• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.27-33
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• 2016

This study expanded Terzaghi arching formula, which assumed a vertical surface as a sliding surface, to consider an arbitrarily inclined surface as a sliding surface and examined the effect of a sliding surface. This study firstly developed a formula to expand the existing Terzaghi arching formula to consider an inclined surface as well as a vertical surface as a sliding surface under the downward movement of a trap door. Using the expanded formula, the effect of excavation, ground, and surcharge conditions on a vertical stress was examined and the results were compared with them from Terzaghi arching formula. The comparison indicated that the induced vertical stress was highly affected by the angle of an inclined sliding surface and the degree of influence depended on the excavation, ground, and surcharge conditions. It is expected that the results from this study would provide a better understanding of various arching phenomenon in the future.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.71-86
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• 2022

In Taiwan, an efficient approach for enhancing the stability of colluvium slopes is the drilled shaft method. For slopes with drilled shafts, the soil arching effect is one of the primary factors influencing slope stability and intertwines to the failure mechanism of the pile-soil system. In this study, the contribution of soil arching effect to slope stability is evaluated using the FEM software (Plaxis 3D) with the built-in strength reduction technique. The result indicates the depth of the failure surface is influenced by the S/D ratio (the distance to the diameter of piles), which can reflect the contribution of the soil arching effect to soil stability. When α (rock inclination angles)=β (slope angles) is considered and the S/D ratio=4, the failure surface of the slope is not significantly influenced by the piles. Overall, the soil arching effect is more significant on α=β, especially for the steep slopes. Additionally, the soil arching effect has been included in the proposed stability charts. The proposed charts were validated through two case studies, including that of the well-known Woo-Wan-Chai field in Taiwan. The differences in safety factor (FoS) values between the referenced literature and this study was approximately 4.9%.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.375-381
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• 2017

A full-scale field test was conducted to investigate the arching effect of an embankment pile. The arching effect calculated from the test results was compared with theoretical values. Measurements obtained from a load cell and an earth pressure cell during the field test reflected the arching effect of the embankment pile well. The arching effect measured by load cells for an embankment height of 3m or less was smaller than the theoretical value with the assumption of plain strain.The measured effect for a height of 4 m or more was larger than the theoretical value. In contrast to the consistent decrease of the theoretical arching effect, the arching effect obtained from the field test shows continually increasing trends. The arching effects calculated from the earth pressure cells were greater than those from the theory under the plain strain assumption, but the trend was similar to the theoretical one. The arching effects measured by the earth pressure cells an embankment heights of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 m were 1.05, 1.23, 1.29, 1.28, and 1.29 times greater than those from the theory under the assumption of plain strain. The arching effects from the field test were much greater than those from the theory under the installation of a pile grid.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.879-896
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• 2016

A new earth pressure equation considering the arching effect in $c-{\phi}$ soils was proposed for the accurate calculation of earth pressure on circular vertical shafts. The arching effect and the subsequent load recovery phenomenon occurring due to multi-step excavation were quantitatively investigated through laboratory tests. The new earth pressure equation was verified by comparing the test results with the earth pressures predicted by new equation in various soil conditions. Resulting from testing by using multi-step excavation, the arching effect and load recovery were clearly observed. The test results in $c-{\phi}$ soil showed that even a small amount of cohesion can cause the earth pressure to decrease significantly. Therefore, predicting earth pressure without considering such cohesion can lead to overestimation of earth pressure. The test results in various ground conditions demonstrated that the newly proposed equation, which enables consideration of cohesion as appropriate, is the most reliable equation for predicting earth pressure in both ${\phi}$ soil and $c-{\phi}$ soil. The comparison of the theoretical equations with the field data measured on a real construction site also highlighted the best-fitness of the theoretical equation in predicting earth pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.127-136
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• 2004

The soil arching in the backfill, which affects the magnitude and distribution of active earth pressure on a retaining wall, has also an effect on the stability and cross-sectional area of the retaining wall. In this study, results obtained from Paik's equation that includes arching effect on active earth pressure are compared with those from Coulomb theory to investigate the influence of the soil arching on active earth pressure, overturning moment, stability and cross-sectional area of translating rigid retaining walls. The comparisons show that the active forces including arching effects are always higher than those from Coulomb theory, irrespective of $\phi$ and $\delta$ values. The overturning moments, shear force and moment on the rigid wall are also higher when considering arching effects than when not considering arching effects. The deviation of shear forces and moments by including and excluding arching effects becomes maximum at the height of 0.02-0.08 times wall height from the base of the wall. Therefore, if a translating rigid retaining walls is designed based on Coulomb theory, the wall may reach sliding and overturning failures due to arching effect in the backfill and the cross-sectional area of the wall, especially at lower part of the wall, may not be sufficient to resist to shear force and moment.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.67-74
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• 2012

