• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.71-83
• /
• 2018

Compacted bentonites were chosen as the backfill material and buffer in high level nuclear waste disposal due to its high swelling pressure, high ion adsorption capacity and low permeability. It is essential to estimate the swelling pressure in design and considering the safety of the nuclear repositories. The swelling pressure model of expansive clay colloids was developed based on Gouy-Chapman diffuse double layer theory. However, the diffuse double layer model is effective in predicting low compaction dry density (low swelling pressure) for certain bentonites, and invalidation in simulating high compaction dry density (high swelling pressure). In this paper, the new relationship between nondimensional midplane potential function, u, and nondimensional distance function, Kd, were established based on the Gouy-Chapman theory by considering the variation of void ratio. The new developed model was constructed based on the published literature data of compacted Na-bentonite (MX80) and Ca-bentonite (FoCa) for sodium and calcium bentonite respectively. The proposed models were applied to re-compute swelling pressure of other compacted Na-bentonites (Kunigel-V1, Voclay, Neokunibond and GMZ) and Ca-bentonites (FEBEX, Bavaria bentonite, Bentonite S-2, Montigel bentonite) based on the reported experimental data. Results show that the predicted swelling pressure has a good agreement with the experimental swelling pressure in all cases.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2004.03b
• /
• pp.847-854
• /
• 2004

The resistivity of soils depends on grains size, porosity, water saturation, pore fluid resistivity, caly contents and son on. It is very important to understand the relationship between resistivity and such physical properties of soils, in order to interpret and evaluate ground conditions by using resistivity data obtained from electrical resistivity prospecting. In this paper, to study the relationship between resistivity and physical properties of soils, the resistivity of glass beads and compacted soil samples both in saturated and unsaturated conditions is measured. As the results, the resistivity of saturated soils depends mainly on porosity and clay contents, while that of unsaturated soils is sensitive to compaction conditions, and decreases with increasing water content until the optimum water condition, that is the maximum dry density. But, the relationship between resistivity and water saturation for soils is unique, being independent of compaction energy. Also, the resistivity ratio decrease with increasing water saturation, followed by no significant change of resistivity ratio over 80 percent of water saturation (the optimum water content).

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2010.09c
• /
• pp.140-145
• /
• 2010

Consolidation in cohesive soils mainly focuses on compressibility of soils, but it affects solute transport in some cases. The consolidation process takes on particular significance for fine grained soils at high water content, such as dredged sediments, but has also been shown to be important for compacted clay liners during waste filling operation. Numerical investigation using CST1 and CST2 was reviewed on consolidation-induced solute transport in this paper, especially with the development of CST2 model, verification by comparing experimental results with numerical simulations, and cases studies regarding transport in a confined disposal facility (CDF) and during in-situ capping. The importance of the consolidation process on solute transport is accessed based on simulated concentration or mass breakthrough curves. Results indicate that neglecting transient consolidation effects may lead to significant errors in transport analyses, especially with soft contaminated cohesive soils undergoing large volume change.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2001.05a
• /
• pp.443-450
• /
• 2001

This paper shows the reduction effect of tile earthquake-induced liquefaction potential of soils that improved by Vibro-Replacement Stone Columns. The Vibro-Replacement Stone Columns method transforms soft cohesive soils into a composite mass of compacted granular or crushed stone columns by using vibrating equipment and water jets. This study investigated and analyzed the behavior of the stone columns and composite ground using the results of in situ test and measurement at the job-site. This paper shows the evaluation of the earthquake-induced liquefaction potential of soils using in situ test. There are different types of in situ test used in the evaluation the liquefaction potential. In the particular study the Standard penetration test, and Cone penetration test were used. The N value of Standard Penetration test has been used all over for a very long time. The evaluation of the liquefaction of soil was performed using the worldwide renewed Cone penetration test

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.1D
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2011

A need still exists that the unsaturated condition is to be considered when evaluating the infiltration and drainage capacity for compacted geomaterials in road foundation or embankments. For this reason, numerical analysis were used to analyze the time-dependent unsaturated infiltration and drainage condition depending on various geomaterial types. Therefore, laboratory data from the soil-water characteristic curve tests on geomaterials were adopted from previous studies. In addition, the unsaturated permeability was estimated using SWCC. Then the infiltration and drainage performance of unsaturated compacted soils were evaluated under various conditions based on the proposed method. The results demonstrated that the effect of initial suction and SWCC path on each material could be substantial and the proper application on analysis is very important to enhance the prediction on each capacity.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.369-375
• /
• 2000

