• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.111-118
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the overburden effect on soil-water characteristic curve and unsaturated permeability of unsaturated weathered soils. For this, unsaturated suction and permeability tests under various overburden stress were conducted respectively. Then, the coefficient of unsaturated permeability and moisture capacity of weathered soils were estimated and compared. All these results are presented in the paper.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1C
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• pp.53-63
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• 2010

Since the water retention curve is considered as a major parameter to evaluate the unsaturated ground or soils, overburden pressure and clay content on soils underneath ground surface have not been considered for estimating water retention characteristics. Therefore, a need exists that the effect of overburden pressure and clay content on water retention characteristics was assessed in typical weathered soils found in Korea. Soil-Water Characteristic Curve and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity were estimated using water retention characteristics under the condition of different overburden pressure, clay content, and de-saturation path. Then, these effects are evaluated with the results of SWCC tests from the laboratory. In addition to that, the unsaturated moisture capacity and diffusivity of each case is discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.55-65
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• 2009

It has been well known that the infiltration of rainfall causes major surfacial slope failures in Korea. However, the hydrological and mechanical behaviors in unsaturated slopes are somewhat complex. When an analysis on unsaturated slope problems is performed, soil-water characteristics curves (SWCC) are considered as major parameters to apply. Since the weathered soil slopes are layered and stressed by overburden pressures, the response of SWCCs should account for its overburden pressure. To deal with this situation, in this study, laboratory testings were conducted to evaluate the SWCC under various overburden stress. In addition, the unsaturated shear strength was estimated using SWCC. Then the performance of unsaturated weathered soil slopes was evaluated under various conditions after applying the effect of overburden pressure on SWCCs. The results demonstrated that the effect of overburden pressure on SWCC could be substantial and the proper application to analysis is very important to enhance the prediction of slope stability.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.53-60
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• 2010

The comprehensive tests on unsaturated weathered granite soils are carried out to obtain the soil-water characteristic curve that is the one of the essential requisites to study the unsaturated soil. The weathered granite soils were obtained at Palgong mountain in Daegu. The existing test results have been carried out without overburden pressures and volume changes. In this study, the volumetric pressure plate extractor is improved to consider two factors such as overburden pressure and volume change. The applied overburden pressures were 0, 25, 50, 75, 100kPa and volume changes were measured at each phase. he results of this study are summarized as follows: As the overburden pressure increases, the volumetric water content decreases at the same matric suction and the air entry value increases and gradient of curve at the transition zone and the size of the hysteresis loops decreases. As the overburden pressure increases, the degree of saturation increases at the same matric suction and degree of saturation of the wetting curve is higher than that of dry curve. The SWCC with volume changes are slightly larger than those without volume changes. The general equation proposed by Fredlund & Xing(1994) to fit the experimental result of the SWCC indicates good agreement. The empirical parameters a, n, m as overburden pressure show similar inclination as the existing results.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.297-306
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• 1999

In this research, the frost heave mechanism of the weathered tuff soil sampled from the area tying between Ulanbator and Beijing was studied. The frost heave tests were carried maintaining the constant temperature at both upper$(+5^{\circ}C)\; and\; lower(-5^{\circ}C)$ ends of the sample. Here, main emphasis is given on variation of the freezing point depression with the variation of applied overburden pressure. The expansion of ice lens and migration of the pore water towards freezing front were observed in the test. It was found that with the increase in overburden pressure there is decrease in heave rate and increase in the absolute value of a segregation-freezing temperature. Hence the equation between segregation-freezing temperature and overburden pressure could be suggested. Also the water content of the samples at the frozen side was shown to be higher than those at the unfrozen side. Similarly, the water at warmer part of the frozen tuff was found much higher than that of the cooler part.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1994.03b
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• pp.13-46
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• 1994

Artificial ground freezing methods have been applied to geotechnical construction projects for stabilizing earth materials and controlling water seepage into the ground. However, this can result in frost heaving and causes the same engineering problems as encountered with the natural freezing of soil. In natural freezing, the ground freezes from the surface downward. When artificial ground freezing is applied at a deep location, however, freezing is limited locally. The soil condition differs between them as follows: Natural freezing - unsaturated and without overburden pressure. Artificial freezing -- saturated and under overburden pressure. The authors investigated the practical application of artificial ground freezing and examined the frost behaviour of a saturated soil under overburden pressure. This paper presents the results obtained from experiments concerning frost heaving and discusses frost heaving at the freezing site.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.1-20
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• 1996

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.599-606
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• 2010

It has been reported that many slope failures in unsaturated soils are mainly caused by downward infiltration due to rainfall. The rainfall characteristics could be an important factor, and more predictable slope failures can be achieved by considering more reasonable rainfall conditions. So, a need exists that these trends of infiltration in weathered soils, which is commonly found in Korea, are assessed by considering rainfall conditions based on phenomenological approach. In this paper, numerical analyses of unsaturated soil slope under rainfall conditions are presented based on the soil-water characteristic curve in the laboratory and huff method. Then the performance of unsaturated weathered soil slopes was evaluated under various conditions after applying the effect of overburden pressure on SWCCs and fines contents. The results demonstrated that the rainfall conditions using Huff method can be very effective and the proper application on analysis is very important to enhance the prediction on unsaturated slope stability.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2018

In this study, the torque and horizontal stress acting on vane were measured and then used to determine a friction angle of sand. A dry Nakdong River sand was prepared for loose and dense conditions in a cell and then pressurized with 25, 50, 75 or 100 kPa from the surface of sand. A vane (5cm in diameter and 10cm in height) was rotated and the torque and horizontal stress were measured at real time. A maximum torque was 3.5-9.5Nm for loose sand and 7.4-17.6Nm for dense sand, respectively. The maximum torque increased as an overburden pressure increased. The maximum torque obtained at 14-20 degrees of vane rotation, which was not influenced by the initial alignment of earth pressure and vane blade. An initial horizontal stress ratio was 0.33-0.35 on the average. The horizontal stress increased initially and then decreased due to particle disturbance. A friction angle was calculated from real time varying horizontal stress and torque, which decreased with increasing overburden pressure. The friction angle of loose sand from vane shear test was similar to that of direct shear test but that of dense sand was overestimated.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.481-495
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• 2021

This article assesses and estimates the progressive failure mechanism of complex pit-rest secondary toppling of slopes that are located within the vicinity of the Gas Flare Site of Refinery No. 4 in South Pars Special Zone (SPSZ), southwest Iran. The finite element numerical procedure based on the Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) technique has been employed for the stability analysis. In this regard, several step modelling stages that were conducted to evaluate the slope stability status revealed that the main instability was situated on the left-hand side (western) slope in the Flare Site. The toppling was related to the rock column-overburden system in relation to the overburden pressure on the rock columns which led to the progressive instability of the slope. This load transfer from the overburden has most probably led to the separation of the rock column and to its rotation downstream of the slope in the form of a complex pit-rest secondary toppling. According to the numerical modelling, it was determined that the Strength Reduction Factor (SRF) decreased substantially from 5.68 to less than 0.320 upon progressive failure. The estimated shear and normal stresses in the block columns ranged from 1.74 MPa to 8.46 MPa, and from 1.47 MPa to 16.8 MPa, respectively. In addition, the normal and shear displacements in the block columns ranged from 0.00609 m to 0.173 m and from 0.0109 m to 0.793 m, respectively.