The characteristics of the unconsolidated sediment in Gwangyang bay was analyzed from the core samples. The porosity of the sediment showed irregular variation with respect to the sedimentation depth, which indicated that sediment weight-induced conso...
The characteristics of the unconsolidated sediment in Gwangyang bay was analyzed from the core samples. The porosity of the sediment showed irregular variation with respect to the sedimentation depth, which indicated that sediment weight-induced consolidation was not significant. Numerical analysis for the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of the unconsolidated sediment due to the tidal sea level change was processed. Because of the delayed excessive pore pressure change in the very low permeable mud medium, the magnitude of the excessive pore pressure for the duration of the minimum sea level exceeded the total stress from the sea water weight, which resulted in the negative (tensional) effective stress below the top surface. The in-situ effective stress, obtained by superposing the tensional effective stress on the solid weight-induced compressive stress, was remained to be tensile (quick-sand condition) near the top surface of the mud deposit. The occurrence of the quirk-sand condition provided a theoretical evidence for the insignificant consolidation and the irregular porosity variation of the sediment. When the sand is distributed on the top surface of the mud layer, the quick-sand condition occurred below the sandy mud layer and the downward movement of sand particles was facilitated.