• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.53-60
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• 2010

The comprehensive tests on unsaturated weathered granite soils are carried out to obtain the soil-water characteristic curve that is the one of the essential requisites to study the unsaturated soil. The weathered granite soils were obtained at Palgong mountain in Daegu. The existing test results have been carried out without overburden pressures and volume changes. In this study, the volumetric pressure plate extractor is improved to consider two factors such as overburden pressure and volume change. The applied overburden pressures were 0, 25, 50, 75, 100kPa and volume changes were measured at each phase. he results of this study are summarized as follows: As the overburden pressure increases, the volumetric water content decreases at the same matric suction and the air entry value increases and gradient of curve at the transition zone and the size of the hysteresis loops decreases. As the overburden pressure increases, the degree of saturation increases at the same matric suction and degree of saturation of the wetting curve is higher than that of dry curve. The SWCC with volume changes are slightly larger than those without volume changes. The general equation proposed by Fredlund & Xing(1994) to fit the experimental result of the SWCC indicates good agreement. The empirical parameters a, n, m as overburden pressure show similar inclination as the existing results.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.55-65
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• 2009

It has been well known that the infiltration of rainfall causes major surfacial slope failures in Korea. However, the hydrological and mechanical behaviors in unsaturated slopes are somewhat complex. When an analysis on unsaturated slope problems is performed, soil-water characteristics curves (SWCC) are considered as major parameters to apply. Since the weathered soil slopes are layered and stressed by overburden pressures, the response of SWCCs should account for its overburden pressure. To deal with this situation, in this study, laboratory testings were conducted to evaluate the SWCC under various overburden stress. In addition, the unsaturated shear strength was estimated using SWCC. Then the performance of unsaturated weathered soil slopes was evaluated under various conditions after applying the effect of overburden pressure on SWCCs. The results demonstrated that the effect of overburden pressure on SWCC could be substantial and the proper application to analysis is very important to enhance the prediction of slope stability.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1017-1025
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• 2013

The monolithically coupled finite element analysis for a deformable unsaturated soil slope is performed to investigate matric suction distribution on a soil slope subjected to rainfall infiltration, which can consider the hydraulic-mechanical characteristics for the analysis. The soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC) are experimentally determined to estimate three types of hydraulic properties of domestic areas. Based on the physical properties, the distribution of matric suction is investigated by considering the major factors, such as soil conditions, rainfall intensities, and slope angles. It is found from the results of this study that the matric suction rapidly decreases with an increase in rainfall intensity, regardless a slope angle. The slope surface is more easily saturated when its saturated hydraulic conductivity is smaller than rainfall intensity, and for the case of multi-layered soil slope, hydraulic characteristics of slope surface has a significant influence on matric suction distribution.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2018

The physical properties and unsaturated characteristics of acid sulfate soils were investigated and analyzed. As the results of measuring physical properties of the acid sulfate soils obtained around the Ilkwang mine area, the dry unit weight is $1.246t/m^3$ and this soil is classified into the silty sand (SM) by USCS. Soil Water Characteristics Curves (SWCC) of the drying and wetting paths were measured by the automated SWCC apparatus. Also, Hydraulic Conductivity Functions (HCF) of the drying and wetting paths were estimated by the van Geunchten (1980) model which is the most well-known parameter estimation method. The hydraulic conductivity of acid sulfate soils in the dry path was continuously decreased with increasing the matric suction. However, the hydraulic conductivity in the wetting path was decreased relatively small with increasing matric suction and decreased suddenly just before water entry value of matric suction. Meanwhile, the hysteresis phenomenon was occurred in SWCCs and HCFs during the drying and wetting paths.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.55-64
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• 2006

Shallow failures of slopes in weathered soils are caused by infiltration caused by prolonged rainfall. These failures are mainly triggered by the deepening of the wetting band accompanied by a decrease in suction induced by the water infiltration. In this paper, hysteresis on soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) of granite and gneiss weathered soils is investigated using transient flow analysis respectively. Each case was subjected to artificial rainfall intensities and time duration depending on the laboratory-based drying and wetting processes. The results show that the unsaturated seepage on weathered slopes are very much affected by the initial suction of soils and unsaturated permeability of the soils. In addition, a granite weathered soil has a lower air-entry value, residual matric suction, and wetting front suction and less hysteresis loop than a gneiss weathered soil.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2019

