• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.75-87
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• 2021

Because the hydraulic/mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soil is more complicated than that of saturated soil, one of the most important issues in modelling unsaturated soil is to properly couple its stress-strain relationship with its water retention characteristics. Based on the results of a series of tests, the stress-strain relationship and the changes in suction and saturation of unsaturated completely decomposed granite (CDG, also called Masado) vary substantially under different loading/hydraulic conditions. To precisely model the hydraulic/mechanical behaviour of unsaturated Masado, in this study, the superloading concept was firstly introduced into an existing saturated/unsaturated constitutive model to consider the structural influences. Then a water retention curve (WRC) model considering the volumetric change in the soil, in which the skeleton and scanning curves of the water retention characteristics were assumed to shift in parallel in accordance with the change in the void ratio, was proposed. The proposed WRC model was incorporated into the constitutive model, and the validity of the newly proposed model was verified using the results of tests conducted on unsaturated Masado, including water retention, oedometer and triaxial tests. The accuracy of the proposed model in describing the stress-strain relationship and the variations in suction and saturation of unsaturated Masado is satisfactory.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.21-28
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• 2010

Decomposed granite soil is the most common type of soils. The measurement of the stress-strain-strength behavior of anisotropic decomposed granite soils is very important for the deformation and stability analysis of slopes, retaining walls, excavations. A series of unsaturated-drained triaxial compression tests were performed to know unsaturated strength properties. The sample had three different angles of the axial (major principal) direction to the sedimentation plane (compaction plane): 0, 45 and 90 degrees. The compression strain of specimens subjected to an isotropic compression was strongly influenced by the sedimentation angle. In addition, the time dependence was independent of the sedimentation angle in relation to the deformation behavior during the secondary compression process. The effect of the sedimentation angle on the triaxial compression strength and deformation was clearly shown with low confining stress. The effect of the sedimentation angle on the compressive strength and deformation was more evident in saturated specimens. A new method of predicting the shear strength of unsaturated decomposed granite soils, considering compaction angles, was proposed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.541-548
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• 2001

The interest in the dynamic properties of soils has increased strongly because of earthquake, heavy traffic, and foundations undergo high amplitude of vibrations. Most of soils in Korean peninsula are composed of granite soils, especially the decomposed mudstone soils are widely spread in Pohang areas, Kyong-buk province. Therefore, it Is very important to investigate the dynamic properties of these types of soils. The most important soil parameters under dynamic loadings are shear modulus and material dampings. Furthermore, few definitive data exist that can evaluate the behavior of unsaturated decomposed mudstone soils under dynamic loading conditions. The investigations described in this paper is designed to identify the shear modulus and damping ratio due to a surface tension for the unsaturated decomposed mudstone soils ulder low and high strain amplitude, For this purpose, the resonant column test and the cyclic triaxial test were performed. Test results and data have shown that the optimum degree of saturation under low and strain amplitude is 32 ∼ 37% which is higher than that of decomposed granite due to the amount of fine particles as well as the type and proportion of chief rock-forming minerals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.4 no.2 s.13
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• pp.19-27
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• 2004

The interest in the dynamic properties of soils has increased strongly because of earthquake, heavy traffic, and foundations undergo high amplitude of vibrations. Most of soils in Korean peninsula are composed of granite soils, especially the decomposed mudstone soils are widely spread in Pohang areas, Kyong-buk province. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the dynamic properties of these types of soils. The most important soil parameters under dynamic loadings are shear modulus and material dampings. Furthermore, few definitive data exist that can evaluate the behavior of unsaturated decomposed mudstone soils under dynamic loading conditions. The investigations described in this paper is designed to identify the shear modulus and damping ratio due to a surface tension for the unsaturated decomposed mudstone soils under low and high strain amplitude. For this purpose, the resonant column test and the cyclic triaxial test were performed. Test results and data have shown that the optimum saturated degree of decomposed mudstone soils under low and strain amplitude is $32{\sim}37%$ which is higher than that of decomposed granite due to the amount of fine particles as well as the type and proportion of chief rock-forming minerals.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.175-183
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• 1999

