RESEARCH ON THE LONG-TERM BEHAVIOR AND THE EVALUATION OF THE UNDERSEA TUNNEL

Abstract

A lot of undersea tunnels have been constructed in Japan, after first construction of the Kannmon Tunnel, as conventional railway in 1944. If a situation such as flooding occurs in the undersea tunnel in the operating line, the probability of human casualty is very high, and it results in the great threat to the safety of the social infrastructure. However, there are so many uncertain things in the operating tunnel that the maintenance of existing tunnels relies on the experiences of past deformed tunnels. Accordingly the same idea is employed to the undersea tunnels.
In this paper, the long-term measurement records since 1988 in the Seikan Tunnel are interpreted, the long-term behavior of this tunnel is examined. Consequently a proposal is made of a new idea on maintenance of the undersea tunnel.