• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.47-56
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• 2007

In this research, the effects of the gravel content on the liquefaction behavior for both of the isotropically and $K_0-anisotropically$ consolidated gravel-sand mixtures are investigated. for this purpose, the cyclic triaxial tests for the specimens with the same relative density (Dr=40%) and variations of gravel content were performed. On the other hand, a series of undrained cyclic triaxial tests were carried out on the isotropically consolidated gravel-sand mixtures with the same void ratio (e=0.7) and from 0% to 30% gravel contents. Void ratios of gravel-sand mixtures with the same relative density (Dr=40%) are found to decrease significantly with the increase of the gravel content from 0% to about 70% and increase thereafter. But the void ratio of the sand matrix among the gravel skeleton increases with the increase of the gravel contents. Test results are as follows : for the isotropically consolidated specimen with 40% of relative density and low gavel contents (GC=0%, 20%, 40%), pore water pressure development and axial strain behavior during undrained cyclic loading show similar behavior to those of the loose sand because of high void ratio, and the specimens with high gravel content (70%) both pore pressure and strata behaviors are similar to those of dense sand. And the isotropically consolidated specimens with the same void ratio (e=0.7) and higher gravel contents show the same behavior of pore water pressure and axial strain as that of the loose sand, but for the lower gravel content this behavior shows similar behavior to that of dense sand. The liquefaction strength of the isotropically consolidated specimens with the same relative density increases with gravel content up to 70%, and the strength decreases with the increase of the gravel content at the same void ratio. Thus, it is confirmed that the liquefaction strength of the gravel-sand mixtures depends both on relative density and void ratio of the whole mixture rather than the relative density of the sand matrix filled among gravels. On the other hand, the behavior of pore water pressure and axial strain for the $K_0-anisotropically$ consolidated gravel-sand mixtures shows almost the same cyclic behavior of the sand with no stress reversal even with some stress reversal of the cyclic loading. Namely, even the stress reversal of about 10% of cyclic stress amplitude, the permanent strain with small cyclic strain increases rapidly with the number of cycles, and the initial liquefaction does not occur always with less than maximum pore water pressure ratio of 1.0. The liquefaction resistance increases with the gravel contents between 0% and 40%, but tends to decrease beyond 40% of gravel content. In conclusion, the cyclic behavior of gravel-sand mixtures depends on factors such as gravel content, void ratio, relative density and consolidation condition.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.13-19
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• 2013

In this study, the target ground was selected for the assessment of liquefaction, for which energy-based Arias intensity liquefaction assessment method was applied, The results of evaluation by simplified method using conventional in-situ test were compared. The result of the assessment of liquefaction revealed that the safety factor of the Arias Intensity using the actual records of the Hachinohe and Ofunato earthquake showed generally similar trends with the simplified method, However, the Arias Intensity factor of safety for the artificial earthquake created from the design response spectrum showed some difference from the factors of safety of the simplified method. The shear stress ratio and the occurrence strength of the Arias Intensity are differently calculated between stress and energy, but the resistance stress ratio of the simplified method and the resistance strength of the Arias Intensity use the empirical chart of the results of the standard penetration test for the actual liquefaction areas by the earthquake, which seems the reason for the similar results between Arias Intensity assessment and stress concept simplified method for Hachinohe and Ofunato earthquakes. Therefore, it was found that the energy-based Arias Intensity liquefaction assessment could represent the dynamic changes of the ground caused by seismic characteristics such as acceleration, magnitude, duration and amplitude.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.5-11
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• 2020

Recently, due to the liquefaction caused by earthquakes in Pohang and surrounding areas, the importance of researches on the liquefaction assessment has increased. The possibility of liquefaction can be assessed using the geotechnical information. The cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) value used in the assessment of liquefaction can be determined by using the SPT-N values or shear wave velocity, V_s value. A study was conducted to compare the accuracy of the liquefaction assessment using these two types of geotechnical information, and concluded that the results using SPT-N values are more accurate than those using V_s values. The previous study speculated that the used V_s value was measured at a depth of 12 m uniformly without considering the critical depth of liquefaction. Therefore, 10 empirical equations that convert SPT-N values measured at critical depth of liquefaction into V_s values to confirm the validity of geotechnical information measured at 12 m points uniformly are used to assess the liquefaction possibility and the results were compared with the actual liquefaction results to confirm the accuracy. As a result, 7 out of 10 cases considering critical depth for liquefaction show higher accuracy than those not considered.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3 s.49
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• pp.125-134
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• 2006

Conventional methods for the assessment of liquefaction potential were primary for severe earthquake regions $(M{\geq}7.5)$ such as North America and Japan. In Korea, an earthquake related research has started in 1997, but most contents in the guidelines were still quoted from literature reviews of North America and Japan, which are located in strong earthquake region. Those are not proper in a moderate earthquake regions including Korea. Also the equivalent uniform stress concept (Seed & Idriss, 1971) using regular sinusoidal loading which is used, in a conventional method for the assessment of liquefaction potential, can't reflect correctly the dynamic characteristics of real irregular earthquake motions. In this study, cyclic triaxial tests using irregular earthquake motions are performed with different earthquake magnitudes, relative densities, and fines contents. Assessment of liquefaction potential in moderate earthquake regions is discussed based on various laboratory test results. From the results, screening limits in seismic design were re-investigated and proposed using normalized maximum stress ratios under real irregular earthquake motions. Also from the tests using constant wedge loading and incremental wedge loading, the characteristics of liquefaction resistance of saturated sand under irregular ground motions are investigated.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-13
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• 2009

