• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.135-150
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• 2012

This paper presents the study of the effect of microorganism Bacillus pasteurii on the properties such as Atterbergs' limit and unconfined compressive strength of cohesive soils. The results of this study reveal that the liquid limit and plasticity index for all clay soils decreased and the unconfined compressive strength increased. Decrease in plasticity index is very high for Kuttanad clay followed by bentonite and laterite. The unconfined compressive strength increased for all the soils. The increase was high for Kuttanad soil and low for laterite soil. After 24 h of treatment the improvement in the soil properties is comparatively less. Besides the specific bacteria selected Bacillus pasteurii, other microorganisms may also be taking part in calcite precipitation thereby causing soil cementation. But the naturally present microorganisms alone cannot work on the calcite precipitation.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.335-344
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• 2003

This study is focused to the physical and shear strength properties of the weathered limestone soils distributed in Changsung and Hwasun area, Chonnam province. Disturbed soil was used as soil samples. To grasp the physical and shear strength properties of weathered limestone soil, specific gravity test, atterberg limit, grain size distribution and direct shear test were conducted in the laboratory. The physical and shear strength properties of the weathered limestone soil in the study areas are as follows. The range of specific gravity (Gs) is 2.78 to 2.80, liquid limits (LL) 37 to 38 (%), plasticity index (PI) 13.7 to 15.4, and soil classification CL. The range of strength parameters by direct shear test (vd, $1.5t/\textrm{m}^3$) is 3.07 to 4.4 ($t/\textrm{m}^2$) of cohesion and 34.8 to $42.4^{\circ}$ of internal friction angle in unsaturated soils. As a result of comparing with the weathered granite soils (Yang, 1997: Mun, 1998: Park, 1998), it is considered that physical properties of the weathered limestone soils in this study are different from the weathered granite soils. On the other hand, internal friction angle of shear parameters is found to be similar.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.391-398
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• 2000

The index properties of cohesive soils play an important role to examine entire tendency of soil properties. Especially, the Atterberg limits have a good correlation with compression and shear strength of cohesive soils. However, these values strongly depend on their testing methods. In this study, for Pusan clays the Atterberg limits were peformed under different conditions; for example, four kinds of specimen preparation, two kinds of testing equipment, and four kinds of estimating method. And a laboratory vane test was peformed to compare the undrained shear strength with that of the fall cone test. As experimental results, the value of liquid limit performed for oven-dried sample, followed in ASTM D4318, underestimated by about 10% compared to those of another three methods, irrespective to the used equipments. But the value of plastic limit was not influenced by sample preparation methods and equipments. The liquid limits by one-point methods(Leroueil et al., 1996; Nagaraj et al., 1981) were agreed well with those of different methods. Finally, the undrained shear strength by laboratory vane test was relatively larger than that of fall cone test, and the relationship between both showed a bad trend.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.453-462
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• 2023

Intermediate Geomaterials (IGMs) are natural formation materials that exhibit the engineering behavior (strength and compressibility) between soils and rocks. The engineering behavior of such material is highly unpredictable as the IGMs are stiffer than soils and weaker/softer than rocks. Further, the characterization of such material needs exposure to both soil and rock mechanics. In most conventional designs of geotechnical structures, the engineering properties of the IGMs are either aligned with soils or rocks, and this assumption may end up either in an over-conservative design or under-conservative design. Hence, many researchers have attempted to evaluate its actual engineering properties through laboratory tests. However, the test results are partially reliable due to the poor core recovery of IGMs and the possible sample disturbance. Subsequently, in-situ tests have been used in recent years to evaluate the engineering properties of IGMs. However, the respective in-situ test finds its limitations while exploring IGMs with different geological formations at deeper depths with the constraints of sampling. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the strength-based index test that is often used to explore IGMs. Moreover, it was also observed that the coefficient of variation of the design parameters (which represents the uncertainties in the design parameters) of IGMs is relatively high, and also the studies on the probabilistic characterization of IGMs are limited compared with soils and rocks. With this perspective, the present article reviews the laboratory and in-situ tests used to characterize the IGMs and explores the shear strength variation based on their geological origin.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4253-4258
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• 2012

The investigation of the undrained strength and the important several undrained geotechnical properties was, in detail, made for highly plastic soils using the field and laboratory testing results. The plastic index, activity, water content, and effective unit weight did not show the notable relationship with both Su and normalized Su. The OCR, sensitivity, and undrained elastic modulus presented remarkable tendency with normalized Su. It could be concluded that the use of the normalized Su may lead to the reasonable results then the normalized Su needs further research.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.535-543
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• 2019

