• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.29-39
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• 2015

The vertical load imposed on the bucket foundation is transferred from the soil inside the bucket to the bottom of the foundation, and also to the outer surface of the skirt. For the design of a bucket foundation installed in sand, the vertical load transfer characteristics have to be clearly identified. However, the response of bucket foundations in sand subjected to a vertical load has not been investigated. In this study, we performed two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element analyses and investigated the vertical load transfer mechanism of bucket foundation installed in sand. The end bearing capacity of bucket foundation is shown to be larger than that of the shallow foundation, whereas the frictional resistance is smaller than that for a pile. The end bearing capacity of the bucket foundation is larger than the shallow foundation because the shear stress acting on the skirt pushes down and enlarges the failure surface. The skin friction is smaller than the pile because the settlement induces horizontal movement of the soil below the tip of the foundation and reduces the normal stress acting at the bottom part of the skirt. The calculated bearing capacity of the bucket foundation is larger than the sum of end bearing capacity of shallow foundation and skin friction of pile. This is because the increment of the end bearing capacity is larger than the reduction in the skin friction.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.7-16
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• 1993

Calibration chamber tests were conducted on open -ended model piles driven into dried siliceous sands with different soil conditions in order to clarify the effect of soil conditions on plug capacity, The model pile used in the test series was devised so that the bearing capacity of an open -ended pile could be measured out into three components , outside shaft resistance. plug resistance and tip resistance. Under several assumption, the value of earth pressure coefficient in the soil plug is calculated. It is gradually reduced with increase in the longitudinal distance from the pile tip. At the bottom of soil plug, it tends to decrease with increase in the penetration depth and relative density, and to increase with the increase of ambient pressure. In comparison of measured and calculated plug capacities using the one -dimensional analysis, we note that API code and one -dimensional analysis combined with P suggested by Randolph et al. and O'Neill et al. result in great underestimation of the plug capacity. Therefore, based on the test results, an empirical equation was suggested to compute the earth pressured coefficient to be used in the calculation of plug capacity using the one -dimensional analysis. and it produces proper plug capacities for all soil conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.477-493
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• 2014

This study examines the behaviour of single micropiles subjected to axial tension or compression load in collapsible loess under in-situ moisture content and saturated condition. Five tension loading tests and five compression loading tests on single micropiles were carried out at a typical loess site of the Loess Plateau in Northwest China. A series of laboratory tests, including grain size distribution, specific gravity, moisture content, Atterberg limits, density, granular components, shear strength, and collapse index, were carried out during the micropile loading tests to determine the values of soil parameters. The loess at the test site poses a severe collapse risk upon wetting. The tension or compression load-displacement curves of the micropiles in loess, under in-situ moisture content or saturated condition, can generally be simplified into three distinct regions: an initial linear, a curvilinear transition, and a final linear region, and the bearing capacity or failure load can be interpreted by the L1-L2 method as done in other studies. Micropiles in loess should be considered as frictional pile foundations though the tip resistances are about 10%-15% of the applied loads. Both the tension and compression capacities increase linearly with the ratio of the pile length to the shaft diameter, L/d. For micropiles in loess under in-situ moisture content, the interpreted failure loads or capacities under tension are 66%-87% of those under compression. However, the prewetting of the loess can lead to the reductions of 50% in the tensile bearing capacity and 70% in the compressive bearing capacity.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.19-31
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• 2021

Micropiles are cast-in-place piles with small diameters. The advantage of micropile is low construction expense and simple procedures, so it is widely applied to existing buildings and structures for the reinforcement of foundation and seismic performances. The base expansion structure has been developed following the original mechanism of horizontal expansion steps under compressive loading. This kind of structure can be installed at the pile end to improve the bearing capacity by tip area enlargement and horizontal force increment to the pile surface area. However, 'Micropile with base expansion structure' cannot be put into practical use, because detailed verification for the developed technique has not been conducted so far. In this research, 3-D numerical analysis was conducted to figure out the bearing mechanism of base expansion micropile and to verify the bearing capacity improvement compared to the general micropiles. 3-D modelling of micropile with base expansion structure was carried out and input parameter was determined. Bearing mechanism induced by base expansion structure was analyzed by lab-scale modelling, and bearing capacity improvement was verified by field-scale analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.15-26
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• 2006

