• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.461-469
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• 2022

One of the most important factors that should be considered for using any ground improvement technique is the stability of stabilized soil and the durability of the provided solution for getting the required engineering properties. Generally, most of the earth structures that are constructed on clayey soils are exposing movements due to the long periods of drying or wetting cycles. Over time, environmental changes may result in swells or settlements for these structures. In order to mitigate this problem, this research has been performed on mixtures of high plasticity clay with traditional additives such as lime, cement and non-traditional additives such as polypropylene fiber. The purpose of the research is to assess the most appropriate ground improvement technique by using commercially available additives for resisting the developed desiccation cracks during the drying process and resisting the volume changes that may result during wet/dry cycles as an attempt to simulate the changes of environmental conditions. The results show that the fiber-reinforced samples have the lowest volumetric deformation in comparision with cement and lime stabilized samples, and the optimum fiber content is identified as 0.38%. In addition, the desiccation cracks were not visible on the samples' surface for both unreinforced and chemically stabilized samples. Regarding cracks resistance resulting from the desiccation process, it is observed, that the resistance is connected with the fiber content and increases with the increase of the fiber inclusion, and the optimum content is between 1% and 1.5%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.265-276
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• 2017

Heavy metals leaching from closed mines have been causing severe environmental problems in nearby soil ecosystems. Mine reclamation in Korea has been recently implemented based on the heavy metal immobilization (a.k.a., stabilization). Since the immobilization temporarily fixes the heavy metals to the soil matrix, the potential risk of heavy metal leaching still exists. Therefore the appropriate monitoring and the related policies are required to safeguard the soils, where all the cultivations occur. The current monitoring methods are based on either heavy metal concentration or simple toxicity test. Those methods, however, are fragmented and hence it is difficult to evaluate the site in an integrated manner. In this study, as the integrated approach, ecological functional state evaluation with a multivariate statistical tool was employed targeting physiochemical soil properties, heavy metal concentrations, microbial enzymatic activity, and arsenic respiratory reductase gene quantity. Total 60 soil samples obtained from three mines (Pungjeong, Jeomdong, Seosung) were analyzed. As a result, the stabilized layer soil and lower layer soil have shown the similar pattern in Pungjeong mine. In contrast, Jeomdong and Seosung mine have shown the similarity between the stabilized layer soil and the cover layer soil, indicating the possible contamination of the cover layer soil.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.619-628
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• 2023

In this study, we investigated the feasibility of calcium sulfate fertilizer as a stabilizing agent for As and Hg contaminated farmland soil and its stabilization characteristics in 3 different physical forms (particulate, powder, and solution) through a pot experiment including 34 days of lettuce growth. As and Hg contents of the lettuce grown in the stabilized soils were decreased by at least 70%. However the lettuce yield of the soil stabilized with the solution agent was decreased by 46% due to the overabundance of the nutrients from the solution agent. Thus, if a solution-type agent is planned for agricultural farmland soil stabilization, additional tests for optimal dosage are needed to preserve vegetation growth. In Hg fractionation, a lower concentration of elemental fractions and a higher concentration of residual/sulfide fractions were identified in the soils stabilized with the solution, powder, and pariculate agents in descending order while there were no significant changes in As fractionation. Overall results suggest that calcium sulfate fertilizer can be used as a stabilizing agent, and a solution-type agent could be used when the operation of heavy machinery for the soil stabilization process is impossible.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.20-23
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• 2005

The objective of this study is to examine a stabilized efficiency of heavy metals including Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn using slaked lime. Tailings from the Janggun Pb-Zn mine, the second Yeonhwa Pb-Zn mine, the Jisi Au-Ag mine and the Sangdong W mine were sampled and measured heavy metal concentrations contents using AAS as various extraction methods. During 156 hours, column test were undertaken to evaluate the possibility of stabilization by slaked lime. The result shows that $Ca(OH)_2$ has a good efficiency in heavy metal stabilization, especially at the Jisi mine with stabilized efficiencies of 97%(Cd), 99%(Cu), 86%(Pb) and 99%(Zn), respectively.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.329-341
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• 2024

Retaining structures are one of the most important elements in the stabilization of excavations and slopes in various engineering projects. Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls are widely used as retaining structures due to their flexibility, easy and economical construction. These benefits are especially prominent for projects built on soft and weak foundation soils, which have relatively low resistance and high compressibility. For high retaining walls on weak foundations, conventional design methods are not cost-effective. Therefore, two alternative solutions for different foundation weakness are proposed in this research: optimized multi-tiered MSE walls and single tier wall with foundation improvement. The cost optimization considers both the construction components and the land price. The results show that the optimal solution depends on several factors, including the foundation strength and more importantly, the land price. For low land price, the optimized multi-tiered wall is more economical, while for high land price (urban areas), the foundation improvement is preferable. As the foundation strength decreases, the foundation improvement becomes inevitable.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2021

