• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.17-26
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• 2005

Soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) is a unique characteristic that should be considered In the analysis of unsaturated soil and prediction of unsaturated properties. However, the volume change of soil specimens that happens in the existing apparatus affects the SWCC, Therefore, In this study, we intended to obtain more appropriate SWCC by measuring the change In the volume of the specimen in the SWCC tests. The measured change of void ratio indicates that the saturation step prior to the test changes the original structure of the soil specimen. Thus we carried out the test far the same specimen omitting the saturation step prior to the test. The change of void ratio by this test procedure is relatively small.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.27-34
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• 2011

This study analyzes the determination of slope failure model due to changes in ground condition followed by heavy rainfall. With a simulated rainfall system, the movement of a slope from the rainfall penetrating the unsaturated soil is investigated with respect to various conditions of pore-water pressure, earth pressure, and moisture content, considering rainfall duration and permeability. As a result of the experiment, under the persistent precipitation of 50mm/h, pore-water pressure of weathered granite soil started increasing from the upper position of the slope, and then the pressure increased in middle and bottom portion of it in timely manner. In case of the pore-water pressure of the standard soil, the pressure increased from the middle and bottom portion, and the cause of the different order is suspected to be the difference in permeability between the standard soil and the weathered granite soil. As an outcome, though the result may vary by each foundation, there exists a danger of slope failure not only when the cumulative rainfall is more than 120 mm but also when the saturation level amounts to 60~75%.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.541-552
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• 2019

In this study, landslide flume tests were performed to analyze characteristics of ground characteristics and landslide occurrence due to rainfall infiltration. As test materials, weathered granite soil and gneiss soil, the most frequent landslides in Korea, were used, and landslides were triggered by heavy rain (Intensity = 200 mm/hr). The measurement sensors were installed with 3 sets at toe, slope, top part and shallow (GL-0.2 m), middle (GL-0.4 m), and deep (GL-0.6 m) depth in the slope and measured at 10 second intervals. After landslide flume tests, the slope stability analysis was performed by applying the unsaturated soil theory based on the change of ground characteristics and compared with actual landslide occurrence from flume test. As a result of the analysis, factor of safety reflected the landslide occurrence from flume test and factor of safety decreased as rainfall infiltration, leading to slope failure. Finally we compared to the factor of safety below 1 and actual landslide occurrence time, the average difference was 1,600 seconds for weathered granite soil and 5,400 seconds for weathered gneiss soil.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2005

This research is aimed at investigating the ground characterization of the Cheongju granite area using the geophysical methods. Test site was chosen from the building site in Chungbuk University, Chongju, Chungbuk province. Furthermore, geophysical methods are employed on the outcrops in the east to map the distribution of fault and intrusion and reveal the degree of weathering. The subsurface structure mapped from seismic re-fraction survey mainly consists of two units of weathered soil and rock. Threshold of the units were determined on the basis of seismic velocity of 800 m/s, supported from the standard classification table. From the results of standard penetrating test(SPT), these units are found to show medium-high and high density, respectively. Weathering soil is subdivided in unsaturated layer and saturated layer with thresholds of seismic velocity (500 m/s) and resistivity (200 ohm-m). In particular, unsaturated layer is again classified into dry and wet portions using the GPR section. The boundary between unsaturated and saturated weathering soils corresponds to the groundwater table at depth of approximately 5～6.2 m, which is well correlated with the one from drill-core data. However, bedrock is not delineated by geophysical methods. In the GPR section, fault and intrusion observed on the outcrop are revealed not to extend to the building site. With respect to weathering degree, the outcrop characterized by low resistivity and velocity corresponds to the grade of 'completely weathered' from the geotechnical investigations.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.555-571
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• 2023

Due to South Korea's concentrated summer rainfall, constituting 70% of the annual total, landslides frequently occur during the rainy season, necessitating accurate prediction methods to mitigate associated damage. In this study, a reduced-scale and full-scale slope was configured using weathered granite soil to find the possibility of establishing measurement management criterias through landslide reproduction. The experiment focused on matric suction, analyzing changes in ground properties and failure patterns caused by rainfall infiltration. Subsequently, an unsaturated infinite slope stability analysis was conducted. By calculating the failure time when the safety factor falls below 1 for each experiment, landslide prediction was demonstrated to be possible, approximately 17 minutes prior for the reduction-scale experiment and 6.5 hours for the full-scale experiment. These findings provide useful data for establishing Korean soil slope measurement management criteria that consider the characteristics of weathered granite soil.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.4 s.41
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• pp.349-360
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• 2004

