• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.568-585
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• 2022

In the present study, we proposed a numerical method for simulating thermally induced fracture slip using a grain-based distinct element model (GBDEM). As a part of DECOVALEX-2023, the thermo-mechanical loading test on a saw-cut rock fracture conducted at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology was simulated. In the numerical model, the rock sample including a saw-cut fracture was represented as a group of random Voronoi polyhedra. Then, the coupled thermo-mechanical behavior of grains and their interfaces was calculated using 3DEC. The key concerns focused on the temperature evolution, thermally induced principal stress increment, and fracture normal and shear displacements under thermo-mechanical loading. The comparisons between laboratory experimental results and the numerical results revealed that the numerical model reasonably captured the heat transfer and heat loss characteristics of the rock specimen, the horizontal stress increment due to constrained displacement, and the progressive shear failure of the fracture. However, the onset of the fracture slip and the magnitudes of stress increment and fracture displacement showed discrepancies between the numerical and experimental results. We expect the numerical model to be enhanced by continuing collaboration and interaction with other research teams of DECOVALEX-2023 Task G and validated in further study.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.119-127
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• 2006

Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS) is produced in the manufacture process of pig-iron and shows a similar particle formation to that of natural sea sand and also shows light weight, high shear strength, well permeability, and especially has a latent hydraulic property by which GBFS is solidified with time. Therefore, when GBFS is used as a backfill material of quay or retaining walls, the increase of shear strength induced by the hardening is presumed to reduce the earth pressure and consequently the construction cost of harbor structures decreases. In this study, using the model sand box (50 cm$\times$50 cm$\times$100 cm), the model wall tests were carried out on GBFS and Toyoura standard sand, in which the resultant earth pressure, a wall friction and the earth pressure distribution at the movable wall surface were measured. In the tests, the relative density was set as Dr=25, 55 and 70% and the wall was rotated at the bottom to the active earth pressure side and followed by the passive side. The maximum horizontal displacement at the top of the wall was set as ${\pm}2mm$. By these model test results, it is clarified that the resultant earth pressure obtained by using GBFS is smaller than that of Toyoura sand, especially in the active-earth pressure.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.295-306
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• 2010

Contrary to an intact rock, the jointed rock mass shows strain-dependent deformation characteristics (elastic modulus and damping ratio). The maximum elastic modulus of a rock mass can be obtained from an elastic wave-based exploration in a small strain level and applied to seismic analyses. However, the assessment and application of the non-linear characteristics of rock masses in a small to medium strain level ($10^{-4}{\sim}0.5%$) have not been carried out yet. A non-linear dynamic analysis module is newly developed for FLAC3D to simulate strain-dependent shear modulus degradation and damping ratio amplification characteristics. The developed module is verified by analyzing the change of the Ricker wave propagation. Strain-dependent non-linear characteristics are obtained from disks of cored samples using a rock mass dynamic testing apparatus which can evaluate wave propagation characteristics in a jointed rock column. Using the experimental results and the developed non-linear dynamic module, seismic analyses are performed for the intersection of a shaft and an inclined tunnel. The numerical results show that vertical and horizontal displacements of non-linear analyses are larger than those of linear analyses. Also, non-linear analyses induce bigger bending compressive stresses acting on the lining. The bending compressive stress concentrates at the intersection part. The fundamental understanding of a strain-dependent jointed rock mass behavior is achieved in this study and the analytical procedure suggested can be effectively applied to field designs and analyses.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.17-28
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• 2022

The effect of the soil-structure interaction (SSI) on has been recently evaluated in shaking table tests. However, most of these tests were conducted on single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) superstructures and a single-pile. This study investigates the inertial interaction effect of a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) superstructure system with a group piles on a large-scale shaking table test. Whereas the SDOF superstructure system shows a single-frequency amplification tendency, the MDOF superstructure system exhibited amplification tendencies of the acceleration phase and frequency responses for multiple frequencies. In addition, the amplification phenomenon between the footing and the column-type superstructure exceeded that between the footing and the wall-type superstructure, indicating a greater inertial interaction effect of the column-type superstructure. The relationship between shear force and inertial force, the relative vertical and horizontal displacements on the footing was figured out. Also, the ananlysis of dynamic p-y curve at each depth was conducted. In summary, the MDOF and SDOP superstructure systems exhibited different behaviors and the column-type superstructure exerted a higher interaction effect than the wall-type superstructure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.49-62
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• 2022

