• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2008

This study was carried out in order to test unsaturated hydraulic conductivity estimation of van Genuchten's and Campbell's models using one-step outflow method through Tempe pressure cell. The undisturbed soil cores (columns) were taken from Ap1, B1 and C horizons of Songjeong series (the fine loamy, mesic family of Typic Hapludults). After the saturated hydraulic conductivity Ks of the cores was determined by constant head method, water outflow rate and retentivity of cores were measured in Tempe pressure cell. Fitted curves by models accorded to measured data except for both end of pressure range. In near-saturated condition, measured water retention characteristics showed a relatively better fitness with Campbell's model than van Genuchten's. The soil unsaturated conductivity estimated by Campbell's model was higher than by van Genuchten's. In Ap1 and B1 horizon, the soil unsaturated conductivities obtained by one-step outflow method went between van Genuchten's and Campbell's hydraulic functions, slightly closer to van Genuchten's. In C horizon, van Genuchten's model had better fitness with the one-step outflow data. Consequently, van Genuchten's model generally had better fitness with measured hydraulic conductivity than Campbell's model at the soil water potential range of -10~-75 kPa, especially in C1 horizon. In near-saturated condition, Campbell's model could be thought as relatively accurate hydraulic model, because of the better fitness of Campbell's model with soil water retention data than van Genuchten's model.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2016

The time distribution of rainfall is one of the most important considerations for evaluating soil slope stability. In order to study the rainfall-induced slope failure, the rainfall pattern has generally been assumed as uniform rainfall intensity for rainfall duration. However, it should be noted that the time distribution of the design rainfall method has a significant effect on the soil slope instability. The study implemented Mononobe, Huff, and uniform method as three types of time distribution method of the design rainfall to estimate the factor of safety of soil slopes by rainfall duration. As a result, the difference of soil suction and unsaturated hydraulic properties in a soil by rainfall pattern was found through the application of an appropriate time distribution method to numerical simulation for rainfall-induced slope stability.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.119-128
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• 1988

The purpose of this research is to quantify the effects of water content(0.3~1.255%) and temperature ($4{\sim}40^{\circ}C$) on the equilibrium distribution of toxic organic pollutant in unsaturated soil. The priority pollutants, Dichloromethane and 1, 1, 1-Trichloroethane were selected as toxic organic pollutants and the Korean decomposed granite soil as the experimental soil media. Two models were developed on the basis of shapes of soil water distribution in unsaturated soil and compared; complete surface coating(model I) vs. spot clustering (model II). From the experiment, a large decrease in the values of effective partition coefficient ($K_{eff}$) was observed as the water content increased. As the temperature increased, the $K_{eff}$ values decreased, and this effect was magnified at lower water contents. The values of $K_{eff}$ were correlated better with the estimated values using model II. Thus it was experimentally proved that the soil water tends to enclose the soil grain partly at lower water contents.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.373-382
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• 2022

Unsaturated soil at high suctions is widespread. Many civil engineering projects are related to the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils at high suctions, particularly in arid and semiarid areas. To investigate water retention behaviors of nine clayey soils (one is classified as fat clay and the others are classified as lean clay according to the unified soil classification system), the high suction (3.29-286.7 MPa) was imposed on the specimens at zero net stress by the vapor equilibrium technique. In this paper, the effect of void ratio on the water retention behavior at high suction was discussed in detail. Validation data showed that soil types, i.e., different mineralogical compositions, are critical in the soil water retention behavior at a high suction range. Second, the hysteresis behavior at a high suction range is mainly related to the clay content and the specific surface area. And the mechanism of water retention and hysteresis behavior at high suctions was discussed. Moreover, the maximum suction is not a unique value, and it is crucial to determine the maximum suction value accurately, especially for the shear strength prediction at high suctions. If the soil consists of hydrophilic minerals such as montmorillonite and illite, the maximum suction will be lower than 10⁶ kPa. Finally, using the area of hysteresis to quantify the degree of hysteresis at a high suction range is proposed. There was a good correlation between the area of hydraulic hysteresis and the specific surface area.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.18-24
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• 2005

