• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.35-43
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• 2006

This study was carried out to investigate the liquefaction behaviour and predict deviator stress with matric suction, of unsaturated silty sand. The unsaturated soil tests were conducted using a modified triaxial cell and specimens were prepared using the moisture tamping method. The axis translation technique was used to create the desired matric suctions in the specimen. Undrained triaxial compression tests were carried out at matric suction of 0, 2, 5, 10 and 25 kPa. The specimens were sheared to axial strains of about 20% to obtain steady state conditions. The results showed that liquefaction of silty sand only occurs at matric suction of 0 kPa and 2 kPa. The results also show that at matric suctions of 5, 10 and 25 kPa, the resistance to liquefaction increases. As the suction increases, the undrained effective stress path approached the drained stress path. Also, the predicted and measured maximum deviator stress for unsaturated soils using the effective stress concept showed good agreement as matric suction increases. The deviator stress increase is nonlinear as matric suction increases.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.1C
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• pp.7-16
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• 2012

In this paper, using the principle of Static Measurement Methods suggested by Huang (1998), a new experimental device has been made and used in order to calculate the unsaturated permeability of Nak-dong river sand with silt which is an important basic property in the unsaturated soil. This device was designed to measure changes of the unsaturated permeability according to the increase of matric suction. The value of the unsaturated permeability obtained in testing and that obtained using the empirical permeability functional formula were compared and analyzed. As a result, the value of the unsaturated permeability tends to be decreased according to the increase of relative density, silt content and matric suction. This tendency shows it is very closely related to the change of moisture content and void ratio. The empirical permeability functional formula presented by Frelund & Xing (1995) was regarded as the most appropriate model to represent the unsaturated permeability of Nak-dong River silty sand.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.836-841
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• 2008

CFRD (Concrete Faced Rockfill Dam) has been world-widely constructed due to a lot of advantages compared with rockfill dam and recently, sand/gravel materials, instead of crushed rock materials, are also utilized as a main rockfill material to overcome geological and environmental problems. In this paper, the process of water infiltration into the originally unsaturated sand/gravel-fill dam is studied using two-dimensional saturated-unsaturated seepage theory. According to the results of seepage analysis, if the effective drainage zone is installed in the dam, the reservoir water infiltrate into the dam along a downward flow path towards the lower drainage area. The main body constructed with sand/gravel materials, therefore, remains unsaturated.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.343-362
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• 2013

Simple relationships are proposed in this paper by modifying the Schmertmann's equation for settlement estimations of footings (i.e., $B/L{\approx}1$) carrying vertical loads in saturated and unsaturated sandy soils. The modified method is developed using model plate load tests (PLTs) and cone penetration tests (CPTs) results conducted in saturated and unsaturated sand in a controlled laboratory environment. Seven in-situ large-scale footings tested under both saturated and unsaturated conditions in sands were used to validate the proposed technique. The results of the study are encouraging as they provide reliable estimates of the settlement of shallow footings in both saturated and unsaturated sands using the conventional CPT results.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.419-429
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• 2020

To investigate the effect of spatial variability on hydraulic properties of unsaturated soils, a numerical model is set up which can simulate seepage process in an unsaturated heterogeneous soil. The unsaturated heterogeneous soil is composed of matrix sand embedded with a small proportion of clay for simulating the heterogeneity. Soil-water characteristic curve and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curve of the unsaturated soil are expressed by Van Genuchten model. Hydraulic parameters of the matrix sand are considered as random fields. Different autocorrelation lengths (ACLs) of hydraulic parameter of the matrix sand and different proportions of clay are assumed to investigate the influence of spatial variability on the equivalent hydraulic properties of the heterogeneous soil. Four model sizes are used in the numerical experiments to investigate the influence of scale effects and to determine the sizes of representative volume element (RVE) in the numerical simulations. Through a number of Monte Carlo simulations of unsaturated seepage analysis, the means and the coefficients of variations (COVs) of the equivalent hydraulic parameters of the heterogeneous soil are calculated. Simulations show that the ACL and model size has little influence on the means of the equivalent hydraulic parameters, but they have a large influence on the COVs of the equivalent hydraulic parameters. The size of an RVE is mainly affected by the ACL and the proportion of heterogeneity. The influence of spatial variability on the hydraulic parameters of the heterogeneous unsaturated soil can be used as a guidance for geotechnical reliability analysis and design related to unsaturated soils.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.129-134
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to investigate properties of unsaturated polyester mortar using the shale as find aggregates. To evaluate properties of unsaturated polyester mortar using crushed sand from Black shale, Red shale, Gray shale, we peformed the experiment according the F/B ratio of 25, 30, 35% and the volume of fine aggregate of 50, 53, 56%. The Result of this study is as follows. the strength of unsaturated polyester mortar is higher than those of river sand. The F/B ratio is higher and the volume of find aggregate is lower, the strength of unsaturated polyester mortar is higher

