In the case of the Pohang earthquake, which had a magnitude of 5.4 in 2017, geotechnical damages such as liquefaction and ground settlement occurred. The need for countermeasures has emerged, and experimental research in the Pohang area has continued. This study collected undisturbed samples from damaged fine-grained soil areas where ground settlement occurred in Pohang. Cyclic tri-axial tests for identifying the dynamic characteristics of soils were performed on the undisturbed samples, and the results were analyzed to determine the cause of ground settlement. As a result of the study, it was determined that in the case of fine-grained soils, ground settlement occurred because the seismic load as an external force was relatively more significant than the shear resistance of the very soft fine-grained soils, rather than due to an increase in excess pore water pressure.

This study proposes a methodology for assessing seismic liquefaction hazard by implementing high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) ground models with high-density/high-precision site investigation data acquired in an area of interest, which would be linked to geotechnical numerical analysis tools. It is possible to estimate the vulnerability of earthquake-induced geotechnical phenomena (ground motion amplification, liquefaction, landslide, etc.) and their triggering complex disasters across an area for urban development with several stages of high-density datasets. In this study, the spatial-ground models for city development were built with a 3D high-precision grid of 5 m x 5 m x 1 m by applying geostatistic methods. Finally, after comparing each prediction error, the geotechnical model from the Gaussian sequential simulation is selected to assess earthquake-induced geotechnical hazards. In particular, with seven independent input earthquake motions, liquefaction analysis with finite element analyses and hazard mappings with LPI and LSN are performed reliably based on the spatial geotechnical models in the study area. Furthermore, various phenomena and parameters, including settlement in the city planning area, are assessed in terms of geotechnical vulnerability also based on the high-resolution spatial-ground modeling. This case study on the high-precision 3D ground model-based zonations in the area of interest verifies the usefulness in assessing spatially earthquake-induced hazards and geotechnical vulnerability and their decision-making support.

This study aims to present a method to evaluate the relative risk of failure due to liquefaction of domestic small to medium-sized earthfill dams with a height of less than 15 m, which has little information on geotechnical properties. Based on the results of previous researches, a series of methods and procedures for estimating the probability of dam failure due to liquefaction, which calculates the probability of liquefaction occurrence of the dam body, the amount of settlement at the dam crest according to the estimation of the residual strength of the dam after liquefaction, the overtopping depth determined from the amount of settlement at the dam crest, and the probability of failure of the dam due to overtopping was explicitly presented. To this end, representative properties essential for estimating the probability of failure due to the liquefaction of small to medium-sized earthfill dams were presented. Since it is almost impossible to directly determine these representative properties for each of the target dams because it is almost impossible to obtain geotechnical property information, they were estimated and determined from the results of field and laboratory tests conducted on existing small to medium-sized earthfill dams in previous researches. The method and procedure presented in this study were applied to 12 earthfill dams on a trial basis, and the liquefaction failure probability was calculated. The analysis of the calculation results confirmed that the representative properties were reasonable and that the overall evaluation procedure and method were effective.

Recently, some of the most destructive earthquakes have occurred in South Korea since earthquake observations began in 1978. In particular, the soil liquefactions have been reported in Pohang as a result of the ML 5.4 earthquake that occurred in November 2017. Liquefaction-induced ground deformations can cause significant damage to a wide range of buildings and infrastructures. Therefore, it is necessary to take practical steps to ensure safety during an earthquake. In the current seismic design in South Korea, the Hachinohe earthquake and Ofunato earthquake recorded in Japan, along with artificial earthquakes, have been generally used for input motions in dynamic analyses. However, such strong ground motions are only from Japan, and artificial earthquake ground motions are different from real ground motions. In this study, seven ground motions are selected, including those recorded in South Korea, while others are compatible to the current design spectra of South Korea. The effects of the newly selected ground motions on site response analyses and liquefaction analyses are evaluated.

느슨한 포화 사질토 층에 위치한 구조물은 지진 시 액상화로 인해 막대한 인적 경제적 피해가 발생하기 때문에 액상화 발생 가능 지반으로 분류된 지역은 구조물의 설계 및 운영 시 액상화 발생 가능성에 주의를 기울어야 한다. 한반도의 경우 중진 지역에 해당되고 역사 문헌의 발생 기록을 제외한 어떤 액상화 피해도 보고되지 않음에 따라 오랫동안 액상화에 대해서는 안전지대로 여겨져 왔다. 하지만, 최근 해외 지진 사례에 의하면 국내 서해안 지역 지반과 유사한 비소성 실트질 흙에서의 액상화 발생과 이로 인한 피해 사례가 종종 보고되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 국내에서의 액상화 가능성 평가 기법 합리화의 일환으로 서해안 두 부지를 대상으로 피에조콘 관입시험(CPTu)과 표준관입시험(SPT) 결과를 이용하여 액상화가능지수(LPI)를 산정하였다. LPI는 심도 20m까지의 액상화 가능성을 통합 적분하여 액상화로 인한 지표면 피해 발생 정도를 지수로 제시한다. 먼저 대상 현장에 대해 시나리오별 액상화 발생 가능성을 평가한 후, CPTu와 SPT로부터 산정된 LPI 값을 비교하였다. 액상화 저항 강도를 의미하는 진동저항응력비(CRR) 값에 의하면, CPTu로부터 구한 보정 콘 선단저항력 (qc1N)CS가 40에서 120 사이인 경우 또는 CRR이 0.23 이하인 경우에 SPT로부터의 산정된 값보다 작게 평가되었다. 또한 CRR 차이는 세립질 함유량이 큰 흙에서 두 방법 간의 차이가 더 크게 나타났다.

기존의 액상화 평가방법은 대부분 미국, 일본 등 지진 발생빈도가 높고 그로 인한 액상화 피해가 빈번한 국가에서 주도적으로 연구가 진행되었으며, 개발된 액상화 평가방법들은 큰 지진규모(M=7.5)에 기초하고 있다. 국내에서도 1997년 실제적인 내진연구가 시작된 이래 액상화 평가의 구체적 규정이 제정되었으나, 내진설계기준에서는 실지진하중을 등가의 전단응력으로 간편화한 경험적인 방법과 실내진동실험에 의한 액상화 상세평가 방법을 통해 액상화 평가를 수행하도록 되어있다. 그러나 이러한 경우 실제 지진하중의 특성을 평가과정에서 반영하지 못하는 문제점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 문제점을 개선하기 위하여 실제 지진파 고유의 특성을 적용한 진동삼축실험을 통하여 상대밀도와 실트질함유량의 변화에 따른 액상화 저항강도를 산정하였다. 실험결과를 토대로 국내의 대표적인 항만지역의 지진응답해석 결과와 비교 분석하여 중진지역에 적합한 액상화 평가 생략기준을 제시하였다. 또한 액상화 평가시 정현하중 사용의 문제점을 개선하기 위하여 쐐기하중 및 선형증가쐐기하중 실험을 수행하여 하중 변화에 따른 액상화 저항강도 특성을 분석하였다.