Although numerous investigations have been performed over the years to predict the behavior and bearing capacity of piles, the mechanisms are not yet entirely understood. The prediction of bearing capacity is a difficult task, because large numbers of factors affect the capacity and also have complex relationship one another. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to search the essential factors among many factors, which are related with ground condition, pile type, driving condition and others, and then appropriately consider complicated relationship among the searched factors. The present paper describes the application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) in predicting the capacity including its components at the tip and along the shaft from dynamic load test of the driven piles. Firstly, the effect of each factor on the value of bearing capacity is investigated on the basis of sensitivity analysis using ANN modeling. Secondly, the authors use the design methodology composed of ANN and genetic algorithm (GA) to find optimal neural network model to predict the bearing capacity. The authors allow this methodology to find the appropriate combination of input parameters, the number of hidden units and the transfer structure among the input, the hidden and the out layers. The results of this study indicate that the neural network model serves as a reliable and simple predictive tool for the bearing capacity of driven piles.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.31-44
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• 2023

A base expansion micropile was developed to improve the bearing capacity of the micropile, which bears a simple device installed at the pile base. Under an axial load, this base expansion structure radially expands at the pile tip and attaches itself around ground, compressing the boring wall in the construction stage. In this study, conventional and base expansion micropiles were constructed in the weathered rock where micropiles are commonly installed. Further, field load tests were conducted to verify the bearing capacity enhancement effect. From the load test results, it was revealed that the shaft resistance of base expansion micropiles was about 12% higher than that of conventional micropiles. The load transfer analysis results also showed that compared to conventional micropiles, the unit skin friction and unit end bearing of base expansion micropiles were 15.4% and 315.1% higher, respectively, in the bearing zone of the micropile.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.53-67
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• 2022

Micropiles are cast-in-place-type piles with small diameters. They are widely used for the foundation reinforcement of existing buildings and structures because this technique is easy to construct and economic. A base expansion structure is developed following the mechanism of radial expansion at the pile tip under compression. Numerical analysis, durability tests, and centrifuge tests have been conducted using the base expansion structure. In this study, three-dimensional numerical modeling was performed to describe the behavioral mechanism of the base expansion structure using steel bar penetration under compressive loading, and numerical analyses using centrifuge test conditions were performed for the comparative studies. Additionally, the base structure was modified based on the results of lab-scale analyses, and the bearing capacities of micropiles were compared using field-scale numerical analyses under various ground conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.61-70
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• 2008

Load settlement behaviors and load transfer characteristics of rock-socketed pile subjected bi-directional load at pile tip were investigated using bi-directional pile load tests (BD PLT) performed on ten large-diameter drilled shafts at four sites. Based on test results, additional pile-toe displacement ($w_{bs}$) by coupled soil resistance was analyzed, and thus equivalent top loaded load-settlement curve of pile subjected bi-directional load was proposed by taking into account the coupled soil resistance. Through comparisons with field case studies, it is found that for test piles there exists effect of coupled soil resistance, which is represented by wbs, and thus an equivalent curve obtained by existing uncoupled methods can overestimate bearing capacity of piles by BD PLT. On the other hand, the analysis by the proposed method with soil coupling effect has a considerably larger settlement when compared with the results by uncoupled load transfer method and estimates reasonable load-settlement behaviors of test piles. In case of pile socketed in high strength rocks, however, effects of coupled soil resistance can be neglected.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.385-386
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• 2023

In this application study, field pilot tests were performed to evaluate the validity of a proposed formula between the exerted electrical energy and SPT N-value based on the result of the basic study. Measurement sensors and recording system were developed to obtain exerted motor current and drilling depth in a field. By using the correlation formula proposed in the basic study, the measured motor current and boring speed were applied to predict SPT N-value and the predicted N-values were compared to SPT N-value of site exploration. From the comparisons it is verified that the exerted electrical energy to bore ground might be used to predict SPT N-value and pile tip location.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.825-836
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• 2022

Micropiles can be used to support additional load in extended building structures. However, their use brings about a risk of exceeding the bearing capacity of existing piles. In this study, pre-compression was applied to distribute the load of an existing building to micropiles, and an indoor loading test was performed to confirm the structural applicability of a wedge-type anchorage device designed to improve its capacity. According to the test results, the maximum strain of the anchorage device was 0.63 times that of the yield strain, and the amount of slip generated at the time of anchorage was 0.11 mm, satisfying structural standards. In addition, using MIDAS GTS, a geotechnical finite element analysis software, the effect of the size of the pre-compression, the thickness of the soil layer, and the ground conditions around the tip on the reaction force of the existing piles and micropiles were analyzed. From the numerical analysis, as the size of the pre-compression load increased, the reaction force of the existing pile decreased, resulting in a reduction rate of up to 36 %. In addition, as the soil layer increased by 5 m, the reduction rate decreased by 4 %, and when the ground condition at the tip of the micropile was weathered rock, the reduction rate increased by 14 % compared with that of weathered soil.