• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.337-348
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• 2020

Tropical organic soils having more than 65% of organic matters are named "peat". This soil type is extremely soft, unconsolidated, and possesses low shear strength and stiffness. Different conventional and industrial binders (e.g., lime or Portland cement) are used widely for stabilisation of organic soils. However, due to many factors affecting the behaviour of these soils (e.g., high moisture content, fewer mineral particles, and acidic media), the efficiency of the conventional binders is low and/or cost-intensive. This research investigates the impact of different constituents of cement-sodium silicate grout system on the compressibility behaviour of organic soil, including settlement and void ratio. A microstructure analysis is also carried out on treated organic soil using Scanning Electron Micrographs (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX), and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The results indicate that the settlement and void ratio of treated organic soils decrease gradually with the increase of cement and kaolinite contents, as well as sodium silicate until an optimum value of 2.5% of the wet soil weight. The microstructure analysis also demonstrates that with the increase of cement, kaolinite and sodium silicate, the void ratio and porosity of treated soil particles decrease, leading to an increase in the soil density by the hydration, pozzolanic, and polymerisation processes. This research contributes an extra useful knowledge to the stabilisation of organic soils and upgrading such problematic soils closer to the non-problematic soils for geotechnical applications such as deep mixing.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1255-1276
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• 2015

The importance of considering soil-structure interaction effect in the analysis and design of RC frame buildings is increasingly recognized but still not penetrated to the grass root level owing to various complexities involved. It is well established fact that the soil-structure interaction effect considerably influence the design of multi-storey buildings subjected to lateral seismic loads. The shear walls are often provided in such buildings to increase the lateral stability to resist seismic lateral loads. In the present work, the linear soil-structure analysis of a G+5 storey RC shear wall building frame resting on isolated column footings and supported by deformable soil is presented. The finite element modelling and analysis is carried out using ANSYS software under normal loads as well as under seismic loads. Various load combinations are considered as per IS-1893 (Part-1):2002. The interaction analysis is carried out with and without shear wall to investigate the effect of inclusion of shear wall on the total and differential settlements in the footings due to deformations in the soil mass. The frame and soil mass both are considered to behave in linear elastic manner. It is observed that the soil-structure interaction effect causes significant total and differential settlements in the footings. Maximum total settlement in footings occurs under vertical loads and inner footings settle more than outer footings creating a saucer shaped settlement profile of the footings. Each combination of seismic loads causes maximum differential settlement in one or more footings. Presence of shear wall decreases pulling/pushing effect of seismic forces on footings resulting in more stability to the structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.513-521
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• 2020

In this paper, due to the need for cutting cement-soil group pile composite foundation under the 7-story masonry structure of Zhenghe District and the shield tunnel of Zhengzhou Metro Line 5, a field test was conducted to directly cut cement-soil single pile composite foundation with diameter Ф=500 mm. Research results showed that the load transfer mechanism of composite foundation was not changed before and after shield tunnel cut the pile, and pile body and the soil between piles was still responsible for overburden load. The construction disturbance of shield cutting pile is a complicated mechanical process. The load carried by the original pile body was affected by the disturbance effect of pile cutting construction. Also, the fraction of the load carried by the original pile body was transferred to the soil between the piles and therefore, the bearing capacity of composite foundation was not decreased. Only the fractions of the load carried by pile and the soil between piles were distributed. On-site monitoring results showed that the settlement of pressure-bearing plates produced during shield cutting stage accounted for about 7% of total settlement. After the completion of pile cutting, the settlements of bearing plates generated by shield machine during residual pile composite foundation stage and shield machine tail were far away from residual pile composite foundation stage which accounted for about 15% and 74% of total settlement, respectively. In order to reduce the impact of shield cutting pile construction on the settlement of upper composite foundation, it was recommended to take measures such as optimization of shield construction parameters, radial grouting reinforcement and "clay shock" grouting within the disturbance range of shield cutting pile construction. Before pile cutting, the pile-soil stress ratio n of composite foundation was 2.437. After the shield cut pile is completed, the soil around the lining structure is gradually consolidated and reshaped, and residual pile composite foundation reaches a new state of force balance. This was because the condensation of grouting layer could increase the resistance of remaining pile end and friction resistance of the side of the pile.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.345-358
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• 2020

Numerous studies have repeatedly demonstrated the efficiency of using skirts to increase the bearing capacity and to reduce settlement of shallow foundations subjected to static loads. However, no efforts have been made to study the efficiency of using these skirts to reduce settlement produced by machine vibration, although machines are very sensitive to settlement and the foundations of these machines should be designed properly to ensure that the settlement produced due to machine vibration is very small. This research has been conducted to investigate the efficiency of using skirts as a technique to reduce the settlement of a strip foundation subjected to machine vibration. A two-dimensional finite element model has been developed, validated, and employed to achieve the aim of the study. The results of the analyses showed that the use of skirts reduces the settlement produced due to machine vibration. However, the percentage decrease of the settlement is remarkably influenced by the density of the soil and the frequency of vibration, where it rises as the frequency of vibration increases and declines as the soil density rises. It was also found that increasing skirt length increases the percentage decrease of the settlement. Importantly, the results obtained from the analyses have been utilized to derive new dynamic impedance values that implicitly consider the presence of skirts. Finally, novel design equations of dynamic impedance that implicitly account to the effect of the skirts have been derived and validated utilizing a new intelligent data driven method. These new equations can be used in future designs of skirted strip foundations subjected to machine vibration.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.179-191
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• 2023