Water quality changes of wastewater effluent in the shallow aquifier condition was investigated using laboratory unsaturated and saturated SAT columns for over five months. Average DOC removal was 31.9% in the unsaturated SAT column whereas no removal occurred in the saturated SAT column. Under the shallow aquifer condition, nitrification was not completed in the unsaturated SAT column, releasing residual ammonium nitrogen into the saturated SAT column. Short retention time (one day) in the shallow unsaturated SAT column rendered DO of about 2 mg/L to the influent of the saturated SAT column. Phosphate was not removed at all in the unsaturated SAT column while complete removal was achieved in the saturated column. Consequently, organic and inorganic compounds were removed under the shallow aquifer condition as effectively as was in deep aquifer, except for the release of ammonium and relatively high DO into the saturated SAT column.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.37-48
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• 2017

Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) has been widely used to estimate the shear strength and coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils. In general, it is divided into the drying path in which the water is discharged and the wetting path in which the water is permeated, and it has a hysteresis indicating different suctions at the same volumetric water content. In reality the field behavior of unsaturated soils is much closer to the wetting path during the infiltration. The drying path has been practically used for various analyses because obtaining the wetting path takes longer than the drying path. Although many approaches for estimating wetting path have been studied till now, these are complex and do not fit well. Therefore, a simple method for estimating wetting path based on empirical approach in this study is proposed in unsaturated soils, and a feasibility study is conducted as well.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2008

It has been recognized that the behaviour of unsaturated soil plays an important role in geomechanics. However, up to now, only a few experimental data are available for the technical difficulties related to both volume changes and suction measurements. In this study, the volume changes of unsaturated compacted silty soil were monitored with proximeter during various triaxial compression tests, which gave a realistic estimation in the volume changes of unsaturated soil sample. From the test results, the behaviours of wetting-induced collapses are observed during the drainage/water absorption tests. Under exhausted-drained conditions during shearing, the shear strength increases with an increasing initial suction. On the other hand, the volume changes become small with an increase in the initial suction. And, the volumetric strain during shearing is independent of the confining pressure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.385-393
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• 2022

Previous studies postulated insignificant capillary rise (h_c) effect above the water table (H_w) for unsaturated soils. In addition, these studies utilised dry unit weight above H_w. This paper, therefore, addresses the effect of these postulations on strength where the influence of h_c using a modified upper bound approach, Discontinuity Layout Optimization (UNSAT-DLO) for a simulated soil was predicted. Two different parametric studies to model passive earth pressure and bearing capacity problems are carried out to provide an insight into the effect of capillary rise on strength. Significant increase in strength, owing to unsaturated conditions, was obtained where the maximum increase was when suction slightly less or greater than the air entry suction. On the other hand, the results showed a negative effect of h_c. For example, up to 8.24% decrease in passive thrust (P_p) was obtained at H_w=0 m when h_c rose 1 m from 0 m. To put this into perspective, this was equivalent to a decrease of about 2° in 𝜙 at H_w=0 m and h_c =0 m in order to obtain the same result at h_c =1 m. For the bearing capacity problem, the effect was seen to be higher, up to 18.4% decrease in N_𝛾 was obtained when h_c rose from 0 m to 2.5 m at H_w =0 m. In addition, the results revealed a negative influence of assigning dry unit weight above H_w or h_c.. However, considerable increase in strength was obtained when unsaturated unit weight above h_c was assigned.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.17-27
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• 2011

Recently, a physically based model of water-table fluctuation due to precipitation is developed based on aquifer water balance model. In the model, it was assumed that the water infiltration into ground surface is advection dominant and immediately reaches to water-table. The assumption may be suited for the sites where the water-table is shallow and/or the permeability of the unsaturated zone is high. However, there are more cases where the model is not directly applicable due to thick and low permeable unsaturated zone. For the low permeability unsaturated zone, the pattern of water flux passing through unsaturated zone is diffusive as well as advective. In this study, to improve the previously developed water-table fluctuation model, we combined the delayed drainage model, which has long been used in well hydraulics, to the water-table fluctuation model. To test the validity of the development, we apply the developed model to 5 different domestic sites. The model parameters are calibrated based on the groundwater hydrograph and the precipitation time series, and the correlation analyses among the parameters are pursued. The overall analyses on the delineated model parameters indicate that the delayed drainage parameters or delay index used in the developed model are able to reveal drainage information in the unsaturated zones.