Settlement of the Kansai International Airport Islands
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VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 2
Abstract
The Kansai International Airport was constructed in Osaka Bay in 18- to 20-m-deep seawater to avoid noise pollution and land acquisition disputes. Construction of the 511-ha Island I began in 1987 and Runway I began operation in 1994. Construction of the 545-ha Island II began in 1999, and Runway II began operation in 2007. Using more than 2.2 million vertical sand drains fully penetrating into the 17.3- to 24.1-m-thick Holocene clay layer and 430 million cubic meters of fill material, the project is viewed as an engineering marvel. On the basis of a detailed review of the geology of Osaka Bay, construction of the Airport Islands, and the permeability and compressibility of the Holocene and Pleistocene subseabed deposits that reached a depth of 400 m below the seafloor at the Kansai Airport site, settlement analyses were conducted assuming the uniqueness of end-of-primary void ratio–effective vertical stress relationship and the law of compressibility. Airport Island I has already settled below the 4-m above sea level surface elevation required by the design specification, and the surface elevation of Island II is predicted to be 4 m above sea level by 2023–2036. Airport Islands I and II will be at sea level, respectively, by 2067 or sooner and by 2058–2100. By the end of the 21st century, Island I and Island II are predicted to settle, respectively, 17.6 and 24.4 m.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Mr. Naoki Nishimura for providing settlement and pore-water pressure observations at MP2-II and Mr. Hiroyuki Tanaka for providing laboratory oedometer data for Osaka Bay Pleistocene clays. Additionally, the authors acknowledge Mr. Yoshiyuki Morikawa, Mr. Masaki Kobayashi, and Mr. Mamoru Mimura for useful email communications regarding the Kansai Airport project.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 2 • February 2015
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Received: Feb 12, 2014
Accepted: Sep 19, 2014
Published online: Oct 30, 2014
Published in print: Feb 1, 2015
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