• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.247-258
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• 2024

Tailings are waste materials of mining operations, consisting of a mixture of clay, silt, sand with a high content of unrecoverable metals, process water, and chemical reagents. They are usually discharged as slurry into the storage area retained by dams or earth embankments. Poor knowledge of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of tailings has often resulted in a high rate of failures in which static liquefaction has been widely recognized as one of the major causes of dam collapse. Many studies have dealt with the static liquefaction of coarse soils in saturated conditions. This research provides an extension to the case of silty tailings in unsaturated conditions. The static liquefaction resistance was evaluated in terms of stress-strain behavior by means of monotonic triaxial tests. Its dependency on the preparation method, the volumetric water content, the void ratio, and the degree of saturation was studied and compared with literature data. The static liquefaction response was proved to be dependent mainly on the preparation technique and degree of saturation that, in turn, controls the excess of pore pressure whose leading role is investigated by means of the relationship between the -B Skempton parameter and the degree of saturation. A preliminary interpretation of the static liquefaction response of Stava tailings is also provided within the Critical State framework.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.539-549
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• 2023

This study examined the impact of two bacterial strains, H05E-12 and H05R-04, on alleviating non-irrigation-induced stress and its subsequent effects on the fruit productivity of sweet pumpkin plants. When subjected to non-irrigation-induced stress, the lipid peroxidation, proline, total phenol, and total soluble sugar content significantly decreased in plants treated with either H05E-12 or H05R-04 compared to the control. In a greenhouse experiment under non-irrigated conditions, H05E-12-treated plants exhibited higher stomatal conductance than the control, although there was no significant change in the soil plant analysis development(SPAD) value due to treatment. Upon re-watering, an increase in fruit diameter was observed in H05E-12-treated plants, and the L-ascorbic acid content in the fruit also showed a significant increase compared to the control. The H05E-12 strain was identified as Kushneria konosiri. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report detailing the beneficial effects of K. konosiri on the alleviation of non-irrigation-induced stress and the promotion of plant growth in sweet pumpkin plants.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.193-200
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• 2008

Cohesive and frictional materials such as concrete and soil are pressure dependent. In general, failure criterion for such materials inclined with respect to positive hydrostatic axis in Haigh-Westergaard stress space. Consequently, inelastic volumetric strain always positive with associated flow rule. In this study, to overcome this shortcoming, non-associated flow rule which controls volumetric component of plastic flow is adopted. Numerical analysis based on a constitutive model using nonuniform hardening plasticity with five parameter failure criterion and non-associated flow rule has conducted to predict concrete behavior under multi-axial stress state and verified with experimental result.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.115-127
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• 2024

Biopolymer treatment of geomaterials is a promising technology with green technology potential that can help reduce global warming. It offers a positive environmental impact and a wide range of applications. This paper reports the results of a study of the mechanical performance of biopolymer-treated dune-sand from the Algeria desert. The sand was mixed with varying amounts of xanthan gum biopolymer and reinforced with polypropylene fibre. The study demonstrated that xanthan gum treatment improved the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of unreinforced sand and fibre-reinforced sand. Nonetheless, the test results revealed that biopolymer-treated sand manifested higher resistance after drying. Based on the findings, the optimal quantity of xanthan gum for treating sand is 2%. The incorporation of fibre in the matrix increases the strength and failure strain. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis further substantiated that the biopolymer bonds the sand particles together and the distribution of PP fibre in the mixture, thereby enhancing compressive strength and durability. The results indicate that using xanthan gum biopolymer treatment offers an environmentally friendly approach to enhancing the mechanical properties of desert sand.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5-16
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• 2012

The second scientific antarctic station of South Korea is under construction at Terra Nova Bay located in eastern Antarctica. Ground condition in the Antarctica is frozen in general, but there are seasonal frozen grounds with active layers sporadically. When the active layer is frozen, frost heaving occurs that might cause the differential movement of frozen ground and the failure of structures. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the frost heaving susceptibility of soils at Terra Nova Bay before starting antarctic station construction. This study presents experimental investigation of the frost heaving susceptibility of soil samples with variation of particle sizes and unfrozen water contents. The soil samples were taken from five different locations at Terra Nova Bay and physical properties, unfrozen water content, and frost heaving tests were performed. For the frost heaving tests, soil specimens were frozen with constant freezing temperatures at the top and with drainage at the bottom in order to stimulate the frost heaving. The frost heaving tests provide volume expansion, volumetric strain, and heaving rate which can be used to analyze the relationship between the frost heaving vs. particle size and the frost heaving vs. unfrozen water content. Experimental results show that the more the fine contents exist in soils, the more frost heaving occurs. In addition, the frost heaving depends on unfrozen water content. Experimental data can be used to evaluate the frost heaving susceptibility of soils at the future construction site in the Antarctica.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.31-41
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• 2008

