• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.7-22
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• 2023

In January 2022, a new legislation was enforced to enhance the safety of underground construction. Consequently, a comprehensive assessment of underground safety is now an integral part of the planning process, including an evaluation of its impact. Ensuring the stability of temporary retaining walls during underground excavation has become paramount, prompting a heightened focus on the assessment of underground safety. This study delves into the analysis of the Multi-axis Flat Continuous Soil Cement Wall retaining wall (MFS) construction method. This method facilitates the expansion of wall thickness in the ground and provides flexibility in selecting and spacing H-piles. Through laboratory model tests, we scrutinized the load-displacement behavior of the wall, varying the H-pile installation intervals using the MFS method. Additionally, a 3-dimensional numerical analysis was conducted to explore the influence of H-pile installation intervals and sizes on the load for different thicknesses of the MFS retaining wall. The displacement analysis yielded the calculation of the height of the arching effect acting on the wall. To further our understanding, a design method was introduced, quantitatively analyzing the results of axial force and shear force acting on the wall. This involved applying the maximum arching height, calculated by the MFS method, to the existing member force review method. The axial force and shear force, contingent on the H-pile installation interval and size applied to the MFS retaining wall, demonstrated a reduction effect ranging from 24.6% to 62.9%.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.143-155
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• 2007

The earth pressure acting on a circular shaft wall is smaller than that acting on the wall in plane strain condition due to the three dimensional axi-symmetric arching effect. Accurate estimation of the earth pressure is required for the design of the shaft wall. In this study, the stress model considering the decrease of earth pressure due to the horizontal and vertical arching effect and the influence of shape ratio (shaft height/radius) is proposed. In addition, model test on the sandy soil is conducted and a comparison is made between the stress model and the test results. The comparison shows that the proposed stress model is in agreement with test results; decrease of shape ratio (increase of radius) leads to stress state equal to the plane strain condition and approximate stress distribution is found between stress model and model test results.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.171-181
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• 2000

A series of model tests were performed both to investigate the load transfer by soil acrching in fills above embankment pils and to verify of the theoretical analysis. In the model tests, the piles were installed in a row below the embankment and the cap beams were placed on the pile heads perpendicular to the longitudinal axias of the embankment. The space between pile cap beams and the embankment height was focused as the major factors affecting the load transfer in embankment fill. When the embankment fill was higher than the minimum required height, which was about 33% higher than the radius of the soil arch proposed by theoretical discussion in the previous study, not only the soil arching could be developed completely but also the experimental results showed good agreement with theoretical predictions. The portion of the embankment load carried by model pile cap beams decreased with increment of the space between pile cap beams, while it increased with increment of the embankment height. Therefore, to maximize the effect of embankment load transfer by piles on design, the interval ratio of pile cap beams should be decreased under considerably high embankments by reducing the space between cap beams and/or enlarging the width of pile cap beams.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.23-31
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• 2023

The escalating settlements observed in concrete slab tracks pose a significant challenge in Korea, raising concerns about their adverse impact on the safe operation of high-speed railways and the substantial costs involved in restoration. A primary contributor to these settlements is identified as the utilization of rock materials sourced from tunnel construction, incorporated into the lower subgrade without the requisite soil mixing to achieve an appropriate particle size distribution. This study employs numerical analysis to evaluate the efficacy of partial reinforcement in reducing settlements in rock-filled lower subgrades. Column-shaped reinforcement areas strategically positioned at regular intervals in the lower subgrade induce soil arching in the upper subgrade, leading to a concentration of soil loads on the reinforced areas and consequent settlement reduction. The analysis employs finite element methods to investigate the influence of the size, stiffness, and spacing of the reinforced areas on settlement reduction in the lower subgrade. The numerical results guide the formulation of an optimal design approach, proposing a method to determine the minimum spacing required for reinforcements to effectively limit settlements within acceptable bounds. This research contributes valuable insights into addressing the challenges associated with settlement in concrete slab tracks, offering a basis for informed decision-making in railway infrastructure management.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.65-72
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• 2016

There are numerous factors that affect stress distribution in a buried pipe, such as the shape, size, and stiffness of the pipe, its burial depth, and the stiffness of the surrounding soil. In addition, the pipe can benefit from the soil arching effect to some extent, through which the overburden and surcharge pressure at the crown can be carried by the adjacent soil. As a result, the buried pipe needs to support only a portion of the load that is not transferred to the adjacent soil. This paper presents numerical efforts to investigate the stress distribution in the buried concrete pipe under various environmental conditions. To that end, a nonlinear elasto-plastic model for backfill materials was implemented into finite element software by a user-defined subroutine (user material, or UMAT) to more precisely analyze the soil behavior surrounding a buried concrete pipe subjected to surface loading. In addition, three different backfill materials with a native soil were selected to examine the material-specific stress distribution in pipe. The environmental conditions considering in this study the loading effect and void effects were investigated using finite element method. The simulation results provide information on how the pressures are redistributed, and how the buried concrete pipe behaves under various environmental conditions.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.117-129
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• 2009

