Subsurface Cavities Under Pavement Due to Large-Scale Earthquakes - Characteristics and a Proposal of Non-destructive Evaluation Method -

Abstract

Subsurface cavities under road pavement often occur widely after a large-scale earthquake, and those lead to secondary damages as sinkhole accidents. For this reason, in order to prevent prolonging post-disaster measures on roads damaged by earthquakes, the removal of cavities and loose parts that occur under the road pavement that lead to sinkhole formation is an important issue. This paper reviews past survey results on subsurface cavities under road pavement after major earthquakes in Japan and summarizes their characteristics. In addition, we investigate a non-destructive method for measuring the size of cavities and the state of loosening soils from the viewpoint of temperature change characteristics.