The hollow modular concrete block reinforced foundation method is one of the ground reinforcement foundation methods that uses hexagonal honeycomb-shaped concrete blocks with mixed crushed rock to reinforce soft grounds. It then forms an artificial layered ground that increases bearing capacity and reduces settlement. The hollow modular honeycomb-shaped concrete block is a geometrically economical, stable structure that distributes forces in a balanced way. However, the behavioral characteristics of hollow modular concrete block reinforced foundations are not yet fully understood. In this study, a bearing capacity test is performed to analyze the reinforcement effectiveness of the hollow modular concrete block through the laboratory model tests. From the load-settlement curve, punching shear failure occurs under the unfilled sand condition (A-1-N). However, the filled sand condition (A-1-F) shows a linear curve without yielding, confirming the reinforcement effect is three times higher than that of unreinforced ground. The bearing capacity equation is proposed for the parts that have contact pressure under concrete, vertical stress of hollow blocks, and the inner skin friction force from horizontal stress by confining effect based on the schematic diagram of confining effect inside a hollow modular concrete block. As a result of calculating the bearing capacity, the percentage of load distribution for contact force on the area of concrete is about 65%, vertical force on the area of hollow is 16.5% and inner skin friction force of area of the inner wall is about 18.5%. When the surcharge load is applied to the concrete part, the vertical stress occurs on the area of the hollow part by confining effect first. Then, in the filled sand in the hollow where the horizontal direction is constrained, the inner skin friction force occurs by the horizontal stress on the inner wall of the hollow modular concrete block. The inner skin friction force suppresses the punching of the concrete part and reduces contact pressure.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2016

In this paper, we perform a numerical analysis to evaluate the potential of fault reactivation during gas production from hydrate bearing sediments and the moment magnitude of induced seismicity. For the numerical analysis, sequential coupling of TOUGH+Hydrate and FLAC3D was used and the change in effective stress and consequent geomechanical deformation including fault reactivation was simulated by assuming that Mohr-Coulomb shear resistance criterion is valid. From the test production simulation of 30 days, we showed that pore pressure reduction as well as effective stress change hardly induces the fault reactivation in the vicinity of a production well. We also investigated the influence of stress state conditions to a fault reactivation, and showed that normal fault stress regime, where vertical stress is relatively greater than horizontal, may have the largest potential for the reactivation. We tested one simulation that earthquake can be induced during gas production and calculated the moment magnitude of the seismicity. Our calculation presented that all the magnitudes from the calculation were negative values, which indicates that induced earthquakes can be grouped into micro-seismic and as small as hardly perceived by human beings. However, it should be noted that the current simulation was carried out using the highly simplified geometric model and assumptions such that the further simulations for a scheduled test production and commercial scale production considering complex geometric conditions may produce different results.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.27-37
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• 2016

Although many studies on the Granular Compaction Pile (GCP) have been done by many researchers, the GCP design has not been systematically done due to the absence of the rational design methodology. As the GCP design has been mostly done by engineers' own experiences, some failure cases have been reported to occur. For this reason, it is very difficult to confirm definite causes of the failure and establish the prevention plans for the failure. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the optimal mixing ratio of gravel and sand, the effects of the internal friction angle of the GCP on the stress concentration ratio and the vertical and horizontal settlements. In order to analyze the behavior of the soft ground reinforced with the GCP depending on the different design parameters such as the stress concentration ratio and the internal friction angle, a number of finite element (FE) analyses were performed. From the direct shear test, the optimal mixing ratio of gravel to sand was found to be 70:30. Based on the numerical analyses, as the internal friction angle increased, the stress concentration ratio increased and it converged to a constant value. In addition, the larger the internal friction angle, the smaller the settlements. Consequently, the use of the optimal mixing ratio of gravel and sand can lead to reducing both the lateral flow and the heaving phenomenon.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.575-583
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• 2009

