• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.61-72
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• 2002

This paper presents the results of investigation on the behavior of soil-reinforced segmental retaining walls in tiered arrangement using the finite element method of analysis. 2D finite element analyses were performed on tiered walls with two levels of offset distance. Cases with equivalent surcharge as suggested by the NCMA design guideline were additionally analyzed in an attempt to confirm the appropriateness of the equivalent surcharge model adopted by NCMA. Deformation characteristics of a tiered wall with small offset distance suggest a compound mode of failure and support current design approaches requiring a global slope stability analysis for design. Also revealed is that the interaction between the upper and lower walls significantly affects not only the performance of the lower wall but also the upper wall, suggesting that the upper walls should also be designed with due consideration of the interaction.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.125-132
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• 2007

The oedometer, radial CRS and Rowe cell tests, composite discharge capacity tests and smear effect tests are carried out to estimate the parameters for the reliability-based design of vertical drain method. Also the sensitivity analysis, the probabilistic and deterministic solutions of radial consolidation theory are presented. The result of probabilistic analysis was compared to that of deterministic analysis using the tested and estimated parameters. The results indicated that the drain spacing in the deterministic method is larger than that in the probabilistic method because the former does not consider the uncertainties in the geotechnical property. The divergence of two methods is dependent on the probability of achieving target degree of consolidation by a given time and the coefficient of variation (COV) of the coefficient of horizontal consolidation ($c_h$).

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.93-101
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• 2007

In general, geotechnical properties have many uncertain aspects, thus probabilistic analysis have been used to consider these aspects. It is, however, quite difficult to select an appropriate target probability for a certain structure or construction process. In this study, minimum expected cost design method based on probabilistic analysis is suggested for design of vertical drains generally used to accelerate consolidation in soft clayey soils. A sensitivity analysis is performed to select the most important uncertain parameters for the design of vertical drains. Monte Carlo simulation is used in sensitivity analysis and probabilistic analysis. Total expected cost, defined as the sum of initial cost and expected additive cost, varies widely with variation of input parameters used in design of vertical drain systems. And probability of failure to get the minimum total expected cost varies under the different design conditions. A minimum value of total expected cost is suggested as a design value in this study. The proposed design concept is applicable to unit construction process because this approach is to consider the uncertainties using probabilistic analysis and uncertainties of geotechnical properties.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.33-52
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• 1997

A three dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis is used to study the influence of various design decisions for tieback walls. The numerical model simulates the soldier piles and the tendon bonded length of the anchors with beam elements, the unbonded tendon with a spring element, the wood lagging with the shell elements, and the soil with solid 3D nonlinear elements. The soil model used is a modified hyperbolic model with unloading hysteresis. The complete sequence of construction is simulated including the excavation, and the placement and stressing of the anchors. The numerical model is calibrated against a full scale instrumented tieback wall at the National Geotechnical Experimentation Site (NGES) on the Riverside Campus of Texas A&M University. Then a parametric study is conducted. The results give information on the influence of the following factors on the wall behavior : location of the first anchor, length of the tendon unbonded zone, magnitude of the anchor forces, embedment of the soldier piles, stiffness of the wood lagging, and of the piles. The implications in design are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.53-64
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• 2005

For geotechnical design in practice, soils are, in general, assumed to behave as a linear elastic or perfect plastic material. More realistic geotechnical design, however, should take into account various factors that affect soil behavior in the field, such as non-linearity of stress-strain response, stress history, and water content. In this study, a series of laboratory tests including triaxial and resonant column tests were peformed with sands of various silt contents, relative densities, stress states, OCR and water contents. This aims at investigating effects of various factors that affect strength and stiffness of sands. From the results in this study, it is found that the effect of OCR is significant for the intermediate stress-strain range from the initial to failure, while it may be ignored for the initial stiffness and peak strength. For the effect of water content, it is observed that the initial elastic modulus decreases with increasing water content at lower confining stress and relative density At higher confining stresses, the effect of water content Is found to become small.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.813-833
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• 2015

