ABSTRACT
After a large earthquake, road function may be lost due to collapses of road, which makes emergency situations difficult. Earthquakes frequently cause invisible sub-surface cavities and some of them become apparent as cave-ins or subsidence. Based on Japanese governmental emergency surveys, essential characteristics of cavity caused by earthquake were identified. In this study, a series of shaking model experiments was conducted to investigate effects of earthquake motion on the subsurface cavities. A cavity was formed in a model ground in a small model chamber, and then earthquake motion was applied using a shaking table. It was observed that when arch action decline, a cavity caused a cave-in with shear cracks, subsidence and loosening by earthquake motion.