In cold regions, the integrity of the infrastructures built on weak soils can be extensively damaged by weathering actions due to the cyclic freezing and thawing. This damage can be mitigated by exploiting soil stabilization techniques. Generally, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is the most commonly used binding material for investigating the chemo-hydromechanical behavior. However, due to the environmental issue of OPC producing a significant amount of carbon dioxide emission, calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement can be used as one of the eco-sustainable alternatives. Although recently several studies have examined the strength development of CSA treated sand, no research has been concerned about CSA cement-stabilized sand affected by cyclic freeze and thaw. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive laboratory work to assess the effect of the cyclic freeze-thaw action on strength and durability of CSA cement-treated sand. For this purpose, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) tests were performed on the stabilized soil specimens cured for 7 and 14 days which are subjected to 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 freeze-thaw cycles. The test results show that the strength and durability index of the samples decrease with the increase of the freeze-thaw cycles. The loss of the strength and durability considerably decreases for all soil samples subjected to the freeze-thaw cycles. Overall, the use of CSA as a stabilizer for sandy soils would be an eco-friendly option to achieve sufficient strength and durability against the freeze-thaw action in cold regions.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.90-103
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• 2015

The agricultural soil, meets soil environmental standards whereas agricultural product from the same soil does not meet permissible level of contaminants, is identified in the vicinity of the abandoned mine in Korea. This study estimated the stabilization efficiency of Cd and Pb using limestone through the flood pot test for this kind of agricultural paddy soil. We had the concentration of the monitored contaminants in soil solution for 4 months and analyzed fractionations in soil and concentrations in rice plant. In soil solution of plow layer, the reductive Mn had been detected constantly unlike Fe. The concentrations of Mn in limestone amended soil was relatively lower than that in control soil. This reveals that the reductive heavy metals which become soluble under flooded condition can be stabilized by alkali amendment. This also means that Cd and Pb associated with Mn oxides can be precipitated through soil stabilization. Pb concentrations in soil solution of amended conditions were lower than that of control whereas Cd was not detected among all conditions including control. In contaminants fractionation of soil analysis, the decreasing exchangeable fraction and the increasing carbonates fraction were identified in amended soil when compared to control soil at the end of test. These results represent the reduction of contaminants mobility induced by alkali amendment. The Cd and Pb contents of rice grain from amended soil also lower than that of control. These result seems to be influenced by reduction of contaminants mobility represented in the results of soil solution and soil fractionation. Therefore contaminants mobility (phytoavailability) rather than total concentration in soil can be important factor for contaminants transition from soil to agricultural products. Because reduction of heavy metal transition to plant depends on reduction of bioavailability such as soluble fraction in soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.729-738
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• 2018

Soft clay soils due to their various geotechnical problems, stabilized with different additives. Traditional additives such as cement and lime will not able to increase the soil strength properties significantly. So, it seems necessary to use new additives for increasing strength parameters of soft clay soils significantly. Among the new additives, epoxy resins have excellent physical and mechanical properties, low shrinkage, excellent resistance to chemicals and corrosive materials, etc. So, in this research, epoxy resin used for stabilization of soft clay soils. For comprehensive study, three clay soil samples with different PI and various clay mineral types were studied. A series of uniaxial tests, SEM and XRD analysis conducted on the samples. The results show that using epoxy resin increases the strength parameters such as UCS, elastic modulus and material toughness about 100 to 500 times which the increase was dependent on the type of clay minerals type in the soil. Also, In addition to water conservation, the best efficiency in the weakest and most sensitive soils is the prominent results of stabilization by epoxy resin which can be used in different climatic zones, especially in hot and dry and equatorial climate which will be faced with water scarcity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.768-774
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• 2008

To evaluate the effect of the solidified/stabilized sewage sludge on landfill sites, lysimeter tests were conducted. Lysimeters (LR1, LR2, and LR3) were filled with the material(Compost : Fodder : Sand = 10 : 10 : 80) and covered with different types of the cover soils, the G solidified sludge produced from the neutral solidifying chemical agent(LR1), the A solidified sludge produced from the alkali solidifying chemical agent(LR2), and the weathered granite soil(LR3). Those lysimeters were kept at the temperature controlled room with 30 $\pm$ 2$^{\circ}C$ for about 450 days. As the results, it was appeared LR2 > LR1 > LR3 that total gas production rate(L), gas production rate(L/VS(kg)) and cumulative gas(CO$_2$ + CH$_4$) production. There were not significant differences at decrease of the COD$_{Cr}$ in the leachate from LR1 and LR3. Thus, it had been shown that the use of the G solidified sludge as cover soil did not affect the COD$_{Cr}$ in the leachate. The COD$_{Cr}$ from LR2 had been increased since around 250 days because solidified/stabilized sewage sludge became re-slurry. T-N and T-P from LR3 also were higher than LR1 and LR2. Also were, the use of the solidified/stabilized sewage sludge as a cover soil, therefore, did not affect the T-N and T-Pconcentrations in the leachate.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.231-247
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• 2024

The use of lime stabilization and geosynthetic reinforcement is a common approach to improve the performance of fine-grained soils in geotechnical applications. However, the impact of this combination on the soil-geosynthetic interaction remains unclear. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the interface efficiency and soil-geosynthetic interaction parameters of lime-stabilized clay (2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% lime content) reinforced with geotextile or geogrid using direct shear tests at various curing times (1, 7, 14, and 28 days). Additionally, machine learning algorithms (Support Vector Machine and Artificial Neural Network) were employed to predict soil shear strength. Findings revealed that lime stabilization significantly increased soil shear strength and interaction parameters, particularly at the optimal lime content (4%). Notably, stabilization improved the performance of soil-geogrid interfaces but had an adverse effect on soil-geotextile interfaces. Furthermore, machine learning algorithms effectively predicted soil shear strength, with sensitivity analysis highlighting lime percentage and geosynthetic type as the most significant influencing factors.