• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.57-68
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• 2020

In the case of two-dimensional analysis generally applied in the analysis of Earth Retaining Wall, mutual interference occurs due to earth pressure, when the excavation width is small, and in the section where the excavation width is small, and the resulting influence makes it difficult to secure reliability in the horizontal displacement of the retaining wall when performing 2-dimensional analysis in a section with a small excavation width. This study performed two-dimensional and three-dimensional finite element analyses on excavation depth (H) and excavation width (B) under various conditions for the H-pile earth wall, in the geological conditions of clayey soil, sandy soil, and weathered rock, and examined the relationship between excavation width and horizontal displacement according to each condition, to identify the boundary of the excavation width, which is the range of mutual interference caused by earth pressure. As a result, it was possible to clearly distinguish the analytical boundary according to the excavation width only in the clayey soils with relatively large horizontal displacement. It is concluded that it is reasonable to perform a 3D finite element analysis, which is similar to the actual behavior, if the excavation scale (B/H) is 2.0 or less, with the digging width less than 12 m at a digging depth of 10 m or less, and with the the one less than 24 m at a digging depth of 10 m or more, and that 2-dimensional finite element analysis may be used in cases where the excavation width is greater than 12 m when the excavation scale (B/H) is 2.0 or more and the excavation depth is 10 m or less, and the excavation width is greater than 24 m at an excavation depth of 10 m or more.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2021

Although underground works are essential to use underground spaces in urban areas efficiently, various damages caused by constructions have often occurred, making them major social problems. Since 2018, it is stipulated in the Special Act on Underground Safety Management that appropriate construction methods must be used in the design stage to prevent various damage cases. This Special Act includes establishing an area subject to underground safety impact assessment, analysis of ground and geological status, review of effects caused by changes in groundwater, review of ground safety, and establishment of measures to secure underground safety. This study area consists of various strata in order of landfill, sedimentary silt, sedimentary sand, sedimentary gravel, weathering zone, and foundation rock. Also, the slurry wall, a highly rigid underground continuous wall, was chosen as a construction method to consider high water table distribution and minimize the influence of the surroundings in this area. However, ground subsidence occurred on the road nearby in December 2019 due to the inflow of loosening soil to the construction area. Thus, several types of site investigations were conducted to suggest an appropriate analysis method and to find out loosed ground behavior and its area for the subsided site. As a result, new design soil properties were re-calculated, and the reinforcement measures were proposed through analytical verification.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.207-219
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• 2021

Several additives are used to enhance the geotechnical properties (e.g., shear wave velocity, shear modulus) of soils to provide sustainable, economical and eco-friendly solutions in geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering. In this study, piezoelectric ring actuators are used to measure the shear wave velocity of unreinforced, fiber, cemented, and fiber reinforced cemented Toyoura sand. One dimensional oedometer tests are performed on medium dense specimens of Toyoura sand-cement-fiber-silica flour mixtures with different percentages of silica flour (0-42%), fiber and cement (e.g., 0-3%) additives. The experimental results indicate that behavior of the mixtures is significantly affected by the concentration of silica flour, fiber and cement additives. Results show that with the addition of 1-3% of PVA fibers, the shear wave velocity increases by only 1-3%. However, the addition of 1-4% of cement increases the shear wave velocity by 8-35%. 10.5-21% increase of silica flour reduces the shear wave velocity by 2-5% but adding 28-42% silica flour significantly reduces the shear wave velocity by 12-31%. In addition, the combined effect of cement and fibers was also found and with only 2% cement and 1% fiber, the shear wave velocity increase was found to be approximately 24% and with only 3% cement and 3% fibers this increased to 35%. The results from this study for the normalized shear modulus and normalized mean effective stress agree well with previous findings on pure Toyoura sand, Toyoura silty sand, fiber reinforced, fiber reinforced cemented Toyoura sand. Any variations are likely due to the difference in stress history (i.e., isotropic versus anisotropic consolidation) and the measurement method. In addition, these small discrepancies could be attributed to several other factors. The potential factors include the difference in specimen sizes, test devices, methods of analysis for the measurement of arrival time, the use of an appropriate Ko to convert the vertical stresses into mean effective stress, and sample preparation techniques. Lastly, it was investigated that there is a robust inverse relationship between α factor and 𝞫₀ exponent. It was found that less compressible soils exhibit higher 𝜶 factors and lower 𝞫₀ exponents.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.19-28
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• 2022

Cavities behind concrete walls can adversely affect the stability of structures. Thus study aims to detect cavities behind concrete structures using a microphone in a laboratory model test. A small-scale concrete wall is constructed in a chamber, which is composed of a reinforced concrete plate and dry soil. A plastic bowl is then placed between the plate and soil to simulate a cavity behind the concrete structure. Leaky surface acoustic waves are generated by impacting the concrete plate using a hammer and are measured using a microphone. The measured signals are analyzed using natural frequencies, and cavity-free sections are evaluated. The test results show that the first natural frequency decreases at the cavity section due to the flexural vibration behavior of the plate. In addition, the amplitude corresponding to the first natural frequency decreases as the measurement location becomes farther from the cavity center and significantly decreases at the measurement locations near the rebars. This study demonstrates that a microphone may be useful to detect cavities behind concrete walls.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.5-16
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• 2022

