• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.221-230
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• 2023

The liquefaction of soil occurs when a soil loses strength and stiffness because of applied stress, such as an earthquake or other changes in stress conditions that result in a loss of cohesion. Hence, a method for improving the strength of liquefiable soil needs to be developed. Many techniques have been presented for their possible applications to mitigate liquefiable soil. Recently, alternative methods using biopolymers (such as xanthan gum, guar gum, and gellan gum), nontraditional additives, have been introduced to stabilize fine-grained soils. However, no studies have been done on the use of carrageenan as a biopolymer for soil improvement. Due to of its rheological and chemical structure, carrageenan may have the potential for use as a biopolymer for soil improvement. This research aims to investigate the effect of adding carrageenan on the soil strength of treated liquefiable soil. The biopolymers used for comparison are carrageenan (as a novel biopolymer), xanthan gum, and guar gum. Then, sand samples were made in cylindrical molds (5 cm × 10 cm) by the dry mixing method. The amount of each biopolymer was 1%, 3%, and 5% of the total sample volume with a moisture content of 20%, and the samples were cured for seven days. In terms of observing the effect of temperature on the carrageenan-treated soil, several samples were prepared with dry sand that was heated in an oven at various temperatures (i.e., 20℃ to 75℃) before mixing. The samples were tested with the direct shear test, UCS test, and SEM test. It can increase the cohesion value of liquefiable soil by 22% to 60% compared to untreated soil. It also made the characteristics of the liquefiable increase by 60% to 92% from very loose sandy soil (i.e., ϕ=29°) to very dense sandy soil. Carrageenan was also shown to have a significant effect on the compressive strength and to exceed the liquefaction limit. Based on the results, carrageenan was found to have the potential for use as an alternative biopolymer.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.77-90
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• 1998

To study the improvement of soft marine clay from southern coast of Korea under theelectroosmosis and electrophoresis conditions, several electrokinetic tests were carried out in electrokinetic(E/K) cell. In electroosmosis tests, various treatment times and current densities were used to investigate the strengthening effect under different conditions. From these tests results, it may be noted that electroosmotic strengthening of soft marine clay was effective in proportion to unit power consumption, current density and treatment time. However, electrophoresis method was not effective for thin soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.609-618
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• 2018

A new mechanical model for predicting the vibration of a pipe pile embedded in longitudinally layered visco-elastic media with radial inhomogeneity is proposed by extending Novak's plain-strain model and complex stiffness method to consider viscous-type damping. The analytical solutions for the dynamic impedance, the velocity admittance and the reflected signal of wave velocity at the pile head are also derived and subsequently verified by comparison with existing solutions. An extensive parametric analysis is further performed to examine the effects of shear modulus, viscous damping coefficient, coefficient of disturbance degree, weakening or strengthening range of surrounding soil and longitudinal soft or hard interbedded layer on the velocity admittance and the reflected signal of wave velocity at the pile head. It is demonstrated that the proposed model and the obtained solutions provide extensive possibilities for practical application compared with previous related studies.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.453-464
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• 2019

Soft marine soil has high fine-grained soil content and in-situ water content. Thus, it has low shear strength and bearing capacity and is susceptible to a large settlement, which leads to difficulties with coastal infrastructure construction. Therefore, strength improvement and settlement control are essential considerations for construction on soft marine soil deposits. Biopolymers show their potential for improving soil stability, which can reduce the environmental drawbacks of conventional soil treatment. This study used two biopolymers, an anionic xanthan gum biopolymer and a cationic ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ biopolymer, as representatives to enhance the geotechnical engineering properties of soft marine soil. Effects of the biopolymers on marine soil were analyzed through a series of experiments considering the Atterberg limits, shear strength at a constant water content, compressive strength in a dry condition, laboratory consolidation, and sedimentation. Xanthan gum treatment affects the Atterberg limits, shear strength, and compressive strength by interparticle bonding and the formation of a viscous hydrogel. However, xanthan gum delays the consolidation procedure and increases the compressibility of soils. While ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ treatment does not affect compressive strength, it shows potential for coagulating soil particles in a suspension state. ${\varepsilon}-Polylysine$ forms bridges between soil particles, showing an increase in settling velocity and final sediment density. The results of this study show various potential applications of biopolymers. Xanthan gum biopolymer was identified as a soil strengthening material, while ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ biopolymer can be applied as a soil-coagulating material.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.413-422
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• 2020

The choice of eco-friendly materials for ground improvement is a necessary way forward for sustainable development. Adapting naturally available biopolymers will render the process of soil stabilization carbon neutral. An attempt has been made to use β-glucan, a natural biopolymer for the stabilization of lean clay as a sustainable alternative with specific emphasis on comprehending the effect of confining stresses on lean clay through triaxial compression tests. A sequence of laboratory experiments was performed to examine the various physical and mechanical characteristics of β-glucan treated soil (BGTS). Micro-analysis through micrographs were used to understand the strengthening mechanism. Results of the study show that the deviatoric stress of 2% BGTS is 12 times higher than untreated soil (UTS). The micrographs from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the results of the Nitrogen-based Brunauer Emmett Teller (N₂-BET) analysis confirm the formation of new cementitious fibres and hydrogels within the soil matrix that tends to weld soil particles and reduce the pore spaces leading to an increase in strength. Hydraulic conductivity (HC) and compressibility reduced significantly with the biopolymer content and curing period. Results emphases that β-glucan is an efficient and sustainable alternative to the traditional stabilizers like cement, lime or bitumen.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.815-830
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• 2017

