• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.291-304
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• 2022

Maximum shear modulus (G_max or G₀) is an important soil property useful for many engineering applications, such as the analysis of soil-structure interactions, soil stability, liquefaction evaluation, ground deformation and performance of seismic design. In the current study, bender element (BE) tests are used to evaluate the effect of the void ratio, effective confining pressure, grading characteristics (D₅₀, C_u and C_c), anisotropic consolidation and initial fabric anisotropy produced during specimen preparation on the G_max of sand-gravel mixtures. Based on the tests results, an empirical equation is proposed to predict G_max in granular soils, evaluated by the experimental data. The artificial neural network (ANN) and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) models were also applied. Coefficient of determination (R²) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) between predicted and measured values of G_max were calculated for the empirical equation, ANN and ANFIS. The results indicate that all methods accuracy is high; however, ANFIS achieves the highest accuracy amongst the presented methods.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4253-4258
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• 2012

The investigation of the undrained strength and the important several undrained geotechnical properties was, in detail, made for highly plastic soils using the field and laboratory testing results. The plastic index, activity, water content, and effective unit weight did not show the notable relationship with both Su and normalized Su. The OCR, sensitivity, and undrained elastic modulus presented remarkable tendency with normalized Su. It could be concluded that the use of the normalized Su may lead to the reasonable results then the normalized Su needs further research.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.61-68
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• 2012

The main objective of this study is to develop an analytical model for the resilient modulus of EPS geofoam when it is applied for flexible pavement as a subgrade material. This analytical model has been developed based on the results from triaxial compression tests. And this model can be used to analyze the flexible pavement structure using the finite element method by developing a program or modifying an existing program for any desired purposes. The results of this study show that the EPS geofoam as a replacement material for subgrade in flexible pavement is a feasible alternative to natural weak soils.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.815-830
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• 2017

Due to numerous environmental concerns in recent years, the search for and the development of sustainable technologies have been pursued. In particular, environmentally friendly methods of soil improvement, such as the potential use of biopolymers, have been researched. Previous studies on the use of biopolymers in soil improvement have shown that they can provide substantial strengthening efficiencies. However, in order to fully understand the applicability of biopolymer treated soils, various properties of these soils such as their dynamic properties must be considered. In this study, the dynamic properties of gel-type biopolymer treated soils were observed through the use of resonant column tests. Gellan gum and Xanthan gums were the target gel-type biopolymers used in this study, and the target soil for this study was jumunjin sand, the standard sand of Korea. Through this study it was demonstrated that biopolymers can be used to enhance the dynamic properties of the soil, and that they offer possibilities of reuse to reduce earthquake related soil failures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.471-480
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• 2019

The constructions of engineering structures such as airports, highways and railway on clayey soils may create many problems. The economic losses and damages caused by these soils have led researchers to do many studies using different chemical additives for the stabilization of them. Lime is a popular additive used to stabilize the clayey soils. When the base course is stabilized by mixing with an additive, inevitable delays may occur during compaction due to reasons like insufficient workers, breakdown of compaction equipment, etc. The main purpose of this study is to research the effect of compaction delay time (7 days) on the strength, compaction, and dynamic properties of a clay soil stabilized with lime content of 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15% by dry weight of soil. Compaction characteristics of these mixes were determined immediately after mixing, and after 7 days from the end of mixing process. Within this context, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) under the various curing periods (uncured, 7 and 28 days) and dynamic triaxial tests were performed on the compacted specimens. The results of UCS and dynamic triaxial tests showed that delayed compaction on the strength of the lime-stabilized clay soil were significantly effective. Especially with the lime content of 9%, the increase in the shear modulus (G) and UCS of 28 days curing were more prominent after 7 days mellowing period. Because of the complex forms of hysteresis loops caused by the lime additive, the damping ratio (D) values differed from the trends presented in the literature and showed a scattered relationship.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.19 no.6 s.67
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• pp.44-49
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• 2005