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.761-768
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• 2008

This paper presents the results of a laboratory study on the thermal conductivity of sand(silica, quartzite, limestone, sandstone, granite and masonry sand)-water mixtures used in ground heat exchanger backfilling materials. Nearly 260 tests were performed in a thermal conductivity measuring system to characterize the relationships between the thermal conductivity of mixtures and the water content. The experimental results show that the thermal conductivity of mixtures increases with increasing dry density and with increasing water content. The most widely used empirical prediction models for thermal conductivity of soils were found inappropriate to estimate the thermal conductivity of unsaturated sand-water mixtures. An improved model using a exponential relationship to compute the thermal conductivity of dry sands and empirical relationship to assess the normalized thermal conductivity of unsaturated sand-water mixtures is presented.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.2369-2379
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• 2013

The Soil-Water Characteristics Curve (SWCC) is affected by the initial density of soil under unsaturated condition. Also, the characteristic of hydraulic conductivity is changed by the initial density of soil. To study the effect of initial density of unsaturated soil, SWCC and the Hydraulic Conductivity Function (HCF) of Jumoonjin sand with various relative densities, 40%, 60% and 75% were measured in both drying and wetting processes. As the results of SWCC estimated by van Genuchten (1980) model, the parameter related to Air Entry Value(AEV), ${\alpha}$ in the wetting process is larger than that in drying process, but the parameters related to the SWCC slope, n and the residual water content, m are larger than those in wetting process. The AEV is increased or Water Entry Value (WEV) is decreased with increasing the relative density of sand. The AEV is larger than the WEV at the same relative density of sand. As the results of HCF estimated by van Genuchten (1980) model which is one of the parameter estimation methods, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity maintained at a saturated one in the low level of matric suctions and then suddenly decreased just before the AEV or the WEV. The saturated hydraulic conductivity in drying process is larger than that in wetting process. The saturated hydraulic conductivity is decreased with increasing the relative density of sand in both drying and wetting processes. Also, the hysteresis in unsaturated HCFs between drying and wetting process was occurred like the hysteresis in SWCCs. According to the test results, the AEV on SWCC is decreased and the saturated hydraulic conductivity is increased with increasing the initial density. It means that SWCC and HCF are affected by the initial density in the unsaturated soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.27-33
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• 2011

Infiltration plays an important role in the urban water cycle. Infiltration has a potential to contribute to groundwater recharge in addition to runoff reduction. However, infiltration in urban areas has been considered only as a means of runoff reduction. Conventional design methods for infiltration facilities assume soils to be fully-saturated for the sake of simplicity. The amount of groundwater recharge can not be estimated properly with this scheme. Hence, the characteristics of the unsaturated soil condition need to be considered. The finite element model using SEEP/W to estimate infiltration under the unsaturated condition is presented. Infiltration tests for Joomonjin sand are performed and the infiltration behavior of Joomoonjin sand under the unsaturated condition is measured experimentally to verify the validity of the finite element model. The results from comparing infiltrated volume between the saturated and the unsaturated conditions under the same soil and rainfall conditions show that the infiltrated volume in the unsaturated condition is two times bigger than that in the saturated condition.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2004

The permeation movements of groundwater recharge and contaminate materials receive a eat effect due to porosity and effective porosity of porous media which is composing underground consisted of saturation and unsaturated states. This study developed Frequency Domain Reflectometry(FDR) system and measurement sensor, and then carried out the laboratory experiments to measure effective porosity for unsaturated porous media. Also, I suggested dielectric mixing models(DMMs) which can calculate the effective porosity from relation of measured dielectric constants. In the experimental results the extent range of effective porosity of standard sand and river sand which are unsaturated soil sample were measured in about 65∼85 % for porosity. In relation of effective porosity and porosity, especially, effective porosity confirmed that displays decreasing a little tendency as porosity increases. This is because unsaturated soil did not reach in saturation enough by air of very small amount that exist in pore between soil particles.