• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.518-526
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• 2007

There have been serious soil erosion and water pollution problems caused by highland agriculture practices at Doam-dam watershed. Especially agricultural activities, chemical and organic fertilizer and pesticide applications, soil reconditioning to maintain soil fertility are known as primary causes of soil erosion and water qaulity degradation in the receiving water bodies. Among these, soil reconditioning can accelerate soil erosion rates. To develop soil erosion prevention practices, it is necessary to estimate the soil erosion from the watershed. Thus, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model has been developed and utilized to assess soil erosion. However, the USLE model cannot be used at watershed scale because it does not consider sediment delivery ratio (SDR) for watershed application. For this reason, the Sediment Assessment Tool for Effective Erosion Control (SA TEEC) was developed to assess the sediment yield at any point in the watershed. The USLE-based SA TEEC system can estimate the SDR using area-based SDR and slope-based SDR module. In this study, the SATEEC system was used to estimate soil erosion and sediment yield at the Doam-dam watershed using the soil properties from reconditioned agricultural fields. Based on the soil sampling and analysis, the US LE K factor was calculated and used in the SA TEEC system to analyze the possible errors of previous USLE application studies using soil properties from the digital soil map, and compared with that using soil properties obtained in this study. The estimated soil erosion at the Doam-dam watershed without using soil properties obtained in the soil sampling and analysis is 1,791,400 ton/year (123 ton/ha/year), while the soil erosion amount is 2,429,900 ton/year (166.8 ton/ha/year) with the use of soil properties from the soil sampling and analysis. There is 35 % increase in estimated soil erosion and sediment yield with the use of soil properties from soil reconditioned agricultural fields. Since significant amount of soil erosion are known to be occurring from the agricultural fields, the soil erosion and sediment yield from only agricultural fields was assessed. The soil erosion rate is 45.9 ton/ha/year without considering soil properties from soil reconditioned agricultural fields, while 105.3 ton/ha/year after considering soil properties obtained in this study, increased in 129%. This study shows that it is very important to use correct soil properties to assess soil erosion and sediment yield simulation. It is recommended that further studies are needed to develop environment friendly soil reconditioning method should be developed and implemented to decrease the speed of soil erosion rates and water quality degradation.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 2017

Swelling and shrinkage characteristics of expansive fine grained soil cause volumetric changes followed by distress and damage to the structures. Soil stabilization can be explained as the alteration of the soil properties by chemical, mechanical or any other means in order to enhance the engineering properties of the soil. Utilization of industrial wastes in soil stabilization is cost effective and environment friendly. This paper presents an experimental study on stabilization of expansive soil using industrial wastes, viz. fly ash and dolochar. The paper includes the evaluation of engineering properties like unconfined compressive strength and California bearing ratio (CBR) of expansive soil collected from Balasore district of Odisha stabilized with fly ash and dolochar in different proportions and to predict the influence of these additives on engineering properties and strength characteristics of expansive soil. Both fly ash and dolochar were found to increase the CBR and decrease many index properties such as liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, swelling index and UCS, thus enhancing the strength parameters of expansive soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.727-736
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• 2016

Excessive rainfall can cause runoff flows over the soil surface and as a consequence some amount of water will infiltrate into the soil. From a hydrologic modeling perspective it is necessary to estimate infiltration rate in order to calculate the actual runoff discharge. There are many parameters that can affect the infiltration rate such as soil texture, moisture and compaction. However, the most common equations used in hydrological calculations for estimating the infiltration rate do not consider the soil properties directly and estimate infiltration rate without any soil properties expressions. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relations between infiltration rate and soil texture, moisture and compaction. To achieve this purpose an experimental study was performed to show the effect of soil properties and their relations on infiltration rate by using non-linear regression.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.649-661
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• 2015

