• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.27-40
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• 1993

This paper proposes a new procedure carrying out a series of consolidated-undrained triaxial tests with a specimen. In this procedure high confining pressure applied to the specimen keeps constant during the test and each stage of consolidation can be controlled by partial drainage. With this procedure the test time is remarkably reduced by performing a series of triaxial tests with a single specimen. In order to verify the appliesbility of the procedure, standard triaxial compression tests and conventional multi -stage triaxial testy are performed for both undisturbed and disturbed samples and the results are compared with those of the proposed procedure. The comparison shows that strength parameters determined by the proposed procedure are well agreed with those of the other tests and thus it can be said that the procedure is very effective and practical in determining strength parameters.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.269-287
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• 2010

High-strength concrete (HSC) is becoming more popular in the construction of beams and columns of tall buildings because of its higher stiffness and strength-to-weight ratio. However, as HSC is more brittle than normal-strength concrete (NSC), it may adversely affect the flexural ductility and deformability of concrete members. Extended from a series of theoretical study conducted on flexural ductility of concrete beams, the authors would in this paper investigate the effects of some critical factors including the degree of reinforcement, confining pressure, concrete and steel yield strength on the flexural deformability of NSC and HSC beams. The deformability, expressed herein in terms of normalised rotation capacity defined as the product of ultimate curvature and effective depth, is investigated by a parametric study using nonlinear moment-curvature analysis. From the results, it is evident that the deformability of concrete beams increases as the degree of reinforcement decreases and/or confining pressure increases. However, the effects of concrete and steel yield strength are more complicated and dependent on other factors. Quantitative analysis of all these effects on deformability of beams has been carried out and formulas for direct deformability evaluation are developed. Lastly, the proposed formulas are compared with available test results to verify its applicability.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.99-105
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• 2004

When a saturated clay is sampled from a borehole in an undisturbed manner, the exerted negative pore water pressure restricts the volume expansion. The vertical and horizontal stresses to which the clay was subjected in the ground are smaller and larger than this isotropically confining stress equivalent to the mean principal stress in the ground, respectively. Therefore the sample expands vertically and shrinks laterally under an undrained condition. In the ordinary consolidation test, the sample thus deformed is trimmed to fit the inside of the consolidometer ring. Thus, the specimen generates larger consolidation displacement due to confining larger horizontal stress when in-situ effective pressure is loaded. The specimen does not reproduce the in-situ consolidation behavior, In this paper, considering sample deformation, the test specimen is made to expand laterally to fit the inside of the ring in the undrained manner when the in-situ effective pressure is loaded. And applicability of this proposed test procedure was verified; results from the conventional consolidation test procedure are also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.35-51
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• 2008

In this paper, the application of the DSC model to the analysis of liquefaction potential is examined through experimental and analytical investigations. For more realistic description of dynamic responses of saturated sands, the DSC model was modified based on the dynamic effective stress path and excess pore pressure development. Both static and cyclic undrained triaxial tests were performed for sands with different relative densities and confining stresses. Based on test results, a classification of liquefaction phases in terms of the dynamic effective stress path and the excess pore pressure development was proposed and adopted into the modified DSC model. The proposed methods using the original and modified DSC models were compared with examples with different relative densities and confining stresses. Based on the comparisons between the predicted results using the original and modified DSC models and experimental data, the parameters required to define the model were simplified. It was also found that modified model more accurately simulate initial liquefaction and dynamic responses of soil under cyclic undrained triaxial tests.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.17-27
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• 2015

We perform a series of experimental tests to evaluate whether the shear strength of clean sands can be reliably predicted from shear wave velocity. Isotropic drained triaxial tests on clean sands reconstituted at different relative densities are performed to measure the shear strength and bender elements are used to measure the shear wave velocity. Laboratory tests reveal that a correlation between shear wave velocity, void ratio, and confining pressure can be made. The correlation can be used to determine the void ratio from measured shear wave velocity, from which the shear strength is predicted. We also show that a unique relationship exists between maximum shear modulus and effective axial stress at failure. The accuracy of the equation can be enhanced by including the normalized confining pressure in the equation. Comparisons between measured and predicted effective friction angle demonstrate that the proposed equation can accurately predict the internal friction angle of granular soils, accounting for the effect of the relative density, from shear wave velocity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.583-594
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• 2021

