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Geohazards induced by anthropic activities of geoconstruction: a review of recent failure cases

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Abstract

Many hazards occurring due to underground construction works can be attributed to anthropic activities. It is important to know what new knowledge on both geology and construction operation are needed to prevent these hazards from leading to catastrophic failures. In this paper, nine anthropic hazards due to the underground construction in recent years at Asian countries are discussed. Each case study discussed the project description, geological conditions, the collapse and its consequence, and analysis of failure mechanism according to field investigations. Furthermore, to explore the cause of the collapse and to prevent similar hazards from leading to failures, the collapsed excavations of the selected case studies were studied extensively. Based on the field investigations undertaken in this study, underground construction collapse which can be attributed to human-induced activities are overexcavation, water leakage, soil deterioration, faults in design and implementations, erosion, and inadequate ground improvement. The understanding of the effect of these human-induced activities can be used as a guideline for avoiding hazards in future projects.

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Acknowledgements

The research work described herein was funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 41372283), China, and also partially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program: 2015CB057806). These financial supports are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering and Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Ship and Deep-Sea Exploration (CISSE), Department of Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Khalid Elbaz & Jack S. Shen

  2. Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, 3122, Australia

    Arul Arulrajah

  3. School of Civil Engineering, Center of Excellence in Innovation for Sustainable Infrastructure Development, Suranaree University of Technology, 111 University Avenue, Muang District, Nakhon Ratchasima, 30000, Thailand

    Suksun Horpibulsuk

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  1. Khalid Elbaz
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  2. Jack S. Shen
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  4. Suksun Horpibulsuk
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Correspondence to Jack S. Shen.

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Elbaz, K., Shen, J.S., Arulrajah, A. et al. Geohazards induced by anthropic activities of geoconstruction: a review of recent failure cases. Arab J Geosci 9, 708 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2740-z

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