This research provides insight on the laboratory investigation of the engineering properties of a lateritic soil modified with the mucilage of Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes (MOFIC), which has a history of being used as an earthen plaster. The soil is classified, according to AASHTO classification system, as A-2-6(1). The Atterberg limits, compaction, permeability, California bearing ratio (CBR) and unconfined compressive strength of the soil were determined for each of 0, 4, 8 and 12% addition of the MOFIC, by dry weight of the soil. The plasticity index, optimum moisture content, swell potential, unconfined compressive strength and permeability decreased while the soaked and unsoaked CBR increased, with increasing MOFIC contents. The engineering properties of the natural soil, which only satisfies standard requirements for use as subgrade material, became improved by the application of MOFIC such that it meets the standard requirements for use as sub-base material for road construction. The effects of MOFIC on the engineering properties of the soil resulted from bioclogging and biocementation processes. MOFIC is recommended for use as a modifier of the engineering properties of soils, especially those with similar characteristics to that of the soil used in this study, to be used as a pavement layer material. It is more economical and environment-friendly than conventional soil stabilizers or modifiers.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.253-262
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• 2024

Dynamic properties are pivotal in soil analysis, yet their experimental determination is hampered by complex methodologies and the need for costly equipment. This study aims to predict dynamic soil properties using static properties that are relatively easier to obtain, employing machine learning techniques. The static properties considered include soil cohesion, friction angle, water content, specific gravity, and compressional strength. In contrast, the dynamic properties of interest are the velocities of compressional and shear waves. Data for this study are sourced from 26 boreholes, as detailed in a geotechnical investigation report database, comprising a total of 130 data points. An importance analysis, grounded in the random forest algorithm, is conducted to evaluate the significance of each dynamic property. This analysis informs the prediction of dynamic properties, prioritizing those static properties identified as most influential. The efficacy of these predictions is quantified using the coefficient of determination, which indicated exceptionally high reliability, with values reaching 0.99 in both training and testing phases when all input properties are considered. The conventional method is used for predicting dynamic properties through Standard Penetration Test (SPT) and compared the outcomes with this technique. The error ratio has decreased by approximately 0.95, thereby validating its reliability. This research marks a significant advancement in the indirect estimation of the relationship between static and dynamic soil properties through the application of machine learning techniques.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.403-418
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• 2014

There are around 6700 millions tons of perlite reserves in the world. Although perlite possesses pozzolanic properties, it has not been so far used in soil stabilization. In this study, stabilization with perlite and lime of an expansive clayey soil containing smectite group clay minerals such as montmorillonite and nontronite was investigated experimentally. For this purpose, test mixtures were prepared with 8% of lime (optimum lime ratio of the soil) and without lime by adding 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% of perlite. Geotechnical properties such as compaction, Atterberg limits, swelling, unconfined compressive strength of the mixtures and changes of these properties depending on perlite ratio and time were determined. The test results show that stabilization of the soil with combination of perlite and lime improves the geotechnical properties better than those of perlite or lime alone. This experimental study unveils that the mixture containing 30% perlite and 8% lime is the optimum solution in stabilization of the soil with respect to strength.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.6 s.113
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• pp.360-365
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• 2005

Precision agriculture attempts to improve cropping efficiency by variable application of crop treatments such as fertilizers and pesticides, within field on a point-by-point basis. Therefore, a more complete understanding of the relationships between yield and soil properties is of critical importance in precision agriculture. In this study, the functional relationships between measured soil properties and rice yield were investigated. A supervised back-propagation neural network model was employed to relate soil chemical properties and rice yields on a point-by point basis, within individual site-years. As a results, a positive correlation was found between practical yields and predicted yields in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 are 0.916, 0.879, 0.800 and 0.789, respectively. The results showed that significant overfitting for yields with only the soil chemical properties occurred so that more of environmental factors, such as climatological data, variety, cultivation method etc., would be required to predict the yield more accurately.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.637-643
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• 2017

