Damage investigation on the reinforced soil after Kumamoto earthquake

Abstract

April 14, 2016 at 21:26 foreshock of magnitude 6.5 occurred at the depth of 11 km and the epicenter was located in the Kumamoto district. 28 hours after that, i.e. at 1:25 on April 16, main shock of magnitude 7.3 with the earthquake center at depth 12 km and epicenter in Kumamoto district occurred. In this earthquake, earthquakes of seismic intensity 5 and above occurred more than 19 times and geotextile reinforced soil walls were repeatedly subject to large seismic movements. After the main shock, we investigated the damage condition geotextile reinforced soil walls at 271 places located on seismic intensity 5 and above. This paper presents the reports the results of investigation for health and danage of reinforced soil walls using reinforced soil chart proposed by Ohta et al.