To study the influences of tunneling on the earth pressure and ground settlement when the tunnel passes through the adjacent underground retaining structure, 30 two-dimensional model tests were carried out taking into account the ratios of tunnel excavation depth (H) to lateral width (w), excavation width (B), and excavation distance using a custom-made test device and an analogical soil. Tunnel crossing adjacent existing retaining structure (TCE) and tunnel crossing adjacent newly-built retaining structure (TCN) were simulated and the earth pressure variations and ground settlement distribution during excavation were analyzed. For TCE condition, the earth pressure increments, maximum ground settlement and the curvature of the ground settlement curve are negatively related to H/B, but positively related to H/s and H/w. For TCN condition, most trends are consistent with TCE except that the earth pressure increments and the curvature of ground settlement curve are negatively related to H/w. The maximum ground settlement is larger than that observed in tunnel crossing the existing underground structure. This study provides an assessment basis for the design and construction under confined space conditions.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.29-42
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• 2014

This paper investigates the effects of micro-tunneling on buried pipelines parametrically. A simplified numerical approach was developed and various parametric studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of ground settlements on the response of buried pipelines. The controlled parameters included the pipe stiffness, ground loss magnitude, and pipe location with respect to a micro-tunnel. Maximum settlement and curvature along a pipeline have been investigated and compared among others for different conditions. In addition, the numerical results have been compared with a theoretical method by Attewell et al. (1986), which is based on a Winkler type linear-elastic solution. The comparison indicated that the response of buried pipes to micro-tunneling-induced ground settlements highly depends on the soil-pipe interaction including the separation and slippage of pipe from soil with the effects of the investigated parameters. Therefore, rather than using the theoretical method directly, it would be a better assessment of the response of buried pipelines to consider the soil-pipe interaction in more realistic conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.209-216
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• 2000

When subjected to earthquake shaking, saturated sandy soil may generate excess pore pressure. And a time may come when initial confining pressure will equal to excess pore pressure. Depending on the characteristics of the soil and the length of the drainage path, excess pore pressure was dissipated after earthquake. For this reason, it was induced settlement in grounds and fatal damage of various structures. In this study, settlement in silty sand grounds induced earthquake was evaluated using post-liquefaction constitutive equation between volumetric strain and shear strain from previous study. Using that, it was proposed that simplified estimation of settlement in silty sand grounds induced liquefaction.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.27 no.B
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• pp.201-208
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• 2007

This paper is research results of investigating the elastic settlement behavior of the coastal caisson structure built on the sandy deposit by comparing results of centrifuge model experiments and those of existing methods of estimating elastic settlement. Basic soil property tests such as specific gravity test, grain size distribution test and organic content test with disturbed soil sampled from the site were carried out. The centrifuge experiment of model satisfying the required design criteria was performed under 50 of artificial accelerated gravitational force condition. The Centrifuge model experimental results were compared and analyzed with the current methods of estimating settlement based on the elastic modulus obtained from the results of odeometer tests and empirical methods from literature reviews.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.61-69
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• 2000

It is not easy to find a good soil condition due to the shortage of suitable land for construction work. The earth structure and buildings can be constructed over the soft soil. The soft soil must be treated either using the reinforcement element or dewatering. Most of land reclamation projects are being implemented along the south coast or west coast of the Korean Peninsula. The soils in these areas are covered with the soft marine clay, so soil and site improvement is the most important things to do. Pile foundation at the bottom of embankment can be constructed either in the soft ground or in the soil contaminated area. The purpose of this research is to develop "geogrid-reinforced piled embankment method" to prevent the differential settlement and increase the bearing capacity of soil. In this study, the effectiveness of the geogrid-reinforcement was studied by varying the space between piles and reinforcement conditions. Also, the geotechnical engineering properties of the embankment material and foundation soil were determined through the laboratory tests as well as the field tests. As a result, the site that the pile-spacing S = 3b with geogrid reinforcement is the most effective to reduce the differential settlement and increase load bearing capacity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2020

The spatial variability of geotechnical properties can lead to the uncertainty of settlement for frozen soil foundation around the oil pipeline, and it can affect the stability of permafrost foundation. In this paper, the elastic modulus, cohesion, angle of internal friction and poisson ratio are taken as four independent random fields. A stochastic analysis model for the uncertain settlement characteristic of frozen soil foundation around an oil pipeline is presented. The accuracy of the stochastic analysis model is verified by measured data. Considering the different combinations for the coefficient of variation and scale of fluctuation, the influences of spatial variability of geotechnical properties on uncertain settlement are estimated. The results show that the stochastic effects between elastic modulus, cohesion, angle of internal friction and poisson ratio are obviously different. The deformation parameters have a greater influence on stochastic settlement than the strength parameters. The overall variability of settlement reduces with the increase of horizontal scale of fluctuation and vertical scale of fluctuation. These results can improve our understanding of the influences of spatial variability of geotechnical properties on uncertain settlement and provide a theoretical basis for the reliability analysis of pipeline engineering in permafrost regions.