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) have been recently investigated as an alternative material for Geosynthetics to improve soil properties. One of the factors influencing the fiber orientation and mechanical properties of CFRP is the effect of soil overburden pressure. This study investigates the tensile behavior of cast-in-place CFRP. During the curing time of specimens, a wide range of normal stress is applied on specimens sandwiched between the soils. Two different soil types are used to determine the effect of soil grain size on the mechanical properties of CFRP. Specimens are also prepared with different specifications such as curing time and mixing soil in to the epoxy. In this study, tensile tests are conducted to investigate the effect of such parameters on tensile behavior of CFRP. The experimental results indicate that by increasing the normal stress and soil grain size, the ultimate tensile strength and the corresponding strain of CFRP decrease; however, reduction in elastic modulus is not noticeable. It should be noted that, increasing the curing period of epoxy resin and mixing soil in to the epoxy have no significant effect on the tensile properties of CFRP.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2019

Water and soil properties in paddy fields subjected to organic and conventional farming were characterized over the rice cycle in South Korea. To achieve the goals of this study, we sampled and analyzed soil and water from 24 organic paddy plots and 11 conventional paddy plots in March, May, August, and October 2016. The results were analyzed using statistical analyses, including analysis of variance (ANOVA), cluster analysis, and principal component analysis. The ANOVA results showed that water content (WC), electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), and available phosphorus ($P_2O_5$) in soil varied significantly (p < 0.01) depending on the farming method. Higher OM, EC, and $P_2O_5$ of soil were observed in the conventional paddies than in the organic paddies. All soil properties, except pH and ammonium, depended on seasonal variation. Cluster analysis revealed that soil properties in May were distinctly separated from those in other seasons mainly due to basal fertilization. The principal component analysis distinguished the soil properties in different seasons, but such a distinction was not observed between the soil properties in organic and conventional paddies. Low contents of WC, OM, and total N were observed in March. High concentrations of nitrate and total P were observed in May, but these were low in August and October. The soils from October were also characterized by high concentrations of EC and $P_2O_5$. These results indicate that the sampling time for soil and water can significantly influence the evaluation of soil properties with different farming methods.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.165-175
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• 2017

This paper studies soil properties uncertainty and its implementation in the seismic response evaluation of structures. For this, response sensitivity of two 4- and 12-story RC shear walls to the soil properties uncertainty by considering soil structure interaction (SSI) effects is investigated. Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation (BNWF) model is used for shallow foundation modeling and the uncertainty of soil properties is expanded to the foundation stiffness and strength parameters variability. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation technique is employed for probabilistic evaluations. By investigating the probabilistic evaluation results it's observed that as the soil and foundation become stiffer, the soil uncertainty is found to be less important in influencing the response variability. On the other hand, the soil uncertainty becomes more important as the foundation-structure system is expected to experience nonlinear behavior to more sever degree. Since full This paper studies soil properties uncertainty and its implementation in the seismic response evaluation of structures. For this, response sensitivity of two 4- and 12-story RC shear walls to the soil properties uncertainty by considering soil structure interaction (SSI) effects is investigated. Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation (BNWF) model is used for shallow foundation modeling and the uncertainty of soil properties is expanded to the foundation stiffness and strength parameters variability. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation technique is employed for probabilistic evaluations. By investigating the probabilistic evaluation results it's observed that as the soil and foundation become stiffer, the soil uncertainty is found to be less important in influencing the response variability. On the other hand, the soil uncertainty becomes more important as the foundation-structure system is expected to experience nonlinear behavior to more sever degree. Since full probabilistic analysis methods like MC commonly are very time consuming, the feasibility of simple approximate methods' application including First Order Second Moment (FOSM) method and ASCE41 proposed approach for the soil uncertainty considerations is investigated. By comparing the results of the approximate methods with the results obtained from MC, it's observed that the results of both FOSM and ASCE41 methods are in good agreement with the results of MC simulation technique and they show acceptable accuracy in predicting the response variability.