• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.93-103
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• 2008

For conventional gravity type offshore structures constructed on the soft ground, which is located on the western and/or southern Korea, the excessive consolidation settlements are caused by the self-weight of the structures and so additional ground treatment methods are generally needed. Several types of improved foundation systems utilizing buoyancy applicable to even the soft ground were introduced for economical and efficient design of the offshore structure. In this study, a series of numerical simulations on the consolidation and lateral behaviors of breakwaters with the improved foundation systems utilizing buoyancy were carried out. From the results of numerical simulations it is found that the foundation systems utilizing buoyancy are efficient for reducing the maximum consolidation settlements without reducing lateral safety.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.25-31
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• 2006

Over the years the investigation of behaviour of piles in groups connected to a cap in consolidating soil has attracted far less attention than the study of isolated piles in groups. In this paper, a series of three-dimensional numerical simulations have been performed to study the behaviour of pile groups connected to a cap in consolidating ground. Both elastic no-slip and elasto-plastic slip analyses were considered. Based on the analysis results, when piles were connected to a cap, tensile forces were developed near the pile head at the outer piles. Elastic solution and no-slip analysis over-predicted the tensile force near the pile head for outer piles. Relatively speaking, the number of piles in a group is more important than the pile spacing in terms of the influence of negative skin friction on the pile behaviour. The issue on the development of tensile forces on the pile head at the outer piles is perhaps needed to be carefully considered in the pile design to prevent the damages of the pile-cap connection.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.151-163
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• 2006

This paper presents the interrelationship between undrained static and cyclic shear behavior. Laboratory works were performed through the undralned static and cyclic triaxial test using Nak-Dong River sand. And static triaxial test involved the triaxial extension test for comparison with cyclic shear behavior Cyclic triaxial test was performed with a variety of combination conditions of initial static shear stress $(q_{st})$ and cyclic stress $(q_{cy})$. In this result, the stress path of cyclic shear behavior was correspondent with static shear behavior passing the critical stress ratio (CSR) line because of the development of flow deformation. After that, a failure occurred according to failure line (FL) of static shear behavior. The stress path of cyclic shear behavior showed essentially the same with static shear behavior, although it appears a little different in test method.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.47-57
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• 2006

The shear wave velocity is related with the stiffness of granular skeleton and mass density. The shear stiffness of the granular skeleton remains unaffected by the presence of the fluid. Bender elements are convenient shear wave transducers for instrumenting soil cells due to optimal soil-transducer coupling. This study addresses the principles of the shear wave, the design and implementation of bender elements including electromagnetic coupling prevention, directivity, resonant frequency, detection of first arrival, and near field effects. It is shown that electromagnetic coupling effects can be minimized using parallel-type bender elements. Thus, the in-plane S-wave directivity is quasi-circular. The resonant frequency of bender element installations depends on the geometry of the bender element, the anchor efficiency and the soil stiffness. One of the most cumbersome parts in the bender element test is near field effects, which affect the selection of arrival time. The selection of the first arrival within the near field Is effectively solved by the multiple reflection technique and signal matching technique. Bender elements, which requires several considerations, may be effective tools for the subsurface characterization by using S-wave.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.69-81
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• 2006

The micropile, which is a kind of the in-situ manufactured pile with small diameter of $150\sim300mm$, is constructed by installing a steel bar or pipe and injecting grout into a borehole. The application fields of micropile are being gradually expanded in a limited space of down-town area, because the micropile has various advantages with low vibration and noise in method and compact size in machine, etc. Mostly, the micropile has been applied to secure the safety of structures, depending on the increment of bearing capacity and the restraint of displacement. The micropile is expected to be used in various fields due to its effectiveness and potentiality in the future. The model test, focused on the interaction between micropile and soil in this study, was carried out. The micropile is installed in a soil adjacent to footing (concept of 'soil reinforcement'). With the test results and soil deformation analysis, the reinforcement effect (relating to bearing capacity and settlement) was analysed in a qualitative and quantitative manner, respectively. Consequently, it is expected that we nay demonstrate the improvement of an efficiency and application in the design and construction of micropile.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.57-64
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• 2009

