The size and shape of soil particles reflect the formation history of the grains. In turn, the macroscale behavior of the soil mass results from particle level interactions which are affected by particle shape. Sphericity, roundness, and smoothness characterize different scales associated with particle shape. New experimental data and results from published studies are gathered into two databases to explore the effects of particle shape on packing density and on the small-to-large strain mechanical properties of sandy soils. In agreement with previous studies, these data confirm that increased angularity or eccentricity produces an increase in emax and emin . Furthermore, the data show that increasing particle irregularity causes a decrease in stiffness yet heightened sensitivity to the state of stress; an increase in compressibility under zero-lateral strain loading; an increase in the critical state friction angle ϕcs ; and an increase in the intercept Γ of the critical state line (there is a weak effec...

Soil treatment and improvement is commonly performed in the field of geotechnical engineering. Methods and materials to achieve this such as soil stabilization and mixing with cementitious binders have been utilized in engineered soil applications since the beginning of human civilization. Demand for environment-friendly and sustainable alternatives is currently rising. Since cement, the most commonly applied and effective soil treatment material, is responsible for heavy greenhouse gas emissions, alternatives such as geosynthetics, chemical polymers, geopolymers, microbial induction, and biopolymers are being actively studied. This study provides an overall review of the recent applications of biopolymers in geotechnical engineering. Biopolymers are microbially induced polymers that are high-tensile, innocuous, and eco-friendly. Soil–biopolymer interactions and related soil strengthening mechanisms are discussed in the context of recent experimental and microscopic studies. In addition, the economic feasibility of biopolymer implementation in the field is analyzed in comparison to ordinary cement, from environmental perspectives. Findings from this study demonstrate that biopolymers have strong potential to replace cement as a soil treatment material within the context of environment-friendly construction and development. Moreover, continuing research is suggested to ensure performance in terms of practical implementation, reliability, and durability of in situ biopolymer applications for geotechnical engineering purposes.

Microbial biopolymers have recently been introduced as a new material for soil treatment and improvement. Biopolymers provide significant strengthening to soil, even in small quantities (i.e., at 1/10th or less of the required amount of conventional binders, such as cement). In particular, thermo-gelating biopolymers, including agar gum, gellan gum, and xanthan gum, are known to strengthen soils noticeably, even under water-saturated conditions. However, an explicitly detailed examination of the microscopic interactions and strengthening characteristics between gellan gum and soil particles has not yet been performed. In this study, a series of laboratory experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of soil–gellan gum interactions on the strengthening behavior of gellan gum-treated soil mixtures (from sand to clay). The experimental results showed that the strengths of sand–clay mixtures were effectively increased by gellan gum treatment over those of pure sand or clay. The strengthening behavior is attributed to the conglomeration of fine particles as well as to the interconnection of fine and coarse particles, by gellan gum. Gellan gum treatment significantly improved not only inter-particle cohesion but also the friction angle of clay-containing soils.

The quantity of radioactive waste will grow significantly with an increasing interest and use of nuclear-generated energy. There will always be inevitable radioactive waste residues that require disposal, even using an advanced nuclear fuel cycle in the future. Deep geological disposal, one of the most promising final disposal methods, should be validated for its long-term performance and safety assessment. Geotechnical issues related to the deep geological disposal are critical for the sustainable development of nuclear energy. They play challenging roles especially under extreme circumstances that result from deep geological conditions of a repository, extremely long containment time, and the characteristics of nuclear waste itself such as high decay heat, which may primarily affect thermo-hydro-mechanical and geochemical-coupled behavior of a repository for geologic time scales. This paper introduces an overview of deep geological disposal concepts based on Finnish, Korean, Spanish, and Swedish disposal programs, discusses the outstanding research issues in disposal from the aspect of geological and geotechnical engineering, such as Excavation-Damaged Zone (EDZ), cementitious material, long-term gas migration, and self-sealing/healing of fractured rocks with a focus on the state of the art in-situ validation experiments, and additionally presents a numerical modeling of the coupled THMG process in the repository near field, which is one of the major factors concerning the fuel canisters.

The first large scale geotechnical centrifuge in Korea has recently been developed at KAIST under the Korea Construction Engineering Development (KOCED) Collaboratory program. A 5 m platform radius, 240 g-tons state-of-the-art geotechnical centrifuge has been installed in a new facility. The centrifuge has the unique feature of an automatic balancing system and includes parts for general testing purposes such as fluid rotary joints, slip rings, a fiber optic rotary joint and an Ethernet network system. In addition, a four degree-of-freedom in-flight robot can be equipped to simulate complex construction or in-situ testing process during centrifuge flight. In order to simulate earthquake motion during operation, a self-balancing type biaxial shaking table has also been developed. Since the KOCED program promotes collaboration and remote use, tele-presence and tele-participation environments have been implemented in this facility.