High-level radioactive waste (HLW) such as spent fuel is inevitably produced when nuclear power plants are operated. A geological repository has been considered as one of the most adequate options for the disposal of HLW, and it will be constructed in host rock at a depth of 500~1,000 meters below ground level with the concept of an engineered barrier system (EBS) and a natural barrier system. The compacted bentonite buffer is one of the most important components of the EBS. As the compacted bentonite buffer is located between disposal canisters with spent fuel and the host rock, it can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect canisters from the inflow of groundwater. Because of inflow of groundwater into the compacted bentonite buffer, it is essential to investigate soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC) of the compacted bentonite buffer in order to evaluate the entire safety performance of the EBS. Therefore, this paper conducted laboratory experiments to analyze the SWCC for a Korean Ca-type compacted bentonite buffer considering dry density, confined or unconfined condition, and drying or wetting path. There was no significant difference of SWCC considering dry density under unconfined condition. Furthermore, it was found that there was higher water suction in unconfined condition that in confined condition, and higher water suction during drying path than during wetting path.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

Numerical stability analysis of an unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration conditions was performed using generalized effective stress to unify both saturated and unsaturated conditions The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) of sand with a relative density of 75% was initially measured for both drying and wetting processes. The hydraulic conductivity function (HCF) and suction stress characteristic curve (SSCC) were subsequently estimated. Under the rainfall-induced infiltration conditions, transient seepage analysis of an unsaturated infinite slope was performed using the finite element analysis program, SEEP/W. Based on these results, the stability of an unsaturated infinite slope under rainfall-induced infiltration conditions was examined in relation to suction stress. According to the results, the negative pore-water pressure and water content within the slope soil changed over time due to the infiltration. In addition, the variation of the negative pore-water pressure and water content led to a variation in suction stress and a subsequent change in the slope's factor of safety during the rainfall period.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.101-109
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• 2007

In South Korea, many weathered soil slopes are composed of soil mixtures with certain amount of clay fractions in natural soil deposits. Accordingly, it is very important to analyze that effect of the fines on the stability of unsaturated soil slopes. In this study, five different soil types classified by mixture portion of fines were used and experiment on the soil-water characteristic curve tests (SWCC) using GCTS (Geotechnical Consulting and Testing Systems) pressure plate were performed in order to analyze the stability of unsaturated soil slopes. Based on the infiltration analysis which contains SWCC test result by the SEEP/W, it is shown that the increasing rate of the wetting band depth was decreased as the fines content and the relative density were increased. According to the stability analysis result of the unsaturated soil slopes through the SLOPE/W, it is found that the transition from the wetting band depth to the variation of strength parameters which affect the stability of unsaturated soil slopes appears to occur around $10\sim15%$ of clay contents in the mixtures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.123-133
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• 2001

Since most of soil slopes are in an unsaturated state, it is necessary to consider the unsaturated characteristics of soil slopes, in order to obtain more reasonable results. Therefore in this study we supplemented a slope stability analysis program to consider them, based on the concept of limit equilibrium. We also applied an optimization technique to search for a failure surface. Besides, we carried out experiments to obtain the unsaturated soil properties required in the analysis with weathered granite soils. We formulated a nonlinear apparent cohesion relationship with the matrix suction to be able to apply the unsaturated shear strength characteristics to the stability analysis. In addition, we intended to obtain more accurate soil water characteristic curves(SWCC) by measuring the change in volume of the specimen in the SWCC tests. As a result, we could appropriately assess the change of the safety factor according to the rainfall intensity and duration, by considering the variation of suction, permeability, and shear strength caused by the infiltration of rainfall into slopes.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.37-48
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• 2017

Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) has been widely used to estimate the shear strength and coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils. In general, it is divided into the drying path in which the water is discharged and the wetting path in which the water is permeated, and it has a hysteresis indicating different suctions at the same volumetric water content. In reality the field behavior of unsaturated soils is much closer to the wetting path during the infiltration. The drying path has been practically used for various analyses because obtaining the wetting path takes longer than the drying path. Although many approaches for estimating wetting path have been studied till now, these are complex and do not fit well. Therefore, a simple method for estimating wetting path based on empirical approach in this study is proposed in unsaturated soils, and a feasibility study is conducted as well.