This study calculated the pore water pressure, the depth of seepage, the constant of the strength in accordance with the slope inclination and the rainfall intensity over the slope built by the weathered granite soil (SP, SM). And, the change of the shear strength in accordance with the rainfall has been compared and analyzed by applying the shear strength formula of the unsaturated soil. As a result, the rainfall intensity is stronger and the slope inclination is gentler the seepage speed in accordance with the rainfall became faster proportionally. As a result of comparing and analyzing both the theoretical value of Lumb and the actual value of the model, it can be said that the actual value is faster. Since SM shows the bigger shear strength than SP, it can also be said that as the granules increase, the coefficient of permeability becomes smaller; and as the seepage rate became smaller, it affects the seepage speed. Likewise, the shear strength within the slope displays the smallest shear strength at the inclination of 1:1.5 the reason of its decrease turned out that it was due to the increase of the pore water pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.109-120
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• 2004

There has been outstanding research on the soil-water characteristic curves of unsaturated soils over the past several decades. Unfortunately, unsaturated soil mechanics has not been considered as an important factor in Korea. In this paper, laboratory test and numerical analysis(SoilVision Professional ver 3.04) were performed to investigate the prediction method of soil-water characteristic curve and unsaturated permeability coefficient in reclaimed ground. The pressure cell, desiccator, and tensiometor tests were conducted on three types of reclaimed soils(dredged soil, sand, weathered granite soil). Numerical analysis was executed to compare the results with the laboratory test results and also compared with the results of each prediction method. Based on the laboratory test, three different types of soils have shown different soil-water characteristic curves. The hysteresis fir these soils is clearly defined. As a result of numerical analysis, Fredlund & Xing's method and Fredlund & Wilson's model proved to worke out well for reclaimed ground soils in Korea. Also, predicting method based on the soil-water characteristic curves from the particle-size distributions is flirty reliable for estimating unsaturated permeability coefficient.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.5-11
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• 2018

In conventional analytical solutions for rainfall-induced soil slope stability, the Green-Ampt (1911) equation for estimating the saturation depth and the Skempton & DeLory (1957) equation for calculating the infinite slope shallow failure were compared with the numerical analysis to confirm the error. In the simple evaluation of the reason of soil slope instability due to rainfall using the conventional equations, there are many errors and, overestimation or underestimation of the calculation results. In this study, the equation consisting of the results obtained from infiltration analysis on unsaturated soil slope is proposed by applying the average range of the strength parameters of the granite weathered soils, and its reliability is verified by comparing with the numerical analysis results. The developed equation can be used easily in various fields for the estimation of slope safety factor by checking the rainfall duration and saturation depth.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.2 s.42
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• pp.123-132
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• 2005

This study presents the results of a laboratory investigation performed to study physical properties of soil-bentonite mixtures through the vertical permeation test and dielectric measurement test using Frequency Domain Reflectometry system for the liner of waste landfill. For the laboratory experiments, geotechnical testing was conducted on pre-mixed soil-bentonite which is consisted of standard sand, weathered granite soil and bentonite for estimating physical parameters such as a volumetric water content, void ratio and dielectric constant. In experiment results, initial soil-bentonite mixing rate has an effect of change of volumetric water content. Also change of volumetric water content of a soil-bentonite mixture is clearly detected to measure a response of dielectric constant. In order to estimate an unsaturated permeable property of soil-bentonite mixtures, equations between volumetric water content and dielectric constant were derived from this study.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.19-33
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• 2016

Stability analysis based on the limit equilibrium method combined with the result of infiltration analysis is commonly used to evaluate the effect of rainfall infiltration on the slope stability. Soil is a three-phase mixture composed of solid particle, water and air. Therefore, a fully coupled mixture theories of stress-deformation behavior and the flow of water and air should be used to accurately analyze the process of rainfall infiltration through soil slope. The purpose of this study is to study the effect of interaction of air and water flow on the mechanical stability of slope. In this study, stability analyses based on the coupled hydro-mechanical model of three-phases were conducted for slope of weathered granite soil widespread in Korea. During the process of hydro-mechanical analysis strength reduction technique was applied to evaluate the effect of rainfall infiltration on the slope stability. The results showed an increase of air pressure during infiltration because rain water continuously displaced the air in the unsaturated zone. Such water-air interaction in the pore space of soil affects the stress-deformation behavior of slope. Therefore, the results from the three-phase model showed different behavior from the solid-water model that ignores the transport effect of air in the pores.