Spherical reticulated shells are widely applied in structural engineering due to their good bearing capability and attractive appearance. Parametric modeling of spherical reticulated shells is the basis of internal analysis and optimization design. In the present study, generation methods of nodes and the corresponding connection methods of rod elements are proposed. Modeling programs are compiled by adopting the ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL). A shape optimization method based on the two-stage algorithm is presented, and the corresponding optimization program is compiled in FORTRAN environment. Shape optimization is carried out based on the objective function of the minimum total steel consumption and the restriction condition of strength, stiffness, slenderness ratio, stability. The shape optimization of four typical Schwedler spherical reticulated shells is calculated with the span of 30 m~80 m and rise to span ratio of 1/7~1/2. Compared with the shape optimization results, the variation rules of total steel consumption along with the span and rise to span ratio are discussed. The results show that: (1) The left and right rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is the most optimized and should be preferentially adopted in structural engineering. (2) The left diagonal rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is second only to left and right rod regarding the mechanical behavior and optimized results. It can be applied to medium and small-span structures. (3) Double slash rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is advantageous in mechanical behavior but with the largest total weight. Thus, this type can be used in large-span structures as far as possible. (4) The mechanical performance of no latitudinal rod-Schwedler spherical reticulated shell is the worst and with the second largest weight. Thus, this spherical reticulated shell should not be adopted generally in engineering.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.77-89
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• 2004

While limit states design (LSD) is currently the standard structural design practice, it is relatively new in the geotechnical design. Adoption of LSD far geotechnical design is an international trend. In the present study, various LSD codes from the United States, Canada, and Europe were reviewed. A simple first-order-second-moment (FOSM) reliability analysis was performed to determine theoretically the ranges of load and resistance factor values for representative loads and foundation bearing capacity, respectively. In order for foundation design to be consistent with current structural design practice, it would be desirable to use the same loads, load factors and load combinations. The values of load factor, obtained from the FOSM analysis, were found to be generally consistent with those given in the codes, whereas the values of resistance factor indicated overall lower ranges due to high values of coefficient of variation used in the analysis. Since the degree of uncertainties included in bearing capacity of foundations varies with the methods used to estimate the bearing capacity, different values of resistance factor should be used fur different methods. For the purpose, continuous efforts are needed to be made first to accurately identify and quantify the uncertainties in the methods.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.32-49
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• 2010

Site characterization on geological and geotechnical conditions was performed for evaluating the earthquake ground motions associated with seismic site effects at a small urbanized area, Hongseong, where structural damages were recorded by an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 on October 7, 1978. In the field, various geotechnical site investigations composed of borehole drillings and seismic tests for obtaining shear wave velocity profile were carried out at 16 sites. Based on the geotechnical data from site investigation and additional collection in and near Hongseong, an expert system on geotechnical information was implemented with the spatial framework of GIS. For practical application of the GIS-based geotechnical information system to assess the earthquake motions in a small urban area, spatial seismic zoning maps on geotechnical parameters, such as the bedrock depth and the site period ($T_G$), were created over the entire administrative district of Hongseong town, and the spatial distributions of seismic vulnerability potentials were intuitively examined. Spatial zonation was also performed to determine site coefficients for seismic design by adopting a site classification system based on $T_G$. A case study of seismic zonation in the Hongseong area verified that the GIS-based site investigation was very useful for regional prediction of earthquake ground motions in a small urbanized inland area.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.631-647
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• 2015

Engineers may encounter unpredictable cavities, sinkholes and karst conduits while tunneling in karst area, and water inrush disaster frequently occurs and endanger the construction safety, resulting in huge casualties and economic loss. Therefore, an optimal classification method based on grey system theory (GST) is established and applied to accurately predict the occurrence probability of water inrush. Considering the weights of evaluation indices, an improved formula is applied to calculate the grey relational grade. Two evaluation indices systems are proposed for risk assessment of water inrush in design stage and construction stage, respectively, and the evaluation indices are quantitatively graded according to four risk grades. To verify the accuracy and feasibility of optimal classification method, comparisons of the evaluation results derived from the aforementioned method and attribute synthetic evaluation system are made. Furthermore, evaluation of engineering practice is carried through with the Xiakou Tunnel as a case study, and the evaluation result is generally in good agreement with the field-observed result. This risk assessment methodology provides a powerful tool with which engineers can systematically evaluate the risk of water inrush in karst tunnels.

• Journal of Korea Spatial Information System Society
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• v.5 no.2 s.10
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• pp.91-103
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• 2003

There are currently tremendous amount of geotechnical information saved, which has been qcquired for essential application of site selection, plan, design, constructin, repari in the builing work. However, due to the lack of the location data attribute, there has been a trouble in its analysis and GIS implementation. In this study, the geotechnical information aquisition program(PGeo) for real-time database in the field and geotechnical information reporting program(GeoReport) by Web-GIS for additional data input and its reporting function has been developed.