• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.37-46
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• 2012

In Korea, most existing school buildings have been constructed with moment frames with un-reinforced infill walls designed only considering gravity loads. Thus, the buildings may not perform satisfactorily during earthquakes expected in Korea. In exterior frames of the building, un-reinforced masonry infill walls with window openings are commonly placed, which may alter the structural behavior of adjacent columns due to the interaction between the wall and column. The objective of this study is to evaluate the seismic performance of existing school buildings according to the procedure specified in ATC 63. Analytical models are proposed to simulate the structural behavior of columns, infill walls and their interaction. The accuracy of the proposed model is verified by comparing the analytical results with the experimental test results for one bay frames with and without infill walls with openings. For seismic performance evaluation, three story buildings are considered as model frames located at sites having different soil conditions ($S_A$, $S_B$, $S_C$, $S_D$, $S_E$) in Korea. It is observed that columns behaves as a short columns governed by shear due to infill masonry walls with openings. The collapse probabilities of the frames under maximum considered earthquake ranges from 62.9 to 99.5 %, which far exceed the allowable value specified in ATC 63.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.589-597
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• 2018

Centrifuge model tests were used to simulate pile-raft composite foundation and pile-geogrid composite foundation with different pile spacing for researching the time effect of negative skin friction of rigid piles in high-speed railways. The research results show that the negative skin friction has a significant impact on the bearing capacity of composite foundation. Pile-raft composite foundation has higher bearing capacity compared to pile-geogrid composite foundation to reduce the effect of negative skin friction on piles. Both the foundation settlement and negative skin friction have significant time effect. The distribution of skin friction can be simplified as a triangle along the pile. The neutral point position moves deeper in the postconstruction stage at larger pile spacing. For pile-geogrid composite foundation, the setting of pile-cap affects the position of neutral point in the post-construction stage. Reinforced cushion with geotextile may promote the better performance of cushion for transmitting the loads to piles and surrounding soils. Arching effect in the cushion of the composite foundation is a progressive process. The compression of the rigid piles contributes less than 20% to 25% of the total settlement while the penetration of the piles and the compression of the bearing stratum below the pile tips contribute more than 70% of the total settlement. Some effective measures to reduce the settlement of soils need to be taken into consideration to improve the bearing capacity of pile foundation.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 2019

This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate the effect of palm oil on the selected basic physical-chemical and geotechnical properties of kaolin. The experimental findings are further compared with literature outcomes investigating similar properties of fine grained soils subjected to contamination by different types of oils. To this end, palm oil was mixed with oven dried kaolin samples-aiding oil's interaction (coating) with dry particles first, in anticipation to emphasize the effect of oil on the properties of kaolin, which would be difficult to achieve otherwise. Oil content was limited to 40% by dry weight of kaolin, supplemented at intervals of 10% from clean kaolin samples. Observations highlight physical particle-to-particle bonding resulting in the formation of pseudo-silt sized clusters due to palm oil's interaction as evinced in the particle size distribution and SEM micrographs. These clusters, aided by water repellency property of the oil coating the kaolin particles, was analyzed to show notable variations in kaolin's consistency-measured as liquid and plastic limits. Furthermore, results from compaction tests indicates contribution of oil's viscosity on the compaction behavior of kaolin - showing decrease in the maximum dry unit weight (${\gamma}_{d,max}$) and optimum moisture content ($w_{opt}$) values with increasing oil contents, while their decrease rates were directly and inversely proportional in ${\gamma}_{d,max}$ and $w_{opt}$ values with oil contents respectively. Comparative study in similar terms, also validates this lower and higher decrease rates in ${\gamma}_{d,max}$ and $w_{opt}$ values of the fine grained soils respectively, when subjected to contamination by oil with higher viscosity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 2021