Building on/with expansive soils with no treatment brings complications. Compacted expansive soils specifically fall short in satisfying the minimum requirements for transport embankment infrastructures, requiring the adoption of hauled virgin mineral aggregates or a sustainable alternative. Use of hauled aggregates comes at a high carbon and economical cost. On average, every 9m high embankment built with quarried/hauled soils cost $12600MJ.m^{-2}$ Embodied Energy (EE). A prospect of using mixed cutting-arising expansive soils with industrial/domestic wastes can reduce the carbon cost and ease the pressure on landfills. The widespread use of recycled materials has been extensively limited due to concerns over their long-term performance, generally low shear strength and stiffness. In this contribution, hydromechanical properties of a waste tyre sand-sized rubber (a mixture of polybutadiene, polyisoprene, elastomers, and styrene-butadiene) and expansive silt is studied, allowing the short- and long-term behaviour of optimum compacted composites to be better established. The inclusion of tyre shred substantially decreased the swelling potential/pressure and modestly lowered the compression index. Silt-Tyre powder replacement lowered the bulk density, allowing construction of lighter reinforced earth structures. The shear strength and stiffness decreased on addition of tyre powder, yet the contribution of matric suction to the shear strength remained constant for tyre shred contents up to 20%. Reinforced soils adopted a ductile post-peak plastic behaviour with enhanced failure strain, offering the opportunity to build more flexible subgrades as recommended for expansive soils. Residual water content and tyre shred content are directly correlated; tyre-reinforced silt showed a greater capacity of water storage (than natural silts) and hence a sustainable solution to waterlogging and surficial flooding particularly in urban settings. Crushed fine tyre shred mixed with expansive silts/sands at 15 to 20 wt% appear to offer the maximum reduction in swelling-shrinking properties at minimum cracking, strength loss and enhanced compressibility expenses.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 2013

The risks of debris flows caused by climate change have increased significantly around the world. Recently, landslide disaster prevention technology is more focused on the failure and post-failure dynamics to mitigate the hazards in flow-prone area. In particular, we should define the soil strength and flow characteristics to estimate the debris flow mobility in the mountainous regions in Korea. To do so, we selected known ancient landslides area: Inje, Pohang and Sangju debris flows. Firstly we measured physical and mechanical properties: liquidity index and undrained shear strength by fall cone penetrometer. From the test results, we found that there is a possible relationship between liquidity index and undrained shear strength, $C_{ur}=(1.2/I_L)^{3.3}$, in the selected areas, even though they were different in geological compositions. Assuming that the yield stress is equal to the undrained shear strength at the initiation of sliding, we examined the flow characteristics of weathered soils in Korea. When liquidity index is given as 1, 1.5 and 3.0, the debris flow motion of weathered soils is compared with that of mud-rich sediments, which are known as low-activity clays. At $I_L=1$, it seems that debris flow could reach approximately 250m after 5 minutes. As liquidity index increased from 1 to 3, the debris flow propagation of weathered soils is twice than that of low-activity clays. It may be due to the fact that soil masses mixed with the ambient water and then highly fragmented during flow, thereby leading to the high mobility. The results may help to predict the debris flow propagation and to develop disaster prevention technology at similar geological settings, especially for the weathered soils, in Korea.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1065-1078
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• 2009

The shear strength has been managed as an important factor in soil mechanics. The shear strength estimation model was developed to evaluate the shear strength using only a few soil properties by the linear regression analysis model which is one of the statistical methods. The shear strength is divided into two part; one is the internal friction angle ($\Phi$) and the other is the cohesion (c). Therefore, some valid soil factors among the results of soil tests are selected through the correlation analysis using SPSS and then the model are formulated by the linear regression analysis based on the relationship between factors. Also, the developed model is compared with the result of direct shear test to prove the rationality of model. As the results of analysis about relationship between soil properties and shear strength, the internal friction angle is highly influenced by the void ratio and the dry unit weight and the cohesion is mainly influenced by the void ratio, the dry unit weight and the plastic index. Meanwhile, the shear strength estimated by the developed model is similar with that of the direct shear test. Therefore, the developed model may be used to estimate the shear strength of soils in the same condition of study area.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.291-306
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• 2009

One-dimensional soil-column studies were carried out to understand the interaction of three industrial effluents namely amino acid ('highly acidic'), surfactant ('highly organic') and pharmaceutical ('organic and toxic') on the physicochemical behavior, index properties and shear strength of bentonite due to artificial contamination extending to nearly 300 days. Changes in inorganic and organic pollutants present in the effluents due to the interaction of the above effluents and soil were assessed to understand the physico-chemical behaviour. Batch and continuous modes of operation, 8 hrs and 16 hrs Hydraulic Retention Time [HRT] and 25%, 50% concentrations of effluents, were the parameters considered. Amino acid, surfactant and pharmaceutical effluents have shown a high variation in pH (7 to 8) after artificial contamination on bentonite that is their original characteristics of the above effluents have been completely reversed. Further, it is found that the shear strength of bentonite has reduced by about 20%, and with respect to liquid limit and plastic limit shows an increasing trend with time within the period of contamination.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.523-539
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• 2017

Clay soils are typical for their swelling properties upon absorption of water during rains and development of cracks during summer time owing to the profile desorption of water through the inter-connected soil pores by water vapour diffusion leading to evaporation. This type of unstable soil phenomenon by and large poses a serious threat to the strength and stability of structures when rest on such type of soils. Even as lime and cement are extensively used for stabilization of clay soils it has become imperative to find relatively cheaper alternative materials to bring out the desired properties within the clay soil domain. In the present era of catastrophic environmental degradation as a side effect to modernized manufacturing processes, industrialization and urbanization the creative idea would be treating the waste products in a beneficial way for reuse and recycling. Bottom ash and ecosand are construed as a waste product from cement industry. An optimal combination of bottom ash-eco sand can be thought of as a viable alternative to stabilize the clay soils by means of an effective dispersion dynamics associated with the inter connected network of pore spaces. A CATIA model was created and imported to ANSYS Fluent to study the dispersion dynamics. Ion migration from the bottom ash-ecosand pile was facilitated through natural formation of cracks in clay soil subjected to atmospheric conditions. Treated samples collected at different curing days from inner and outer zones at different depths were tested for, plasticity index, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), free swell index, water content, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), pH and ion concentration to show the effectiveness of the method in improving the clay soil.