The arching effect of the active earth pressure acting on an excavation wall subjected to close excavation reduces lateral earth pressure acting on excavation wall. In this paper, the arching effect was estimated for varying width to excavation depth ratio and wall friction angle by analytical and numerical methods verified with centrifuge test results. The arching effect is significant when the width to excavation depth ratio and wall friction angle is decreased and increased, respectively. The analytical solution derived from the classical arching theory suggested by Handy(1985) shows good agreement with the numerical solution than the other solutions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.413-420
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• 2019

The changes in earth pressure and ground settlement due to underground excavation near an existing retaining wall were studied experimentally according to the separation distance between the underground excavation and the retaining wall. In addition, this study attempted to experimentally prove that the arching phenomenon occurred during the construction of the underground space. A model tank having 120 cm in length, 160 cm in height, and 40 cm in width was manufactured to simulate underground excavation through the use of five separated base wall bodies. The variation of earth pressure on the retaining wall was measured according to the underground excavation phase through the use of 10 separated right wall bodies. The results showed that the earth pressure on the retaining wall was changed by the lowering of the first base bottom wall; however, the earth pressure was not changed significantly by the lowering of the third base bottom wall, since the third base wall had sufficient separation distance from the retaining wall. Lowering of the first base wall induced a decrease in the earth pressure in the lower part of the retaining wall; in contrast, lowering of the first base wall induced an increase in the earth pressure in the middle part of the retaining wall, proving the arching effect experimentally. It is necessary to consider the changes in earth pressure on the retaining wall in designing earth retaining structures for sections where the arching effect occurs.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.829-844
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• 2015

In the current paper the results of a numerical simulation that were verified by a well instrumented experimental procedure for studying the arching effect over a trapdoor in sand is presented. To simulate this phenomenon with continuum mechanics, the experimental procedure is modeled in ABAQUS code using stress dependent hardening in elastic state and plastic strain dependent frictional hardening-softening with Mohr Coulomb failure criterion applying user sub-routine. The apparatus comprises rectangular trapdoors with different width that can yield downward while stresses and deformations are recorded simultaneously. As the trapdoor starts to yield, the whole soil mass deforms elastically. However, after an immediate specified displacement, depending on the width of the trapdoor, the soil mass behaves plastically. This behavior of sand occurs due to the flow phenomenon and continues until the stress on trapdoor is minimized. Then the failure process develops in sand and the measured stress on the trapdoor shows an ascending trend. This indicates gradual separation of the yielding mass from the whole soil body. Finally, the flow process leads to establish a stable vault of sand called arching mechanism or progressive collapse of the soil body.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2A
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• pp.131-143
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• 2009

Under transverse earthquake shaking, arching action of bridge structures develops along the deck between the abutments thus providing the so-called deck resistance. The magnitude of the arching action for bridge structures is dependent on the number of spans, connection condition between deck and abutment or piers, and stiffness ratio between superstructure and substructure. In order to investigate the arching action effects for inelastic seismic responses of PSC Box bridges, seismic responses evaluated by pushover analysis, capacity spectrum analysis and nonlinear time-history analysis are compared for 18 example bridge structures with two types of span numbers (short bridge, SB and long bridge, LB), three types of pier height arrangement (regular, semi-regular and irregular) and three types of connection condition between superstructure and substructure (Type A, B, C). The arching action effects (reducing inelastic displacement and increasing resistance capacity) for short bridge (SB) is more significant than those for long bridge (LB). Semi-regular and irregular bridge structures have more significant arching action than regular bridges.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.193-203
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• 2004

Arching effects in backfill materials generate a nonlinear active earth pressure distribution on a rigid retaining wall with rough face, and arching effects on the shape of the nonlinear earth pressure distribution depends on the mode of wall movement. Therefore, the practical shape of failure surface and arching effect in the backfill changed with the mode of wall movement must be considered to calculate accurate magnitude and distribution of active earth pressure on the rigid wall. In this study, a new formulation for calculating the active earth pressure on a rough rigid retaining wall rotating about the base is proposed by considering the shape of nonlinear failure surface and arching effects in the backfill. In order to avoid mathematical complexities in the calculation of active earth pressure, the imaginary failure surface composed of four linear surfaces is used instead of the nonlinear failure surface as failure surface of backfills. The comparisons between predictions from the proposed equations and existing model test results show that the proposed equations produce satisfactory predictions.