The determination of the damage index to reveal the performance level of a structure can constitute the seismic risk generalization approach based on the parametric analysis. This study implemented this concept to one kind of civil engineering structure that is the concrete gravity dam. Different cases of the structure exhibit their individual responses, which constitute different considerations. Therefore, this approach allows the parametric study of concrete as well as soil for evaluating the seismic nature in the generalized case. To ensure that the target algorithm applicable to most of the concrete gravity dams, a very simple procedure has been considered. In order to develop a correlated algorithm (by response surface methodology; RSM) between the ground motion and the structural property, randomized sampling was adopted through a stochastic method called half-fractional central composite design. The responses in the case of fluid-foundation-dam interaction (FFDI) make it more reliable by introducing the foundation as being bounded by infinite elements. To evaluate the seismic generalization of FFDI models, incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) was carried out under the impacts of various earthquake records, which have been selected from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center data. Here, the displacement-based damage indexed fragility curves have been generated to show the variation in the seismic pattern of the dam. The responses to the sensitivity analysis of the various parameters presented here are the most effective controlling factors for the concrete gravity dam. Finally, to establish the accuracy of the proposed approach, reliable verification was adopted in this study.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Background: Abandoned coal piles after the closure of mines have a potential negative influence on the environment, such as soil acidification and heavy metal contamination. Therefore, revegetation by efficient species is required. For this, we wanted to identify the role of Silene acaulis in the succession of coal piles as a pioneer and a nurse plant. S. acaulis is a well-studied cushion plant living in the Arctic and alpine environments in the northern hemisphere. It has a highly compact cushion-like form and hosts more plant species under its canopy by ameliorating stressful microhabitats. In this research, we surveyed vegetation cover on open plots and co-occurring species within S. acaulis cushions in coal piles with different slope aspects and a control site where no coal was found. The plant cover and the similarity of communities among sites were compared. Also, the interaction effects of S. acaulis were assessed by rarefaction curves. Results: S. acaulis was a dominant species with the highest cover (6.7%) on the coal piles and occurred with other well-known pioneer species. Plant communities on the coal piles were significantly different from the control site. We found that the pioneer species S. acaulis showed facilitation, neutral, and competition effect in the north-east facing slope, the south-east facing slope, and the flat ground, respectively. This result was consistent with the stress gradient hypothesis because the facilitation only occurred on the north-east facing slope, which was the most stressed condition, although all the interactions observed were not statistically significant. Conclusions: S. acaulis was a dominant pioneer plant in the succession of coal piles. The interaction effect of S. acaulis on other species depended on the slope and its direction on the coal piles. Overall, it plays an important role in the succession of coal piles in the High Arctic, Svalbard.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.25-31
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• 2021

Boundary conditions for thermal-hydraulic problems of soils play an essential role in the numerical accuracy. This study presents a boundary condition considering the thermo-hydraulic interaction between the ground and the atmosphere. Ground surface energy balance consists of solar radiation, ground radiation, wind convection, latent heat from water evaporation, and heat conduction to the ground. Equations for each heat flux are presented, and numerical analyses are performed in conjunction with the FEM program for the thermal-hydraulic phenomenon of unsaturated soils. Numerical results using the weather data at the Ulsan Meteorological Observatory are similar to the measured surface temperature. Latent heat caused by water evaporation during the daytime lowers the surface temperature of the bare soil, and a thermal equilibrium is reached at nighttime when the effect of the ground condition is significantly reduced. The temperature change of the surface ground is diminished at the deeper ground due to its thermal diffusion. Numerical analysis where the surface ground temperature is the primary concern requires considering the thermo-hydraulic interaction between the ground and the atmosphere.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.599-614
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• 2022

One of the methods of stabilizing retaining walls, embankments, and deep excavations is the implementation of plate anchors (like the Geolock wall anchor systems). Back-to-back Mechanically Stabilized Earth (BBMSE) walls are common stabilized earth structures that can be used for bridge ramps. But so far, the analysis of the interactive behavior of two back-to-back anchored walls (BBAW) by double-plates anchors (constructed closely from each other and subjected to the limited-breadth vertical loading) including interference of their failure and sliding surfaces has not been the subject of comprehensive studies. Indeed, in this compound system, the interaction of sliding wedges of these two back-to-back walls considering the shear failure wedge of the foundation, significantly impresses on the foundation bearing capacity, adjacent walls displacements and deformations, and their stability. In this study, the effect of horizontal distance between two walls (W), breadth of loading plate (B), and position of vertical loading was investigated experimentally. In addition, the comparison of using single and equivalent double-plate anchors was evaluated. The loading plate bearing capacity and displacements, and deformations of BBAW were measured and the results are presented. To evaluate the shape, form, and how the critical failure surfaces of the soil behind the walls and beneath the foundation intersect with one another, the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was applied. The experimental tests results showed that in this composite system (two adjacent-loaded BBAW) the effective distance of walls is about W = 2.5*H (H: height of walls) and the foundation effective breadth is about B = H, concerning foundation bearing capacity, walls horizontal displacements and their deformations. For more amounts of W and B, the foundation and walls can be designed and analyzed individually. Besides, in this compound system, the foundation bearing capacity is an exponential function of the System Geometry Variable (SGV) whereas walls displacements are a quadratic function of it. Finally, as an important achievement, doubling the plates of anchors can facilitate using concrete walls, which have limitations in tolerating curvature.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.565-577
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• 2022