Consolidation characteristics of reclamated ground with dredged soil and methods of evaluating them are investigated in this paper. For a dredged and reclamated ground with a very high water content, self-weight consolidation being progressed, its consolidation characteristics are difficult to find since it is almost impossible to have a undisturbed sample. In order to overcome such a problem, methods of laboratory tests with disturbed sample were studied to obtain consolidation parameters required to analyze consolidation settlement in practices, using the conventional infinitesimal consolidation theory, were evaluated by carrying out various laboratory tests with disturbed soils such as oedometer test, constant rate of deformation test, Rowe-cell tests with ring diameters of 60 mm, 100 mm and 150 mm and the centrifuge model tests with 40 g-levels. Constitutive relations of void ratio - effective vertical stress - permeability were evaluated by using the inverse technique implemented with the finite strain consolidation theory and results of centrifuge model tests. Design soil parameters related to consolidation such as compression index, swelling index, coefficient of volume change and vertical and horizontal consolidation coefficients were proposed properly by analyzing the various test results comprehensively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.235-246
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• 2003

Since the study of Lee et al.(1994) there have been some case studies on the set-up effect of driven piles in Korea country. However, comprehensive examination on the analyses of the set-up effect with various testing data has not been carried out. In particular, the analysis of the influence of soil type and pile shape on the set-up effect has not been reported. It is necessary to analyse the test results of production piles in order to apply the set-up effect of driven piles for the field engineering. In this study some test piling and analyses were performed to give basic information to the piling design as well as the research on the set-up effect in sandy soils. The analyses on the set-up effect were performed with the monitoring data obtained from the high-strain dynamic loading tests. It was shown that the set-up effect of driven piles was not only affected by soil type but also by soil formation history It turned out that the set-up effect in sandy soils was considerable one that should not be ignored in the field, and that the bearing capacity increase of pile is mainly caused by the increase of shaft resistance. It was shown that the set-up effect of closed pile was larger than that of opened pile in clayey soils, while the set-up effect of opened pile was larger than that of closed pile in sandy soils.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.51-61
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• 2014

This paper presents an experimental study of the plugging effect on the capacity of open-ended piles installed in sandy soil. Full-scale tests, including dynamic and static axial-compression load tests, were carried out on three instrumented piles with different diameters (508.0, 711.2 and 914.4 mm). To measure the outer and inner shaft resistances acting on the piles, a double-walled system was utilized with instrumented strain gauges on the outside and inside walls of the pile. The results of field tests show that the inner shaft resistance was mostly mobilized at the location between the pile tip and 18-34% of the total plug length. It was found that the soil plugging in the lower portion has influence on the inner shaft resistance. In addition, it can be also demonstrated that the ratio of inner shaft resistance plus annulus load resistance to total resistance decreased with increasing pile diameters. The results of these tests show that the relationship between the degree of plugging and pile diameter is clearly established. Direct observations of the soil plugs were made and used to quantify both the plug length ratio (PLR) and the incremental filling ratio (IFR). Based on this result, it was found that the N value of the standard penetration test (SPT) is highly correlated with the IFR.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the distribution patterns of displacement and acceleration fields in a nonlinear soil ground based on the interaction of high-speed train, wheel, rail, and ground. For this purpose, a high-speed train in motion was modeled as the actual wheel, and the vertical contact of wheel and rail and the lateral contact, caused by meandering motion, were simulated; this simulation was based on the moving mass analysis. The soil ground part was given the nonlinear behavior of the upper ground part by using the modified the Drucker-Prager model, and the changes in displacement and acceleration were compared with the behavior of the elastic and inelastic grounds. Using this analysis, the displacement and acceleration ranges close to the actual ground behavior were addressed. Additionally, the von-Mises stress and equivalent plastic strain at the ground were examined. Further, the equivalent plastic and total volumetric strains at each failure surface were examined. The variation in stresses, such as vertical stress, transverse pressure, and longitudinal restraint pressure of wheel-rail contact, with the time history was investigated using moving mass. In the case of nonlinear ground model, the displacement difference obtained based on the train travel is not large when compared to that of the elastic ground model, while the acceleration is caused to generate a large decrease.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.47-59
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• 2023

In this research, laboratory tests were conducted on clayey sand (SC) to analyze its physical properties, compaction/permeability characteristics, and stress-strain behavior. The main objective was to determine the transitional fines content at which the mechanical properties of sand transition to those of clay, resulting in a change in the geotechnical behavior of the material. Additionally, to assess the practical applicability of SC soil, field data from a soft ground improvement site with significant settlement issues were collected. The settlement characteristics derived from laboratory tests and numerical simulations were then compared and analyzed in relation to the actual settlement data obtained from the field, aiming to evaluate the suitability of the SC soil as a compaction target layer. The laboratory tests and compaction analysis showed that the SC soil exhibited a distinct change in mechanical properties, shifting from sandy behavior to clayey behavior when the fines content exceeded 25%. This transition in mechanical behavior was found to be closely correlated with the content of clay particles within the material. Through numerical simulations of the soft ground site, it was verified that the use of clayey sand with a fines content exceeding the transitional level as a compaction target layer resulted in settlements that closely aligned with the measured settlements, with an average agreement of 91.2%. Based on these findings, it is deemed advisable to incorporate clayey sand with a fines content exceeding the transitional level as part of the compaction target layer in the design of soft ground improvements.