Due to numerous environmental concerns in recent years, the search for and the development of sustainable technologies have been pursued. In particular, environmentally friendly methods of soil improvement, such as the potential use of biopolymers, have been researched. Previous studies on the use of biopolymers in soil improvement have shown that they can provide substantial strengthening efficiencies. However, in order to fully understand the applicability of biopolymer treated soils, various properties of these soils such as their dynamic properties must be considered. In this study, the dynamic properties of gel-type biopolymer treated soils were observed through the use of resonant column tests. Gellan gum and Xanthan gums were the target gel-type biopolymers used in this study, and the target soil for this study was jumunjin sand, the standard sand of Korea. Through this study it was demonstrated that biopolymers can be used to enhance the dynamic properties of the soil, and that they offer possibilities of reuse to reduce earthquake related soil failures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.381-390
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• 2024

The introduction of bio-based materials has been recommended in the geotechnical engineering field to reduce environmental pollutants such as heavy metals and greenhouse gases. However, bio-treated soil methods face limitations in field application due to short research periods and insufficient verification of engineering performance, especially when compared to conventional materials like cement. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a machine learning model for predicting the unconfined compressive strength, a representative soil property, of biopolymer-based soil treatment (BPST). Four machine learning algorithms were compared to determine a suitable model, including linear regression (LR), support vector regression (SVR), random forest (RF), and neural network (NN). Except for LR, the SVR, RF, and NN algorithms exhibited high predictive performance with an R² value of 0.98 or higher. The permutation feature importance technique was used to identify the main factors affecting the strength enhancement of BPST. The results indicated that the unconfined compressive strength of BPST is affected by mean particle size, followed by biopolymer content and water content. With a reliable prediction model, the proposed model can present guidelines prior to laboratory testing and field application, thereby saving a significant amount of time and money.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.79-88
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• 2009

In this study, it was studied on arching characteristics of a grand section tunnel with pre-steel-rib nail reinforcement. In this study, we examine the adaptation of tunnel plan and the case which is based on the strengthening method for preexistence tunnel and other pre-steel-rib nail while the upper part of cover depth is low or soil condition is bad. When the pre-steel-rib nail as new technology and method reinforces the foundation placed of grand section tunnel, it is much better in strengthening effect, safety and effectiveness than the conventional one. After investigation about the plan pre-steel-rib nail method, construction case and calibration data, it was confirmed and examined about the upper part of tunnel for strengthening the pre-steel-rib nail thereby arching characteristics of grand section tunnel using MIDAS/GTS finite element program. Moreover we present the method that could upgrade the accurate installation interval and adaptation method for strengthening effect to adapt the pre-steel-rib nail method in a foundation placed over a tunnel.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.45-55
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• 2012

This study is about the application of waste stone sludge as fill material. Waste stone sludge, weathered granite soil, and the mixture of the former and the latter strengthened with staple fiber are experimentally analyzed for measuring strength property. When staple fiber was mixed with waste stone sludge, weathered granite soil, and the mixture, there was a nearly linear relationship between the amount of the staple fiber and the increasing ratio of unconfined compressive strength. The increasing ratio of unconfined compressive strength was the largest in weathered granite soil. The increasing ratio of unconfined compressive strength of the mixture was similar to that of waste stone sludge. In the case of the mixture of weathered granite soil and waste stone sludge, an internal friction angle tended to increases rely on increasement of staple fiber content, whereas the change of cohesion was small. An internal friction angle was increased by 21 percent when staple fiber content is 0.75 percent. Comparing with weathered granite soil or waste stone sludge, strength parameters of the mixture were increased relatively. Thus strengthening effect of staple fiber in the mixture is expected.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.221-230
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• 2016

This paper presents a preliminary study on the influence of laterite soil replacing conventional fine aggregates on the strength properties of GGBS-blended-concrete. For this purpose, GGBS-blended-concrete samples with 40% GGBS, 60% Portland cement (PC), and locally available laterite soil was used. Laterite soils at 0, 25, 50 and 75% by weight were used in trails to replace the conventional fine aggregates. A control mix using only PC, river sand, course aggregates and water served as bench mark in comparing the performance of the composite concrete mix. Test blocks including 60 cubes for compression test; 20 cylinders for split tensile test; and 20 beams for flexural strength test were prepared in the laboratory. Results showed decreasing trends in strength parameters with increasing laterite content in GGBS-blended-concrete. 25% and 50% laterite replacement showed convincing strength (with small decrease) after 28 day curing, which is about 87-90% and 72-85% respectively in comparison to that achieved by the control mix.