This paper investigates strength characteristics and stress-strain behaviors of unreinforced and reinforced lightweight soils. Lightweight soil, composed of dredged soil, cement, and air-foam, was reinforced by a waste fishing net, in order to increase its compressive strength. Test specimens were fabricated by various mixing conditions, such as cement content, initial water content, air content, and waste fishing net; then, unconfined compression tests were carried out on these specimens. From the test results, it was shown that reinforced lightweight soil had different behavior after failure, even though it had similar behavior as unreinforced lightweight soil before failure. The test results also showed that stress became constant after peak strength in reinforced lightweight soil, while the stress decreased continuously in unreinforced lightweight soil. It was observed that the strength was increased due to reinforcing effect by the waste fishing net for most cases, except high water content greater than $218\%$. In the case of high water content, a reinforcing effect is negligible, due to slip between waste fishing net and soil particles. In reinforced lightweight soil, secant modulus (E50) was increased, due to the inclusion of waste fishing net.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.63-70
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• 2011

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a type of geosynthetic material manufactured with various strengths, unit weights, and dimensions. Due to recent advances in research on EPS, the use of EPS has increased dramatically. This super light weight material has a unit weight of approximately $0.16{\sim}0.47kN/m^3$, equivalent to 6.3~15.7 of that of most natural soils with conditions of fill materials. In spite of this advantage, it is noted that no standard method of resilient modulus test on EPS geofoam was reported and no literature on resilient modulus test methods for EPS geofoam exist. The main object of this study was to investigate feasibility of the resilient modulus of EPS when it was applied for flexible pavement. The investigation of the feasibility was completed based on the results from triaxial tests.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2015

LWDT was developed for use as an alternative technique to measure the stiffness of trackbed soils. In this study, numerical and theoretical analyses of LWDT's acting mechanism were performed. The effectiveness of the adapted elastic formula used for calculation of the dynamic modulus, Evd, was investigated theoretically and also numerically by running ABAQUS analysis. The minimum thickness of the upper layer is proposed based on the analysis. Correction factors for the formula of elastic modulus are also proposed in this study. In the future, following field test results and laboratory mechanical tests such as the resonant column test, a guideline for the use of LWDT as a standard test protocol in track construction sites, as a measuring tool for the degree of compaction and/or stiffness and dynamic modulus, will be proposed based on this analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.35-44
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• 2015

The resilient modulus model of EPS geofoam to be used for a flexible pavement design was developed. In this study, the model was applied to design the flexible pavement and to predict the magnitude of the deformation of EPS geofoam blocks as a subgrade in the flexible pavement structure by using the resilient modulus model of EPS geofoam (RMEG) program. The RMEG program presented how much the EPS geofoam subgrade settled over the designed duration and the AASHTO flexible pavement design equation with the resilient modulus of EPS geofoam noted that how long the flexible pavement endured under traffic loads with 70% reliability for the estimated duration with less than 5mm vertical deformation during 20.6 years without the significant pavement distress as a substitute material for the natural soils.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.227-236
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• 2020

Expansive soils are renowned for their swelling-shrinkage property and these volumetric changes resultantly cause huge damage to civil infrastructures. Likewise, subgrades consisting of expansive soils instigate serviceability failures in pavements across various regions of Pakistan and worldwide. This study presents the use of polypropylene fibers to improve the engineering properties of a local swelling soil. The moisture-density relationship, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and elastic modulus (E₅₀), California bearing ratio (CBR) and one-dimensional consolidation behavior of the soil treated with 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8% fibers have been investigated in this study. It is found that the maximum dry density of reinforced soil slightly decreased by 2.8% due to replacement of heavier soil particles by light-weight fibers and the optimum moisture content remained almost unaffected due to non-absorbent nature of the fibers. A significant improvement has been observed in UCS (an increase of 279%), E₅₀ (an increase of 113.6%) and CBR value (an increase of 94.4% under unsoaked and an increase of 55.6% under soaked conditions) of the soil reinforced with 0.4% fibers, thereby providing a better quality subgrade for the construction of pavements on such soils. Free swell and swell pressure of the soil also significantly reduced (94.4% and 87.9%, respectively) with the addition of 0.8% fibers and eventually converting the medium swelling soil to a low swelling class. Similarly, the compression and rebound indices also reduced by 69.9% and 88%, respectively with fiber inclusion of 0.8%. From the experimental evaluations, it emerges that polypropylene fiber has great potential as a low cost and sustainable stabilizing material for widespread swelling soils.