• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.165-174
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• 2020

The enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) method has been investigated to improve the hydro-mechanical properties of natural soil deposits. This study was conducted to explore the stiffness evolution during various stress scenarios. First, the optimal concentration of urea, CaCl₂, and urease for the maximum efficiency of calcite precipitation was identified. The results show that the optimal recipe is 0.5 g/L and 0.9 g/L of urease for 0.5 M CaCl₂ and 1 M CaCl₂ solutions with a urea-CaCl₂ molar ratio of 1.5. The shear stiffness of EICP-treated sands remains constant up to debonding stresses, and further loading induces the reduction of S-wave velocity. It was also found that the debonding stress at which stiffness loss occurs depends on the void ratio, not on cementation solution. Repeated loading-unloading deteriorates the bonding quality, thereby reducing the debonding stress. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray images reveal that higher concentrations of CaCl₂ solution facilitate heterogeneous nucleation to form larger CaCO₃ nodules and 11-12 % of CaCO₃ forms at the interparticle contact as the main contributor to the evolution of shear stiffness.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.401-414
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• 2023

Organic clays are ideal habitat for flora and fauna. From a geotechnical perspective, organic clays are soft, weak, variable, heterogeneous and flocculated. Portland cement is a universally common stabiliser. However, some organic acids in soil inhibit full hydration and expose cementation products to rapid dissolution. This paper investigates scopes for use of C₃S cement to enable durable cementation. Prospects of using PP fibre alongside with C₃S cement, scopes for partial replacement of C₃S cement with a plant-based nanosilica and evolution of binders are then investigated. Binding mixtures here mimic the natural functions of rhizoliths, amorphous phases, and calcites. Testing sample population include natural and fibre-reinforced clays, compact mixes of clay - C₃S cement, clay - nanobiosilica, and clay, C₃S cement and nanobiosilica. Benefits and constraints of C₃S cement and fibres for retaining the naturally flocculated structure of organic clays are discussed. Nanobiosilica provides an opportunity to cut the C₃S content, and to transition of highly compressive organic clays into an engineered, open-structured medium with >0.5 MPa compressive strength across the strains spanning from peak to 1.5-times peak.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.20-31
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• 2005

Three dimensional Monte-Carlo simulations of non-ergodic transport of a lion-reactive solute plume by steady-state groundwater flow under a uniform mean velocity in isotropic heterogeneous aquifers were conducted. The log-normally distributed hydraulic conductivity, K(x), is modeled as a random field. Significant efforts are made to reduce tile simulation uncertainties. Ensemble averages of the second spatial moments of the plume and plume centroid variances were simulated with 1600 Monte Carlo runs for three variances of log K, ${\sigma}_Y^2=0.09,\;0.23$, and 0.46, and three dimensionless lengths of line plume sources normal to the mean velocity. The simulated second spatial moment and the plume centroid variance in longitudinal direction fit well to the first order theoretical results while the simulated transverse moments are generally larger than the first order results. The first order theoretical results significantly underestimated the simulated dimensionless transverse moments for the aquifers of large ${\sigma}_Y^2$ and large dimensionless time. The ergodic condition for the second spatial moments is far from reaching in all cases simulated, and transport In transverse directions may reach ergodic condition much slower than that in longitudinal direction. The evolution of the contaminant transported in a heterogeneous aquifer is not affected by the shape of the initial plume but affected mainly by the degree of the heterogeneity and the size of the initial plume.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 1997

The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of Pumping-and-Treatment system (PTS) for remediation of the saturated zones contaminated with NAPLs. A simulation is carried out for the removal of DNAPLs (denser-than-water non-aqueous phase liquids) and LNAPLS (lighter-than-water non-aqueous phase liquids) distributing at and below the water table. In the study, LNAPL and DNAPL are assumed to be n-hexane and 1,1-dichloroacetone, respectively. The model system studied consists of four heterogeneous soil layers with different permeabilities. Groundwater flows through the bottom layer and a pumping well is located under the initial water table. The time-driven deformation of the water table and removal efficiency of contaminants are estimated after vacuum application to the inlet of the well. In the calculation, FVM (Finite Volumetric Method) with SIMPLEC algorithm is applied. Results show that removal efficiencies of both DNAPL and LNAPL are negligible for the first 5 days after the PTS operation. However, when the cone-shape water table is formed around the inlet of the pumping well, the rapid removal rate is obtained since NAPLs migrate rapidly through the curvature of the water table. The removal efficiency of DNAPL is estimated to be higher than that of LNAPL due to the gravity. The results also show that the fluctuation or cone-shaped depression of the water table enhances the removal efficiency of NAPLs in saturated zones. The simulation results could provide a basis of the PTS design for the removal of NAPLs in saturated zones.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 2015

To investigate the applicability of physical prospecting technique in soft ground assessment, the resistivity monitoring data of 6 months are acquired. The Multichannel Analysis Surface Wave (MASW) has been additionally performed to identify the shear wave velocity and strength distribution of soft ground. Moreover, by using the Cone Penetration Test (CPT) and laboratory tests of drilling samples, a relationship with the physical prospect data is checked and the reliability of the physical prospect data is increased. Through these activities, the behavior patterns of soft soil are identified by long term monitoring, and the significant relationship between the shear wave velocity and laboratory tests has been confirmed, both of which can be useful in the surface wave exploration to evaluate the strength of soft ground. Finally, using the geostatistical method, 3-dimensional soil base distribution images are obtained about the combined physical prospecting data with heterogeneous data. Through the studies, the nature of entire area can be determined by long term resistivity monitoring for the soft ground assessment in wider area. It would be more economic and reliable if additional exploring and drilling samples can be analyzed, which can reinforce the assessment.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.353-366
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• 2022

