• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.343-353
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• 2024

The hydraulic anisotropic behavior of unsaturated soil has not been fully explored in relation to the grain-size distribution. The present study conducted laboratory assessments to examine the hydraulic anisotropy condition of statically compacted specimens in various initial states. The investigation incorporated the concept of hydraulic anisotropy by employing two discrete forms of soil stratification: horizontal-layering (HL) and vertical-layering (VL). The examined soils comprised sandy silt and silty sand, exhibiting either unimodal or bimodal soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). This study aimed to investigate the potential correlation between the hydraulic anisotropy ratio and soil properties. The present study established a correlation between the hydraulic anisotropy ratio and several soil parameters, including fine content, dry density, plastic limit, and liquid limit. The study results indicate a non-linear relationship between the percentage of fine and dry density in soils with unimodal and bimodal soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and hydraulic anisotropy ratio.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.411-420
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• 2020

Numbers fitting-curve equations have been proposed to predict soil-water retention curve (SWRC) whose parameters have no definitude physical meaning. And these methods with precondition of measuring SWRC data is time-consuming. A simplified directly method to estimate SWRC without parameters obtained by fitting-curve is proposed. Firstly, the total SWRC can be discretized into linear segments respectively. Every segment can be represented by linear formulation and every turning point can be determined by the pore-size distribution (PSD) of Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP) tests. The pore diameters governing the air-entry condition (AEC) and residual condition (RC) can be determined by the PSDs of MIP test. The PSD changes significantly during drying in SWR test, so the determination of AEC and RC should use the PSD under corresponding suction conditions. Every parameter in proposed equations can be determined directly by PSD without curve-fitting procedure and has definitude physical meaning. The proposed equations give a good estimation of both unimodal and bimodal SWRCs.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.7-21
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• 2013

Twelve-hour size-resolved atmospheric aerosols were measured to determine size distributions of water-soluble organic carbon(WSOC) during daytime and nighttime, and to investigate sources and formation pathways of WSOC in individual particle size classes. Mass, WSOC, ${NO_3}^-$, $K^+$, and $Cl^-$ at day and night showed mostly bimodal size distributions, peaking at the size range of $0.32-0.55{\mu}m$(condensation mode) and $3.1-6.2{\mu}m$(coarse mode), respectively, with a predominant condensation mode and a minor coarse mode. While ${NH_4}^+$ and ${SO_4}^{2-}$ showed unimodal size distributions which peaked between 0.32 and $0.55{\mu}m$. WSOC was enriched into nuclei mode particles(< $0.1{\mu}m$) based on the WSOC-to-mass and WSOC-to-water soluble species ratios. The sources and formation mechanisms of WSOC were inferred in reference to the size distribution characteristics of inorganic species(${SO_4}^{2-}$, ${NO_3}^-$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Na^+$, and $Cl^-$) and carbon monoxide. Nuclei mode WSOC was likely associated with primary combustion sources during daytime and nighttime. Among significant sources contributing to the condensation mode WSOC were homogeneous gas-phase oxidation of VOCs, primary combustion emissions, and fresh(or slightly aged) biomass burning aerosols. The droplet mode WSOC could be attributed to aqueous oxidation of VOCs in clouds, cloud-processed biomass burning aerosols, and small contributions from primary combustion sources. From the correlations between WSOC and soil-related particles, and between WSOC and sea-salt particles, it is suggested that the coarse mode WSOC during daytime is likely to condense on the soil-related particles($K^+$ and $Ca^{2+}$), while the WSOC in the coarse fraction during nighttime is likely associated with the sea-salt particles($Na^+$).

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2009

The Asian dust storms which originated in the deserts of Mongolia and China transported particles to Korea and led to a high concentration of atmospheric particulate matters (PM) of more than $1000{\mu}g/m^3$ throughout the country in the spring, of 2007. Public concern, in Korea, about the possible adverse effects of these dust events has increased, as these dust storms can contain various air pollutants emitted from heavily industrialized eastern China. The objectives of this study were to understand the concentration characteristics of PM as a function of particle size between the Asian dust storm episodes and non-Asian dust period and to consider the mass size distribution of PM in the Asian dust storms and their water soluble ion species on the potential, possible effects on deposition levels in the three regions (nasopharyngeal, tracheobronchial, and alveolar) of the human respiratory system. The size distribution of PM mass concentration during the Asian dust storms showed a peak in the coarse particle region due to the long-range transport of soil particles from the deserts of Mongolia and China, which was identified by HYSPLIT-4 model for backward trajectory analysis of air arriving in the sampling site of Iksan. During the non-Asian dust period, there were two different types in PM size distribution: bimodal distribution when low concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ were observed, while unimodal distribution having a peak in fine particle region when high concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ were showed. This unimodal distribution with high concentrations of fine particulate and secondary air pollutants such as ${SO_4}^{2-}$, ${NO_3}^-$, ${NH_4}^+$ was found to be due to the long-range transport of air pollutants from industrialized eastern China. During the Asian dust storms, the mean concentrations of PM that can be deposited in the nasopharyngeal, tracheobronchial, and alveolar region were $128.8{\mu}g/m^3$, $216.5{\mu}g/m^3$, and $89.6{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. During the non-Asian dust period, the mean concentrations of PM that can be deposited in the nasopharyngeal, tracheobronchial, and alveolar region were $8.4{\mu}g/m^3$, $9.5{\mu}g/m^3$ and $38.5{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.543-555
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• 2006

During a twenty-day period in 2005, a nine-stage Andersen cascade impactor was used to determine the seasonal size distribution of atmospheric particles and its inorganic ion species sampled for 24hr in Iksan city, located southwest of the Korean peninsula. Samples were analyzed for major water-soluble ion species using Dionex-100 ion chromatograph. Average fine and coarse mass concentrations of atmospheric particles were, respectively, 31.4 and $82.6{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ in spring and 35.8 and $73.4{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ in fall-winter during the sampling period of 2005, while measurements of 69.8 and 9.9 were obtained in the sampling period of summer, The size distribution of particulate mass concentration during the non-Asian dust period was generally bimodal, whereas the size distribution of particulate mass concentration during the Asian dust period was unimodal due to the significant increase of coarse particles, which originated from long-range transport of soil dust particles from loess regions of the Asian continent. Among ionic species, $SO{_4}^{2-},\;NH{_4}^+,\;K^+$ were mainly distributed in fine particles due to their characteristics of emission sources and gas-to-particle conversion, while $Na^+,\;Mg^{2+}\;and\;Ca^{2+}$ were dominantly in coarse particles. However, $NO_3{^-}\;and\;Cl^-$ were distributed in both coarse particles and fine particles. Although $SO{_4}^{2-}$ was mainly distributed in fine particles, the size distributions of $SO{_4}^{2-}$ in coarse mode were significantly increased during the Asian dust events compared to those during the non-Asian dust period. $Ca^{2+}$ showed the most abundant species in the atmospheric particles during the Asian dust period. $NH{_4}^+$ was found to mainly exist as $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ in fine particles.