Recently, problems related to vibrations of decomposed granite soils have acquired increasing attention in Korea because those soils cover approximately one third of the country. Both resonant column and cyclic triaxial test were performed to investigate deformation characteristics of unsaturated and cement-mixed decomposed granite soils in Suwon region. The important soil parameters in this respect are the shear moduli, dynamic moduli of elasticity and damping ratios. The dynamic parameters are influenced by variables such as strain amplitude, ratio of loading cycles, and degree of saturations, etc. Test results and data have shown that the optimum degree of saturation to the maximum shear modulus due to a capillary menisci effect was about 17~18 % at low strain amplitude and 10~15 % at intermediate strain amplitude. This paper suggests the range of threshold strain and mean shear modulus of decomposed granite soils in Suwon region. It also proposed the empirical relationship between the dynamic parameters for cement-mixed and non-mixed decomposed granite soils.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.5 no.2 s.17
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• pp.57-63
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• 2005

In case of general structures, it has been known that the strain amplitude band experienced by the base in a state of service load is less than 1% and most of the base show low, strain amplitude behavior less than 0.01%. In this study examining the influence affected to dynamic behavior in a condition of the low strain amplitude of unsaturated decomposed granite soils, the resonant column test, using some samples in Su-won area, has been performed for each degree of saturation resulted from different void ratios and confined stress. It is found out that the minimum value of the damping ratio occurred in roughly $17{\sim}18%$ according to void ratios regardless of confined pressure in the same manner with the case of the maximum shear elastic modulus; and it is estimated that for the influence of surface tension in the optimum degree of saturation, the damping ratio appears to be least.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2003

The suction of unsaturated soil is one of the important variables to influence on volume change behavior. This research was performed to analyze the soil-water characteristic of decomposed granite soils in Chung Cheong area, and showed relationship with grain-size distribution. Empirical parameters a, n, m are main variables that can be used in the empirical equations in order to predict unsaturated soil. Decomposed granite soils is taken at 12 field, and redistributed due to a, n, m parameters. The result of Extractor test is showed that matric suction is effected by the grain-size distribution curve's left-right location, degree of an angle and fine contents of a soil.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.5-12
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• 2005

In order to investigate the strength and deformation anisotropy of compacted decomposed granite soils, a series of unsaturated-drained triaxial compression tests were performed. The sample used in the study was decomposed granite soil from Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi prefecture. The sample had three different angles of the axial (major principal) direction to the sedimentation plane (compaction plane), 0, 45 and 90 degrees. The compression strain of specimens subjected to isotropic compression was strongly influenced by the sedimentation angle. In addition, the time dependence was independent of the sedimentation angle in relation to the deformation behavior during the secondary compression process. The effect of the sedimentation angle on the triaxial compression strength and deformation was clear with low confining stress. Moreover, it was recognized that although the sedimentation angle and preparation methods were different, the dilatancy rate was relative to the increment of strength due to dilatancy. Therefore, it may be concluded that the compacted specimen has anisotropic mechanical properties similar to those of sand with initial fabric anisotropy.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.181-194
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• 1999

Both the chemical components and the physical and mechanical properties of the compacted and undisturbed weathered granite soils were estimated to investigate the influences of the degree of weathering and saturation on the shear strength. The weathered granite soils used in this study were taken from six different sites in Korea. The results showed that the shear strength of weathered granite soil decreased with increasing the degree of weathering and saturation. Under the normal stresses less that 40kPa, the shape of Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope followed curved or hyperbolic relationship and a half of cohesion value obtained by the common shear test was observed. Using the Sueoka's method, the values of CWI were ranged from 21.5 to 31.26 which can be characterized as a completely weathered granite soil. Large decrease in shear strength and remarkable variation in dilatancy were observed in saturated granite soil compared to unsaturated soil. It was also found that the shear strength of undisturbed weathered granite soil of Pungam site can be expressed approximately by the equation of ${(\tau)_{sat}= 1.0(\tau)_{unsat}-12.48}$ and this equation can be extended to the other sites considered in this study.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.9-18
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• 2008

Shallow slope failures in residual soil during periods of prolonged infiltration are common in Korea. This study examines an infinite slope analysis to estimate the influence of infiltration on surficial stability of slopes by the limit equilibrium method. Approximate method which is based on the Green-Ampt model have been considered to evaluate the likelihood of shallow slope failure which is induced by a particular rainfall event that accounts for the rainfall intensity and duration for various return periods. Pradel & Raad method which is devised to predict the depth of wetting front to decomposed granite soil slopes having measured soil-water characteristic curves. To compare the results with those obtained from the Pradel & Raad method, a series of numerical analysis using SEEP/W were carried out. It was found that the stability analysis of unsaturated soils calculated by using the soil-water characteristic curve of decomposed granite soils was found to be a proper analysis for shallow slope failures due to rainfall.