• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.41-50
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• 2000

Segmental retaining wall market in Korea has been growing dramatically since late 1990s in both engineered and non-engineered applications. Despite the inherent conservatism in the current design approaches, numerous major and minor structural problems have been reported during and after construction, covering a range of minor structural damage to total collapse. Much still needs to be investigated to fill the gap between the theory and the practice. This paper reviews several design issues with regard to the segmental retaining walls such as the selection of shear strength parameters for backfill soil, local stability, and tiered wall construction. In addition, the effects of shear strength parameters and the fundamental behavior of tiered SRWs are examined based on the results of finite element analysis. Implications of the findings from this study to current design practices were discussed in detail.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.7-19
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• 2002

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the effect of foundation stiffness on the performance of soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls (SRWalls). Laboratory model tests were performed using a reduced-scale physical model to capture the fundamentals of the manner in which the foundation stiffness affects the behavior of SRWalls. A series of finite-element analyses were additionally performed on a prototype wall in order to supplement the findings from the model tests and to examine full-scale behavior of SRWalls encountered in the field. The results of the present investigation indicate that lateral wall displacements significantly increase with the decrease of the foundation stiffness. Also revealed is that the increase in wall displacements is likely to be caused by the rigid body movement of the reinforced soil mass with negligible internal deformation within the reinforced soil mass. The findings from this study support the current design approaches, in which the problem concerning the foundation condition are treated in the frame work of the external stability rather than the internal stability. The implications of the findings from this study to current design approaches are discussed in detail.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.61-72
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• 2002

This paper presents the results of investigation on the behavior of soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls in tiered arrangement using the finite element method of analysis. 2D finite element analyses were performed on tiered walls with two levels of offset distance. Cases with equivalent surcharge as suggested by the NCMA design guideline were additionally analyzed in an attempt to confirm the appropriateness of the equivalent surcharge model adopted by NCMA. Deformation characteristics of a tiered wall with small offset distance suggest a compound mode of failure and support current design approaches requiring a global slope stability analysis for design. Also revealed is that the interaction between the upper and lower walls significantly affects not only the performance of the lower wall but also the upper wall, suggesting that the upper walls should also be designed with due consideration of the interaction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.350-358
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• 2009

To enhance the application of the reinforced retaining walls in the railway industry, this paper suggested a type of reinforcement subgrade with short reinforcement and rigid facing. To become popular the reinforced retaining walls in the industry, the deformation of retaining walls should be controlled below some limited level. In this paper, small scale and full scale tests of the proposed retaining walls were performed and their deformation characteristics were evaluated. Even though it has short reinforcement, the rigid type retaining wall had small deformation to the external train loading than the segmental type retaining wall had.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.13-19
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• 2004

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the failure mechanism of geosynthetic-reinforced segmental retaining walls in tiered arrangement using reduced-scale model tests. In this laboratory model tests, a reduced scale model of the full-scale geosynthetic-reinforced wall which was constructed in Geotechnical Experimental Site at Sungkyunkwan University was used to perform a study on the failure mechanism. In order to a high degree of realism, the geometry of the wall and the material properties were selected applying Similitude Laws was used to perform laboratory model tests. And contrary to the previous failure tests with various surcharge pressures, the failure by the tired wall weight was observed. Primary variables considered in the model tests include the different offset distance between the tiers and the different reinforcement length in the lower tier and as a result of the parametric study, a different failure pattern was observed.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.620-625
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• 2002

In this study, the simulated cyclic train loading test was carried out in order to investigate the dynamic behavior in/at the block type reinforced earth retaining wall. The results in this test were compared with unreinforced and reinforced case, respectively. It was shown that we confirmed the correlation between earth pressure and displacement, the confining effect of wall displacement by the effect of geogrid.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.1562-1571
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• 2005

The use of geogrid for SRW systems and bridge abutment has increased rapidly over the past 10 years in Korea. The concept of segmental retaining walls and reinforced soil is very old and for example The Ziggurats of Babylonia(i.e. Tower of Babel) were built some 2,500 to 3,000 years ago using soil reinforcing methods very similar to those described in current design. Modern SRW(Semental Retaining Wall) units were introduced in 1960's as concrete crib retaining wall systems. In this paper, the friction properties between segmental concrete units and geogrid are investigated by performing various tests.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2003

This paper presents the results of investigation on the effects of foundation stiffness and surface loading on the performance of soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls using the finite element method of analysis. A parametric study was performed by varying the foundation stiffness and the location of surface loading. The results of the analyses indicate that the wall deformation and reinforcement tensile load tend to increase with decreasing foundation stiffness with little variation in the horizontal and vertical stress distributions at the back and the base of the reinforced soil zone. Also revealed is that the increment of reinforcement tensile load due to the presence of surface load may be significantly over-estimated when using the conventional approach. Furthermore, the external stability should be carefully examined when a surface loading is present just behind the reinforced soil zone. The implications of the findings from this study to current design approaches are discussed in detail.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.15-25
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• 2001

본 고에서는 블록식 보강토 옹벽의 지진시 거동에 관한 유한요소해석 결과를 다루었다. 보강토 옹벽의 지진시 변위거동을 검토한 결과 벽체저부를 지점으로 하는 캔틸레버형태의 변위 거동을 보였으며 따라서 옹벽 상단부에서의 보강재 인장력 증가가 현저하게 나타나 벽체전반에 걸친 분포양상은 균등한 경향을 보였다. 한편, 지진하중으로 인한 증분유발인장력에 관하여 검토한 결과 기존의 보강토 옹벽 내진설계기준과 비교하여 정성.정량적인 측면에서 상당한 차이를 보였으며 내진설계기준이 전반적으로 과소평가 하는 것으로 나타났다. 아울러서, 내진설계측면에서 변위억제 방안에 관한 매개변수 연구결과 임의 조건에 있어서 최대의 보강효과를 나타내는 보강재 임계 강성과 포설길이가 존재하며 최적의 보강효과를 얻기 위해서는 이에 대한 종합적인 검토가 요구되는 것으로 나타났다. 본 고에서는 연구결과를 종합적으로 고찰하여 실무 적용관점에서의 주안점을 언급하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.17-24
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• 2006

This paper presents the two field walls that demonstrate the effect of rainfall on the performance of soil-reinforced retaining wall. A field test wall constructed in Geotechnical Experimental Site at Sungkyunkwan University has been monitored for more than 8 months to study the long-term behavior of soil-reinforced retaining wall. The measured data showed a good correlation between rainfall and wall movement after wall completion. A case of failed soil-reinforced retaining wall also is presented to highlight the effect of rainfall on the performance of soil-reinforced retaining wall. Implications of the findings are discussed.