9734804 Reddi This award provides funds to permit Dr. Lakshmi Reddi, Department of Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, to pursue with Professor In-Mo Lee, Department of Civil Engineering, Korea University, for 36 months, a program of cooperative research on the impact of particle transport in soils on filter performance. The present collaboration will add an international cooperative dimension to Dr. Reddi's research presently funded under NSF Grant No. CMS- 9713708. This research addresses problems arising from the fact that a number of soil structures need filters for protection against erosion and piping which can damage adjacent structures, and the fact that damage may result if these filters become clogged. The domestic (CMS) project involves fundamental studies on physicochemical and biological mechanisms of filter clogging. A complementary study being undertaken by the team at Korea University focuses on particle mobilization in residual soils (and filter clogging associated with this mobilization) and field investigations on failed filters. The broad objective of the cooperative research effort is to link up the U.S. and Korean domestic studies in order to achieve a comprehensive and complete understanding of the filter clogging mechanisms. Specific objectives are: (1) to exchange the experimental data on particle mobilization from base soils and particle entrapment in filters; (2) to share the data on field investigations; and (3) to generalize and validate the filter design criteria in the US domestic research project in light of field investigations made in Korea. Mutual benefit from the collaboration is expected because results from the Korean research will aid in validation of the theoretical and laboratory investigations being undertaken in the United States. At the same time, both teams will benefit from the theoretical treatment of data collected by the Korean team. Thus, the collaboration will provide a unique opportunity t o integrate two different perspectives of the problem, one, a fundamental laboratory scale study, and the other, a field-scale and practical study. This project is relevant to the objectives of the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. and Korean scientists and engineers through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit. This project will provide international training and experience for a U.S. graduate student in an important area of research. Korean participation is supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF). ***
