistivity and seismic refraction measurements were carried out to obtain information on a weathered zone and internal structure at shallow depth, while AMT measurement a bed rock and geological structure at deep depth. With all the techniques applied, these results show a good correlation between electrical resistivity images and refraction velocity distributions for the characterization of a weathering and geological structure at depth. In particular, AMT survey seems to be the powerful tool for detecting a distribution of a bed rock with deep depth. The combined geophysical investigation produced a detailed image of a subsurface structure and improved well in the interpretation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2006.04a
• /
• pp.92-96
• /
• 2006

Borehole geophysical techniques were adopted for characterizing aquifer properties of crystalline rock formation in Bongmyong borehole test site, Kangwon National University. Specific fractures and/or fracture zones accompanying groundwater flow were delineated well by high resolution flowmeter and dilution measurements, and could be confirmed fromconventional well log methods. These geophysical techniques have been proved to be the most effective in aquifer characterization in crystalline rock formation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.429-432
• /
• 2005

Geophysical investigations, as a non-invasive method, were conducted at the former gas station site contaminated with fuel hydrocarbons. GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) survey was performed to locate buried objects such as USTs (Underground Storage Tanks) and fuel pipes which might serve as a origin of the site contamination. Additional GPR investigation and a resistivity survey were conducted to map water table and to characterize shallow geologic structures of the site. The results of the study have shown that seven USTs including one unknown UST and buried fuel pipes are present, and that the groundwater elevation varies with topography from approximately 1.5 to 3m below the surface and the water table is located in the residual soils above the bedrock in the site. The results also show that the geophysical methods can be a very useful tool for the characterization of the contaminated site.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 1999.08a
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 1999

In Japan, geophysical exploration methods have been widely applied to civil engineering and construction fields for a long time. In particular, seismic refraction has long played a significant role in geotechnical site investigations for tunnels, dams and landslides. However, our growing interest on the social and natural environment makes the methods available and its application fields diversify. Digital technologies such as personal computer have revolutionized our ability to acquire large volumes of data rapidly, and to produce more reliable results for subsurface image. Also, color graphics easily visualizes survey results In a more understandable manner, These days geophysical methods are essential to assessing grouting effects, predicting the front of tunnel cutting face, monitoring the movement, pollution and purification process of groundwater. Now three-dimensional exploration techniques have developed for the site characterization in civil engineering and construction needs.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.41-55
• /
• 2005

This research is aimed at investigating the ground characterization of the Cheongju granite area using the geophysical methods. Test site was chosen from the building site in Chungbuk University, Chongju, Chungbuk province. Furthermore, geophysical methods are employed on the outcrops in the east to map the distribution of fault and intrusion and reveal the degree of weathering. The subsurface structure mapped from seismic re-fraction survey mainly consists of two units of weathered soil and rock. Threshold of the units were determined on the basis of seismic velocity of 800 m/s, supported from the standard classification table. From the results of standard penetrating test(SPT), these units are found to show medium-high and high density, respectively. Weathering soil is subdivided in unsaturated layer and saturated layer with thresholds of seismic velocity (500 m/s) and resistivity (200 ohm-m). In particular, unsaturated layer is again classified into dry and wet portions using the GPR section. The boundary between unsaturated and saturated weathering soils corresponds to the groundwater table at depth of approximately 5～6.2 m, which is well correlated with the one from drill-core data. However, bedrock is not delineated by geophysical methods. In the GPR section, fault and intrusion observed on the outcrop are revealed not to extend to the building site. With respect to weathering degree, the outcrop characterized by low resistivity and velocity corresponds to the grade of 'completely weathered' from the geotechnical investigations.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.244-254
• /
• 2018

The first geophysical technique applied to the agricultural sector in Korea was electrical resistivity sounding and conducted in purpose of groundwater exploitation in the 1970s. According to the diversity of agricultural activities since the 1990s, various geophysical methods including electrical resistivity, electromagnetic induction, and self-potential method were applied to several agricultural fields such as soil characterization with saline concentration in vast reclaimed area, delineation of seawater intrusion regions in costal aquifer, safety inspection of embankment dikes with leakage problem, detection of ground subsidence from overpumping and tracing of groundwater aquifer contamination by leachate from livestock mortality burial or waste burial site. This paper introduces representative geophysical techniques that have been utilized in various agricultural fields and suggests several ways to develop the geophysical methods required for the precision agriculture field in the near future based on the past achievements.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.434-478
• /
• 2006

Stress waves have been used for geophysical and geotechnical applications for more than 50 years. The early-stage applications were simply based on travel-time measurements of stress waves and limited to site characterization. Currently stress-wave techniques are expanded to monitoring processes for grouting of damaged geotechnical structures, compaction of embankment, and deformational analyses for static geotechnical problems. Seismic techniques used to be good enough for rough estimators of engineering properties. Nowadays, the sophisticated modeling theory of stress-wave propagation substantially improved reliability and accuracy of the seismic techniques. In this paper, difficulties involved in currently available seismic techniques are discussed and analyzed. Herein some recently-developed non-intrusive seismic techniques, which make optimal use of stress waves for further improvement of reliability and accuracy, are also presented.