Liquefaction is a significant threat to structures on loose saturated sandy soil deposits in the event of an earthquake, and can often cause catastrophic damage, economic loss, and loss of life. Nevertheless, the Korean peninsula has for a long time been recognized as a safe region with respect to the hazard of liquefaction, as the peninsula is located in a moderate seismicity region, and there have been no reports of liquefaction, with the exception of references in some historical documents. However, some earthquakes that have recently occurred in different parts of the world have led to liquefaction in non-plastic silty soils, a soil type that can be found in many of the western coastal areas of Korea. In this study, we first present procedures for evaluating the liquefaction potential, and calculate the liquefaction potential index (LPI) distribution at two western coastal sites using both piezocone penetration test (CPTu) data and standard penetration test (SPT) data. The LPI is computed by integrating liquefaction potential over a depth of 20m, and provides an estimate of liquefaction-related surface damage. In addition, we compared the LPI values obtained from CPTu and SPT, respectively. Our research found that the CRR values from CPTu were lower than those from the SPT, particularly in the range between 40 and 120 for the corrected tip resistance, (qc1N)CS, from the CPTu, or in the range of CRR less than 0.23, resulting in relatively high LPI values. Moreover, it was observed that the differences in the CRR between the two methods were relatively higher for soils with high fine contents.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.127-140
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• 2004

Conventional methods for the assessment of liquefaction potential were primarily for areas of severe earthquake zones (M=7.5) such as North America and Japan. Detailed earthquake related researches in Korea started in 1997, including development of the seismic design standards for port and harbour structures, which was later completed in 1999. Because most contents in the guidelines were quoted through literature reviews from North America and Japan, which are located in strong earthquake region, those are not proper in Korea, a moderate earthquake region. This requires further improvement of the present guidelines. Considering earthquake hazard data in Korea, use of laboratory tests based on irregular earthquake motion appears to be effective to reflect the dynamic characteristics of soil more realistically than those using simplified regular loading. In this study, cyclic triaxial tests using irregular earthquake motions are performed with different earthquake magnitudes, relative densities, and fines contents. Assessment of liquefaction potential in moderate earthquake regions is discussed based on various laboratory test results. Effects of these components on dynamic behavior of soils are discussed as well. From the test results, screening limits and magnitude scaling factors to determine the soil liquefaction resistance strength in seismic design were re-investigated and proposed using normalized maximum stress ratios under real irregular earthquake motions.

• 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.8 no.2
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• pp.31-44
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• 1992

The probabilistic and statistical model is used to estimate the probability of liquefaction potential and pore water pressure build up due to earthquake in fully saturated sand deposit for each case of being structure(anisotropic) or not(isotropic). To execute this paper, dynamic shear strength parameters to show the relationship between shear strength and cyclic loading under isotropic or anisotropic condition in saturated sand deposit are presented. Using these parameters, the program which Predicts Pore water Pressure build up due to earthquake is developed. Using the 3-dimensional Random Field Model considering uncertainty of resistance and strength parameter, the program which computes the probability of liquefaction potential is developed. The developed program is applied to a case study, and then the result shows that the probability of liquefaction in isotropic condition is higher than in anisotropic condition. The ratio of pore water pressure tends to decrease as Kc increases.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.145-159
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• 2004

The conventional method for assessment of liquefaction potential proposed by Seed and Idriss has been widely used in most countries because of simplicity of tests. Even though various data such as stress, strain, stress path, and excess pore water pressure can be obtained from the dynamic test, especially, two simple experimental data such as the maximum deviatoric stress and the number of cycles at liquefaction have been used in the conventional assessment. In this study, a new detailed assessment for liquefaction potential to reflect both characteristics of real earthquake motion and dynamic soil resistance is proposed and verified. In the assessment, the safety factor of the liquefaction potential at a given depth of a site can be obtained by the ratio of a resistible cumulative plastic shear strain determined through the performance of the conventional cyclic test and a driving cumulative plastic shear strain calculated from the shear strain time history through the ground response analysis. The last point to cumulate the driving plastic shear strain to initiate soil liquefaction is important for this assessment. From the result of cyclic triaxial test using real earthquake motions, it was concluded that liquefaction under the impact-type earthquake loads would initiate as soon as a peak loading signal was reached. The driving cumulative plastic shear strain, therefore, can be determined by adding all plastic shear strains obtained from the ground response analysis up to the peak point. Through the verification of the proposed assessment, it can be concluded that the proposed assessment for liquefaction potential can be a progressive method to reflect both characteristics of the unique soil resistance and earthquake parameters such as peak earthquake signal, significant duration time, earthquake loading type, and magnitude.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.5-20
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• 2020

In 2017, after the Pohang earthquake, liquefaction phenomena were firstly observed after the observation of domestic earthquake by epicenter. In this study, various in-situ tests and laboratory tests were performed to determine the dynamic properties in (1) Songlim Park, (2) Heunghae-eup, Mangcheon-ri and (3) Heungan-ri, Pohang. As a site investigation, the standard penetration test (SPT), cone penetration test (CPT), multichannel analysis of surface wave (MASW), density logging, downhole test, and electrical resistivity survey were performed. In addition, cyclic triaxial test against sampled sand from site was also conducted. Based on the result, high ground water level and loose sand layer in shallow depth were observed for all sites. In addition, liquefaction resistance ratio of soil sampled from Songlim park was lower than those of Jumunjin sand, Toyoura sand, and Ottawa sand.