Although urban soils must be well understood in order to ensure their conservation and optimum use, these intensively managed and disturbed soils have not been extensively investigated up to now. Urban soils from forest, lawn, streetside, and bare ground and under pavement in Inchon had high bulk density as a result of widespread trampling-induced soil compaction. The various urban soils including forests showed lower water content and higher temperature as compared with rural forest soil. Chemically, soils from urban areas had an unusual neutral pH and low organic matter content. Total bacterial numbers in urban soils was only 5∼50% of that in the rural forest soil. An analysis of stepwise multiple regression revealed that soil organic matter was the most important predictor variable on total bacterial number. The dehydrogenase activity of most urban soils was not significantly different from that of rural forest soil, whereas the microbial activity of soils under pavement was lower. Our investigations show that inadequate organic matter of highly compacted soils has adversely affected the abundance of microorganisms involving nutrient cycling in urban soils.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.687-706
• /
• 2015

Methods commonly used to evaluate the improvement of lime-treated expansive soil include swelling characteristics and unconfined compressive strength. In the field, lime-treated expansive soils are in compacted unsaturated state. Soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) represent a key parameter to interpret and describe the behavior of unsaturated expansive soil. This paper investigates the use of SWCC as a technique to evaluate improvements acquired by expansive soil after lime treatment. Three different lime contents were considered 2%, 4% and 6% by dry weight of clay. Series of tests were performed to determine the SWCC for the different lime content under curing periods of 7 and 28 day. Correlations between key features of the soil water characteristic curves of lime treated expansive soils and basic engineering behavior such as swelling characteristics and unconfined compression strength were established. Test results revealed that initial slope ($S_1$), saturated water content ($w_{sat}$), and air entry value (AEV) play an important role in reflecting improvement in engineering behavior achieved by lime treatment.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.219-231
• /
• 2022

Geotechnical materials such as silt, fine sand, or coarse granular soils may be unstable under undrained shearing or during rainfall infiltration starting an unsaturated state. Some researches are available describing the instability of coarse granular soils in drained or undrained conditions. However, there is a need to investigate the instability mechanism of unsaturated silty soil considering the effect of degree of compaction and net confining stress under partially and fully drained conditions. The specimens in the current study are compacted at 65%, 75%, & 85% degree of compaction, confined at pressures of 60, 80 & 120 kPa, and tested in partially and fully drained conditions. The tests have been performed in two steps. In Step-I, the specimens were sheared in constant water content conditions (a type of partially drained test) to the maximum shear stress. In Step-II, shearing was carried in constant suction conditions (a type of fully undrained test) by keeping shear stress constant. At the start of Step-II, PWP was increased in steps to decrease matric suction (which was then kept constant) and start water infiltration. The test results showed that soil instability is affected much by variation in the degree of compaction and confining stresses. It is also observed that loose and medium dense soils are vulnerable to pre-failure instability i.e., instability occurs before reaching the failure state, whereas, instability in dense soils instigates together with the failure i.e., failure line (FL) and instability line (IL) are found to be unique.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.64-75
• /
• 2017

The role of a track subgrade is to provide bearing capacity and distribute load transferred to lower foundation soils. Track subgrade soils are usually compacted by heavy mechanical machines in the field, such that sometimes they are attributed to progressive residual settlement during the service after construction completion of the railway track. The progressive residual settlement generated in the upper part of a track subgrade is mostly non-recoverable plastic deformation, which causes unstable conditions such as track irregularity. Nonetheless, up to now no design code for allowable residual settlement of subgrade in a railway trackbed has been proposed based on mechanical testing, such as repetitive triaxial testing. At this time, to check the DOC or stiffness of the soil, field test criteria for compacted track subgrade are composed of data from RPBT and field compaction testing. However, the field test criteria do not provide critical design values obtained from mechanical test results that can offer correct information about allowable permanent deformation. In this study, a test procedure is proposed for permanent deformation of compacted subgrade soil that is used usually in railway trackbed in the laboratory using repetitive triaxial testing. To develop the test procedure, an FEA was performed to obtain the shear stress ratio (${\tau}/{\tau}_f$) and the confining stress (${\sigma}_3$) on the top of the subgrade. Comprehensive repetitive triaxial tests were performed using the proposed test procedure on several field subgrade soils obtained in construction sites of railway trackbeds. A permanent deformation model was proposed using the test results for the railway track.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.117-127
• /
• 2008

The volumetric pressure plate extractor (VPPE) was modified for the measurement of shear wave velocity ($V_s$) at various levels of matric suction as well as soil water characteristic curve (SWCC). A non-destructive technique with a pair of bender element (BE) was employed in order to measure the $V_s$ and the corresponding maximum shear modulus ($G_{max}$) of unsaturated soil specimens. Three types of soil were collected from different road construction sites in Korea. For all test soils, the variations in $G_{max}$ with the various levels of water content and matric suction were investigated using the developed apparatus. Compared with the preceding results from the suction-controlled torsional shear (TS) testing system and in-situ seismic tests, the feasibility fur evaluating modulus characteristics of unsaturated compacted soils with the developed VPPE-BE system was assessed. It was confirmed that the newly developed system would be potentially helpful in modeling seasonal variation of modulus.