The gas permeability behavior of unsaturated bentonite-based materials is of major importance for ensuring effective sealing of high-level radwaste repositories. This study investigated this by taking a sample of Granular Bentonite Material (GBM) at the end of the Engineered Barrier Emplacement (EB) experiment in the Opalinus Clay, placing it under different humidity conditions until it achieved equilibration, and testing the change in the gas permeability under loading and unloading. Environmental humidity is shown to have a significant effect on the water content, saturation, porosity and dry density of GBM and to affect its gas permeability. Higher sensitivity to confining pressure is exhibited by samples equilibrated at higher relative humidity (RH). It should be noted that for the sample at RH=98%, when the confining pressure is raised from 1 MPa to 6 MPa, gas permeability can be reduced from 10^-16 m² to 10^-19 m², which is close to the requirements of gas tightness. Due to higher water content and easier compressibility, samples equilibrated under higher RH show greater irreversibility during the loading and unloading process. The effective gas permeability of highly saturated samples can be increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude after 105℃ drying. In addition, cracks possibly occurred during the dehydration and drying process will become the main channel for gas migration, which will greatly affect the sealing performance of GBM.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.713-723
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• 2016

Shear wave velocities of three selected sandy soils subject to drained triaxial compression test were continuously measured using the bender elements. The shear wave velocity during isotropic compression, as widely recognized, increased as confining pressure increased and they were correlated well. However, during drained shearing, the mean effective stress could no further provide a suitable correlation. The shear wave velocity during this stage was almost constant with respect to the mean effective stress. The vertical stress was found to be more favorable at this stage (since confining stress was kept constant). When sample was attained its peak stress, the shear wave velocity reduced and deviated from the previously existed trend line. This was probably caused by the non-uniformity induced by the formation of shear band. Subsequently, void ratios computed based on external measurements could not provide reasonable fitting to the initial stage of post-peak shear wave velocity. At very large strain levels after shear band formation, the digital images revealed that sample may internally re-arrange itself to be in a more uniform loose stage. This final stage void ratio estimated based on the proposed correlation derived during pre-peak state was close to the value of the maximum void ratio.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.433-445
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• 2020

The weakening and softening behavior of soft clay subjected to cyclic loading due to the build-up of excess pore water pressure is well-known. During the design stage of the foundation of highways and coastal high-rise buildings, it is important to study the mechanical behavior of marine soils under cyclic loading as they undergo greater settlement during cyclic loading than under static loading. Therefore, this research evaluates the cyclic stress-strain and shear strength of untreated and treated marine clay under the effects of wind, earthquake, and traffic loadings. A series of laboratory stress-controlled cyclic triaxial tests have been conducted on both untreated and treated marine clay using different effective confining pressures and a frequency of 0.5 and 1.0 Hz. In addition, treated samples were cured for 28 and 90 days and tested under a frequency of 2.0 Hz. The results revealed significant differences in the performance of treated marine clay samples than that of untreated samples under cyclic loading. The treated marine clay samples were able to stand up to 2000 loading cycles before failure, while untreated marine clay samples could not stand few loading cycles. The untreated marine clay displayed a higher permanent axial strain rate under cyclic loading than the treated clay due to the existence of new cementing compounds after the treatment with recycled tiles and low amount (2%) of cement. The effect of the effective confining pressure was found to be significant on untreated marine clay while its effect was not crucial for the treated samples cured for 90 days. Treated samples cured for 90 days performed better under cyclic loading than the ones cured for 28 days and this is due to the higher amount of cementitious compounds formed with time. The highest deformation was found at 0.5 Hz, which cannot be considered as a critical frequency since smaller frequencies were not used. Therefore, it is recommended to consider testing the treated marine clay using smaller frequencies than 0.5 Hz.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.3888-3893
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• 2014

The number of waste tires is increasing. One effective recycling method is the pyrolysis of waste tires. Using the pyrolyzed carbon black from waste tires, the characteristics of permanent deformation for PA-13mm porous mixture were evaluated. The confining pressure of 138 kPa and deviatoric stress of 551 kPa were adopted. The testing temperature was $45^{\circ}$ and 50 gyrations of the gyratory compactor was used to simulate the medium traffic level. The mixture modified by 10% PCB showed the largest Marshall Stability of 3.41 kN. The stability of the mixtures with PCB was 50% higher than that of mixture without PCB. The limited laboratory test showed that the use of PCB in a porous pavement decreases the permanent deformation and will be an effective alternative method to reducing the permanent deformation of a porous pavement.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.235-244
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• 2001

Liquefaction may be caused by sudden decrease in the soil strength under undrained conditions. This loss of soil strength is related to the development of excess pore pressures. During this study, fines content affects the maximum and minimum void ratios are investigated. The results of static and cyclic triaxial test on silty saturated sands are presented. These tests are performed to evaluate liquefaction strength and static and cyclic behavior characteristics. The samples are obtained from Saemangeum and drying on air. The main results are summarized as follows : 1) The maximum and minimum void ratio lines follow similar trends. 2) Maximum and minimum void ratios are established at 20~30% fines content. 3) As confining pressures and overconsolidation ratio are increased, the resistance to liquefaction are increased. 4) Instability friction angles are increased with increasing initial relative density. 5) The resistance to liquefaction are decreased with increasing effective stress ratio.