As the height of buildings rises, new structural systems are being applied other than theexisting S, RC, and SRC to decrease the weight of buildings and to make their construction more efficient, CFT structureshad been applied in many building construction projects due to their superior structural performance and construction efficiency. CFT structures need a diaphragm to harmoniously transmit the beam flange load to the column and the opponent beam in connections. Especially, on the right and left sides of the column other beams are connected, The establishment of a diaphragm for the lower part flange load delivery of the beam and guarantee for concrete filing capacity difficulty have (What does this mean?). In this paper, connection details are proposed in the form of a welded vertical plate with a circular hole on the CFT column's interior to harmoniously transmit the lower-part beam flange load to the column and the opponent beam. Thesediaphragm details use the concrete anchor effect in the beam flange load delivery, with the concrete-filled CFT column interior piercing the hole of the perforated plate, and a perforated board is established vertically to improve the concrete filling capacity. To analyze the structural performance of the proposed connection details, five simple tension specimens were made with the following parameters: with our without vertical and horizontal perforated plates, shear hole number, concrete filled or not, thickness of the perforated plate, etc. Then experimental tests were performed on these specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.95-105
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• 2005

Generally, a modified version of limit equilibrium method can be used to evaluate a slope stability of the geosynthetic reinforced soil slopes. In most cases, resisting effects of geosynthetic reinforcement are dealt with considering an increased shear strength on the potential slip surface. However, it is not clear that the methods satisfy all three equilibrium equations. As we know, the pattern of normal stress distribution along the slip surface is the key factor in calculating the safety factor of slopes. In this study, the new slope stability analysis method in which not only reinforcing effects of geosynthetics can be considered but also all three equilibrium equations can be satisfied was proposed with assuming the normal stress distribution along the slip surface as quadratic curve with horizontal $\chi-coordinate$. A number of illustrative examples, including published slope stability analysis examples for the reinforced and unreinforced soil slopes, loading test of large scale reinforced earth wall and centrifuge model tests on the geotextile reinforced soil slopes, were analyzed. As a result, it is shown that the newly suggested method yields a relatively accurate factor of safety for the reinforced and unreinforced soil slopes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.513-523
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• 2015

In steel moment frames constructed of H-shapes, strong-axis moment connections should be used for maximum structural efficiency if possible. And most of cyclic seismic testing, domestic and international, has been conducted for strong-axis moment connections and cyclic test data for weak-axis connections is quite limited. However, when perpendicular moment frames meet, weak-axis moment connections are also needed at the intersecting locations. Especially, both strong- and weak-axis moment connections have been frequently used in domestic practice. In this study, cyclic seismic performance of RBS (reduced beam section) weak-axis welded moment connections was experimentally investigated. Test specimens, designed according to the procedure proposed by Gilton and Uang (2002), performed well and developed an excellent plastic rotation capacity of 0.03 rad or higher, although a simplified sizing procedure for attaching the beam web to the shear plate in the form of C-shaped fillet weld was used. The test results of this study showed that the sharp corner of C-shaped fillet weld tends to be the origin of crack propagation due to stress concentration there and needs to be trimmed for the better weld shape. Different from strong-axis moment connections, due to the presence of weld access hole, a kind of CJP butt joint is formed between the beam flange and the horizontal continuity plate in weak-axis moment connections. When weld access hole is large, this butt joint can experience cyclic local buckling and subsequent low cycle fatigue fracture as observed in this testing program. Thus the size of web access hole at the butt joint should be minimized if possible. The recommended seismic detailing such as stickout, trimming, and thicker continuity plate for construction tolerance should be followed for design and fabrication of weak-axis welded moment connections.