In the case of domestic seismic design, deformation of structures and ground is reviewed through undrained condition analysis and applied to design and maintenance. However, when the ground undergoes dissipation after liquefaction due to a dynamic load such as an earthquake, additional displacement occurs and greater damage occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to additionally analyze the drained conditions, It is necessary to grasp the exact ground behavior such as calculating and reviewing the amount of subsidence of the ground that has undergone the loss process after an earthquake and apply it to design and maintenance together. Therefore, in this study, numerical analysis was performed assuming undrained and drained conditions by dividing pure sandy soil into loose soil with Dr=30% and high-density soil with Dr=70%. In particular, when a dynamic load such as an earthquake is applied, considering the drained conditions of the ground, the settlement amount and the pore water pressure ratio of loose and dense ground are compared, This study focused on comparative analysis of settlement amount and pore water pressure ratio in the process of ground loss after an earthquake. As a result, the amount of subsidence during the dissipation process was 30 to 60 times greater than that of the earthquake.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.5-16
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• 2023

The effect of raft flexibility on piled raft foundations in sandy soil was investigated using a numerical analysis and an analytical study. The investigation's emphasis was the load sharing between piles and raft following the raft rigidity (K_R), end-bearing conditions. The case of individual piles and subsequently the response of groups of piles was analyzed using a 3D FEM. This study shows that the α_pr, load-sharing ratio of piled raft foundations, decreases as the vertical loading increases and as the K_R decreases. This tendency is more obvious when using friction piles compared to using end-bearing piles. The effect of raft rigidity is found to be more significant for the axial force distribution - each pile within the foundations has almost similar axial forces of the pile head with a flexible raft; however, each pile has different values with rigid rafts, especially with the end-bearing piles. The axial force of the pile base with floating piles shows similar point-bearing resistance for all the piles; however, it shows different values with end-bearing piles. The differential settlement ratio of rafts showed a larger value with lower K_R.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2006

In general typically granular soils contain a certain amount of fines. It is also widely recognized that foundation soils under working loads show highly non-linear behavior from very early stages of loading. In the present study, a series of laboratory tests with sands of different silt contents are conducted and methods to assess strength and stiffiness characteristics are proposed. Modified hyperbolic stress-strain model is used to analyze non-linearity of silty sands in terms of non-linear Degradation parameters f and g as a function of silt contents and Relative density Dr. Stress-strain curves were obtained from a series of triaxial tests on sands containing different amounts of silt. Initial shear modulus, which is used to normalize Degradation modulus of silty sands, was determined from resonant column test results. From the laboratory test results, it was observed that, as the Relative density increases, values of f decrease and those of g increase. In addition, it was found that values of f and g increase and decrease respectively as a Skeleton void ratio $(e_{sk})$ increases.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.5-17
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• 2006

In order to investigate the stabilizing effect of nails against sliding, a series of model tests were carried out. The apparatus of model test was designed to perform the model test of soil slope reinforced by nails. The instrumentation system was used to measure the deflection behavior of nails during slope failure. As a result of model tests, the quantity and the occurred position of the maximum bending stress are changed according to the area ratio and the inclination angles of nails. The maximum stabilizing effect against sliding of nails is presented at 0.7$\%$ of the area ratio because the biggest maximum bending stress occurs at this time. But, the stabilizing effect of nails decreases with more than 0.7$\%$ of the area ratio. In the same condition of the area ratio, the stabilizing effect of nails is excellent at -10$^{circ}$ of the inclination angles of nails. The sliding surface can be predicted on the basis of the position of the maximum bending stress in each nails. The shape and depth of sliding surface are changed according to the area ratio and the inclination angles of nails.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.89-99
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• 2006

The PCRW (Precast Concrete Retaining Wall) has many advantages compared with cast in place concrete retaining wall : shorter construction period, excellency of quality and minimum interference with the adjacent structure and traffics. However, shallow foundation type of PCRW, which has comparatively better ground condition, has some disadvantages such as difficulty in transportation and higher cost due to the size of PCRW being expanded by resisting only with self-weight if there is no other supplementary reinforcement. The presented study, in order to complement such disadvantages of PCRW, have applied the micropile method. The micropile method has advantages like low-cost and high-efficiency and does not require huge space, because it can be executed with small size equipment. However, the mechanical behavior characteristics of the PCRW reinforced by micropile, which is installed to improve the reinforcement effect, is not yet clearly identified and there is no suggested standard as to the length, diameter, install angle and install position of micropiles. Hence, this method is yet being designed depend on engineer's experience. In this study, various laboratory model tests as to sliding and overturning were performed in order to identify and present the optimum type of reinforcement and reinforcement effect of the PCRW reinforced by micropiles. In addition, it also executed numerical analysis for the purpose of verifying the optimum type of reinforcement for micropiles based on the results of laboratory model tests. The optimum reinforcement type of micropiles was estimated by model test and numerical analysis. The length of micropiles is 0.4 times wall height and the diameter is 0.04 times wall length.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.17-28
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• 2010

Vertical drains are commonly used to accelerate the consolidation process of soft soils, such as dredged materials, because they additionally provide a radial drainage path in a deep soil deposit. In practice, vertical drains are commonly installed in the process of self-weight consolidation of a dredged soil deposit. The absence of an appropriate analysis tool for this situation makes it substantially difficult to estimate self-weight consolidation behavior considering both vertical and radial drainage. In this paper, a new method has been proposed to take into account both vertical and radial drainage conditions during nonlinear finite strain self-weight consolidation of dredged soil deposits. For 1-D nonlinear finite strain consolidation in the vertical direction, the Morris (2002) theory and the PSDDF analysis are adopted, respectively. On the other hand, to consider the radial drainage, Barron's vertical drain theory (1948) is used. The overall average degree of self-weight consolidation of the dredged soil is estimated using the Carillo formula (1942), in which both vertical and radial drainage are assembled together. A series of large-scale self-weight consolidation experiments being equipped with a vertical drain have been carried out to verify the analysis method proposed in this paper. The results of the new analysis method were generally in agreement with those of the experiments.