In this study, a method using equivalent transformation for estimation of the axial load capacity of tapered piles is proposed. While preexistent methods for estimating the axial load capacity of tapered piles have been based on the effect of soil state and taper angle, a new design method is proposed considering cone resistance $q_c$ and equivalent transformation in sand. Through tapered pile simplified by using equivalent transformation, a new method fur quick and easy estimation of the axial load capacity of tapered pile is proposed for practical use. In order to verify the proposed method, calibration chamber test and field test were conducted. In calibration chamber test, comparison of estimated axial load capacity with measured one showed that the standard deviation and COV (Coefficient Of Variation) of estimated $Q_t$ is $0.05{\sim}0.121$, $0.04{\sim}0.05$ respectively. For field test, axial load capacity by proposed method shows 2.5% under-estimation in comparison with measured value. As a result, it is found that proposed method produces satisfactory predictions for tapered piles.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.89-99
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• 2009

Compared to standard piling methods, micropile construction can be used in downtown areas since it generates less vibration and noise. Since it only causes less soil disturbance, it is commonly used as reinforcement to existing structures. In this study, a field wherein the bearing capacity and settlement of soil can not support the weight of the superstructure was selected and micropiles were implemented instead of ordinary piles. The deformation modulus of the micropile reinforced ground was determined and was directly reflected in the design. Loading testing was used to check whether or not the allowable bearing capacity satisfies the condition of the designed bearing capacity. The computed deformation modulus based from the test was used in the numerical analysis of soil to investigate the stability of the foundation and analysis method. And a method for controlling the bearing capacity and settlement was recommended.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.49-60
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• 2010

Unsaturated permeability function is an important factor in the design and analysis of various unsaturated soil structures. Generally the permeability characteristics decrease as the mat ric suction increases and the trend is similar to water retention characteristics of a soil. The permeability of unsaturated soils can be obtained directly by laboratory tests or indirectly by estimation methods from other soil properties. For unsaturated soils sampled from 7 areas in KOREA, SWCCs and unsaturated permeability functions were obtained by experimental tests. The unsaturated permeability results were also compared with the unsaturated permeability functions derived from the SWCCs theoretically. However, the current estimation models of unsaturated permeability function did not express the unsaturated permeability characteristics. Therefore, the FXK-M permeability function was modified to predict more accurate permeability functions for Korean weathered soils using a correction factor that can be calculated from the air-entry value of SWCC. The new estimation model resulted in good agreements for all tested soils.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.25-35
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• 2009

Slope failures are one of the significant disasters which causes lots of human casualties and huge financial losses every year. Previous researches on the slope failure have indicated that most accidents are closely related to the pore water pressure in the slope due to rainfall during the rainy seasons or stormy weather conditions. It would be therefore appropriate to consider the effect of pore water pressure in the design of slopes. As the existing slopes are generally reinforced by plants and other slope protecting measures, their boundary conditions are highly complicated. In this paper an attempt to develop a new modeling and analysis technique of slopes is proposed by including pore water pressure and adopting the coupled finite element method. Non-reinforced and reinforced slope models are considered. Representative analysis showed that the numerical modeling considering pore water pressure is appropriate in slope stability analysis. Flow behavior in the slopes is identified for various hydraulic boundary conditions. It is also shown that the effect of pore water pressure on slope stability is significant.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.59-66
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• 2010

In this study, an applicability by using the FEM was investigated for the prediction of both the depth of improvement and the vibration effect when dynamic compaction method is applied. The region was modelled by the field conditions applying dynamic compaction method and the rigid body force was applied to the dynamic load model. Predicted depth of improvement calculated by the vertical peak particle acceleration was compared and analyzed with an existing empirical equation, and the effect of groundwave by deducing the peak particle velocity from vibration sources was compared and analyzed with the results of another existing empirical equation. The results showed that the prediction of the depth of improvement has similar tendency to practice, and the vibration effect has some differences in a particular section from existing equation, but it could predict the safety distance to some degree. The analyzed results are expected to be basic data for the development of reliability of dynamic compaction design with existing empirical method.