Spatial estimation of geoscience data (geo-data) is challenging due to spatial heterogeneity, data scarcity, and high dimensionality. A novel spatial estimation method is needed to consider the characteristics of geo-data. In this study, we proposed the application of Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) among machine learning algorithms with multivariate data for robust spatial predictions. The performance of the proposed approach was tested through soil chemical concentration data from a former smelting area. The concentrations of As and Pb determined by ex-situ ICP-AES were the primary variables to be interpolated, while the other metal concentrations by ICP-AES and all data determined by in-situ portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) were used as auxiliary variables in GMM and ordinary cokriging (OCK). Among the multidimensional auxiliary variables, important variables were selected using a variable selection method based on the random forest. The results of GMM with important multivariate auxiliary data decreased the root mean-squared error (RMSE) down to 0.11 for As and 0.33 for Pb and increased the correlations (r) up to 0.31 for As and 0.46 for Pb compared to those from ordinary kriging and OCK using univariate or bivariate data. The use of GMM improved the performance of spatial interpretation of anthropogenic metals in soil. The multivariate spatial approach can be applied to understand complex and heterogeneous geological and geochemical features.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.273-280
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• 2015

Delays in horizontal well drilling when encountering heterogeneous sediments can have negative effects on the construction process at a riverbank filtration site. Grain size analysis, including calculation of the coefficient of uniformity and the coefficient of curvature, was conducted on soil samples collected at each drilling depth during the process of drilling horizontal wells. These results were then used to develop a linear equation for estimating drilling velocity using the coefficient of uniformity and the coefficient of curvature as inputs. Testing of the linear equation in other horizontal wells indicates that the equation is most appropriate for coarse-sand-sized and well-sorted sediment. Because this study was conducted in a region with small- to medium-sized streams, more data are needed from larger rivers to modify the general equation. Our results will provide better estimates of drilling velocity, in turn enabling more detailed design and more effective construction management at riverbank filtration sites.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.4 s.50
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• pp.231-238
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• 2006

Transports of heterogeneously charged particles were investigated based on column experiments. Synthesized mono-dispersed ferrihydrite (${\sim}100nm$) and amorphous $SiO_2\;({\sim}40nm\;and\;{\sim}80nm)$ particles, of which surfaces are oppositely charged under pH < 9.0 (ferrihydrite, positive; amorphous silica, negative), were used. $177{\sim}250{\mu}m$ quartz sand was used as a stationary matrix. The results show that even favorable particles (i.e., ferrihydrite) can show a conservative transport through the oppositely charged media (i.e., quartz) when they coexist with humic acid or with much greater number of oppositely charged particles. These results imply that transports of both negatively and positively charged contaminants may be possible at the same time under a condition of heterogeneous colloidal system.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.89-100
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• 2017

The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model was developed to extend EPIC's capabilities of simulating land management impacts for small-medium watershed and heterogeneous farms. APEX is a flexible and dynamic tool that is capable of simulating a wide array of management practices, cropping systems, and other land uses across a broad range of agricultural landscapes. APEX have its own agricultural environmental database including operation schedule, soil property, and weather data etc., by crops. However, agriculture environmental informations the APEX model has is all based on U.S. As this can cause malfunction or improper simulation while simulating highland field. In this study, database for APEX model to be utilized for South Korea established with 44,814 agriculture fields in Pyeongchang-gun, Korea from 2007 to 2016. And assessed domestic applicability by comparing T-P unit load criteria presented by National Institution of Environmental Research and result of APEX model. As a result of APEX model simulation, average T-P value for decade was 6.18. Average T-P of every year except 2011 was in range of 5.37~10.43 and this is being involved into criteria presented by National Institution of Environmental Research. It is analyzed that adjusting slope factor can make the model applicable for domestic agricultural environment.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.43-55
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• 2018

AGF (Artificial Ground Freezing) method is a temporary ground improvement method which can apply to all types of soil with the purpose of high stiffness and low hydraulic conductivity. However, the groundwater flow and the heterogeneity of the ground increase the uncertainty of the ice-column formation which hinders the reliability of this method. The effects of groundwater flow and layered heterogeneity on ice-wall integrity by AGF method were analyzed using finite element analysis program for a coupled thermo-hydro phenomena in the freezing ground. Groundwater flow changes circular ice-column into elliptical shapes and increases the time required for the formation of ice walls. The previous theoretical formula overestimated the completion time of the ice wall and the critical groundwater velocity by neglecting the thermal interaction between adjacent ice-columns. Numerical results presented the corrected formula and verified the proposed equation for the dimensionless ice-wall completion time. In the layered heterogeneous ground, the thickness of the layer with higher hydraulic conductivity and its relative magnitude were found to be important factors in the ice-wall completion time and critical velocity.