Several researches have been done to estimate the earth pressure on a vertical circular shaft considering three dimensional arching effect and verified them by conducting model tests. However, any equation suggested so far is not applicable in case of multi-layered soils and/or C-${\phi}$ soils. In this study, new equation for estimating the earth pressure acting on the vertical shaft in c-${\phi}$ soils is proposed. A parametric study is performed to investigate the significance of the cohesion when estimating the coefficient of earth pressure in C-${\phi}$ soils and estimating earth pressures in vertical shafts. A method which can estimate the earth pressure on vertical shafts in layered soils is also proposed by assuming a failure surface in layered soils and using the modified equation. This paper is Part I of companion papers focusing on the theoretical aspect of model developments; the experimental verification will be made in Part II.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.455-468
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• 2013

In recent, various types of steel pipe-roof methods, which is reinforced by mortar after propulsion of steel pipe into the ground, have been used for the construction of trenchless underpass. Integrated steel pipe-roof has flexural stiffness and can resist against overburden load and reduce the stress acting on the concrete underpass structures. Due to arching effect, vertical and horizontal stress distribution around the steel pipe-roof is changing. In this study, therefore, the characteristic of stress distribution around the underpass induced by the construction of integrated steel pipe-roof is investigated by using numerical method. To examine the soil-structure interaction, interface element is introduced. Results show that vertical stress acting on the concrete structure placing inside the steel pipe-roof is significantly reduced due to arching effect and flexural stiffness of integrated steel pipe-roof. Design load can be reduced and effective design of underpass will be available if the earth pressure reduction due to arching effect is considered in the design stage.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.267-281
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• 2015

The ground movement and changes in earth pressure due to the consecutive construction of retaining wall and underground space were studied experimentally. A soil tank having 160 cm in length and 120 cm in height, was manufactured to simulate the vertical excavation like retaining wall by using 10 separated right side walls and underground space excavation like tunnel by using 5 separated bottom walls. The variation of earth pressure and surface settlement were measured according to the excavation stages. The results showed that the decrease of earth pressure due to the wall movement can cause the increase of earth pressure of the neighboring walls proving the arching effect. Experiments simulating continuous construction sequence also identified arching effect, however only 50% of earth pressure was restored on the 10th right side wall due to the movement of 1st bottom side wall unusually.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.259-279
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• 1999

Model tests on propped retaining walls were performed for the investigation of wall displacement, distribution of earth pressure, surface settlement and underground movement at various excavation stage in sand. The result of model tests on the trough of surface settlement showed considerable difference depending on the characteristic of wall stiffness, wall friction and soil condition. The location of maximum underground movement were found to be at range of 0.15H to 0. 1H(H: Final excavation depth). Effect of arching by the redistribution of earth pressure were closely related to the stiffness of wall as well as the soil condition. The wall displacement and earth pressure distribution were simulated by elasto - plastic beam analysis program and finite element method with GDHM model respectively. The result of elasto-plastic analysis showed some discrepancy on the wall displacement and earth pressure, but result of underground movement by FEM with various wall stiffness were in good agreement with the model tests.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2007.09a
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• pp.514-527
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• 2007

Earth reinforcement techniques are used worldwide and offer proven solutions to a wide range of geotechnical engineering problems. Here in this paper, recent developments of three major reinforced soil retaining wall methods in Japan were introduced in order to show how the current situation of this technique in Japan is. And the statistical data for the volume of the use was also shown, such as the total volume of the use, the scales of the structures, layout of the earth reinforcement, fill materials, and foundation conditions. Some of the case histories were also introduced with photographs and figures. And then, as one of recent research activity by the author, the study on the application of X-ray CT for the problem of earth reinforcement method combined with other method such as piling and soil improvement was introduced. In this study, a series of model test for several reinforced ground with geogrids was conducted using a newly developed test apparatus. Then, the behavior in the soil box was scanned after settlement using X-ray CT scanner. Based on these test results, the reinforcing effect by the geogrids and the soil arching effect over the pile heads was discussed precisely and those are done in 3-D with nondestructive condition. Finally, the effectiveness of the use of X-ray CT scanner in geotechnical engineering was promised.