ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The 2004 Niigataken-chuetsu earthquake caused serious damage to highway embankments of Kan-etsu Expressway in Japan. Severe slides of embankments occurred in a hill zone. Some excess pore water pressure had to be generated in the saturated part of the fills and caused the slide. On the contrary, slump failure of embankments occurred in level grounds. The embankments settled several ten cm and caused differential settlement between embankments and culverts in gravelly grounds. In addition, large settlements of culverts and lateral spread of embankments occurred in clayey and sandy grounds. The settlement of the embankment seemed to be induced due to the reduction of shear modulus of the filled materials and foundation grounds.