In this study, a series of three-dimensional numerical parametric study was conducted to investigate deformation mechanisms of an existing box culvert due to an adjacent multi-propped basement excavation in clays. Field measurements from an excavation case history are first used to calibrate a baseline Hardening Soil Small Strain (HS-small) model, which is subsequently adopted for parametric study. Results indicate that the basement-box culvert interaction along the basement centerline can be considered as a plane strain condition when the length of excavation (L) reaches 14 H_e (i.e., final excavation depth). If a plane strain condition (i.e., L/H_e=12.0) is assumed for analyzing the basement-box culvert interaction of a short excavation (i.e., L/H_e=2.0), the maximum settlement and horizontal movement of the box culvert are overestimated significantly by up to 15.7 and 5.1 times, respectively. It is also found that the deformation of box culvert can be greatly affected by the basement excavation if the distance between the box culvert and retaining wall is less than 1.5 H_e. The induced deformation in the box culvert can be dramatically reduced by improving the ground inside the excavation or implementing other precautionary measures. For example, by adding jet grouting columns within the basement and installing an isolation wall behind the retaining structures, the maximum settlements of box culvert are shown to reduce by 37.2% and 13.4%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.51-63
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• 2023

Numerical analysis was conducted to determine the effect of soil behavior by thawing and freezing of seasonal frozen soil on pile foundations. The analysis was performed using the finite element method (FEM) to simulate soil-pile interaction based on the atmosphere temperature change. Thermomechanical coupled modeling using FEM was applied with the temperature-dependent nonlinear properties of the frozen soil. The analysis model cases were applied to the MCR and HDP models to simulate the elastoplastic behavior of soil. The numerical analysis results were analyzed and compared with various conditions having different length and width sizes of the pile. The results of the numerical analysis showed t hat t he HDP model was relat ively passive, and t he aspect and magnit ude of t he bearing capacit y and displacement of the pile head were similar depending on the length and width of the pile conditions. The vertical displacement of the pile head by thawing and freezing of the ground showed a large variation in displacement for shorter length conditions. In the MCR model, the vertical displacement appeared in the maximum thaw settlement and frost heaving of 0.0387 and 0.0277 m, respectively. In the HDP model, the vertical displacement appeared in the maximum thaw settlement and frost heaving of 0.0367 and 0.0264 m, respectively. The results of the pile bearing capacity for the two elastoplastic models showed a larger difference in the width condition than the length condition of the pile, with a maximum of about 14.7% for the width L condition, a maximum of about 5.4% for M condition, and a maximum of about 5.3% for S condition. The significance of the effect on the displacement of the pile head and the bearing capacity depended on the pile-soil contact area, and the difference depended on the presence or absence of an active layer in the soil and its thickness.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.9-19
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• 2007

This study investigated the interaction between groundwater and stream water systems, which is caused by the artificial weir on streambed, enforcing external stresses on the groundwater system. The study area is in Nami Natural Recreation Woods located in Chungcheongnam-do Geumsan-gun Nami-myeon Geoncheon-ri. In this study both of hydrophysical methods (hydraulic head) and hyrdochemical investigations (pH, EC, major ion analysis) were applied. In order to identify the relationship between each of study results, cross-correlation analysis is performed. From results of hydrophysical methods, water level fluctuation at BH-14, installed by the weir, shows the double-recession pattern much more frequently and much higher amplitudes than the fluctuation at each of other monitoring wells. Using the results by hydrochemical investigations, hydrochemical properties at BH-14 is similar to the hydrochemical characteristics in stream water. To analyze the interrelationships between the results from each of applied methods, cross-correlation analysis was applied. Results from the correlation analyses, water levels at BH-14 and stream weir showed the highest cross-correlation in hydrophysical aspects. On the other hand, the correlation between stream weir and bridge was the highest in hydrochemical aspects. The difference between the results from each of methods is due that the hydrophysical response at BH-14, such as water level, is induced by the pressure propagation-not with mass transfer, but the hydrochemical interaction, caused by mass transport, takes much more times. In conclusion impermeable artificial weir on streambed changes the interfacial condition between the stream and surrounding aquifers. The induced water flux into the groundwater system during flood period make water level at BH-14 increase instantly and groundwater quality higly similar to the quality of stream water. Referred similarities in both of water level and water quality at BH-14 become much higher when water level at weir grow higher.