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Kansai International Airport. Theoretical settlement history
Aéroport international de Kansai. Historique théorique du tassement
Juárez-Badillo E.
Graduate School of Engineering National University of Mexico
ABSTRACT: The settlements measured in the last eight years 2004-2011 in the Kansai International Airport are compared with the
theoretical curve provided by the Principle of Natural Proportionality and published by the author in the 16th International Conference
on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Osaka 2005, in the paper"Kansai International Airport, future settlements".
RÉSUMÉ : Les tassements mesurés au cours des huit dernières années 2004-2011 sur le site de l'aéroport international de Kansai sont
comparés avec la courbe théorique fournie par le principe de proportionnalité naturelle et publiée par l'auteur dans la 16e Conférence
internationale de Mécanique des Sols et de la Géotechnique, Osaka 2005 : le papier "Aéroport International du Kansai, les tassements
futurs".
KEYWORDS: Principle of Natural Proportionality, Kansai International Airport, settlement.
1 INTRODUCTION
“Kansai International Airport, future settlements” is the title of a
paper presented by the author in the 16th International
Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering,
Osaka 2005, where the Principle of Natural Proportionality
(Juárez-Badillo 1985b) was applied to the settlement data
already published of the airport, to obtain the theoretical
equation of its settlement.
In Juárez-Badillo (2005) is mentioned that the general
equations provided by the principle of natural proportionality
(Juárez-Badillo 1985 b), have been proven to describe the
mechanical behavior of geomaterials: solids, liquids and
gases. They have been applied to describe the stress strain time
temperature relations of rocks, granular and fine soils and
concrete (Juárez-Badillo 1985 a, 1988, 1997 a, 1999 a, 1999 b,
1999 c, 2000, 2001). A general equation for the evolution of
settlement of engineering works has already been applied to the
settlement data of embankmens, they are the settlements for the
accommodation building (A) at Gloucester (Juárez-Badillo
1991) and to the settlements in the Fraser River delta (Juárez-
Badillo 1997 b). This time this general equation is applied to
the experimental data of the Kansai International Airport built
in an artificial island 5 km from Osaka in Japan.
2 GENERAL TIME SETTLEMENT EQUATION
Consider an engineering work like an embankment that applies
a load at the soil at time t=∞. The settlement S will increase
from S=0 at t=0 to a total value S=S
T
at t=∞. These concepts S
and t are the simplest concepts to describe the phenomenon, that
is, they are proper variables. The relationships between them,
according to the principle of natural proportionality, should be
through their proper functions, that is, the simplest functions of
them with complete domains, that is, functions that vary from 0
to ∞. The simplest function of S and t with complete domainare
z=1/S-1/S
T
and t. When t varies from 0 to ∞, z varies from ∞ to
0. The principle of natural proportionality states that the
relationships between them should be (Juárez Badillo, 2010):
t
dt
z
dz
(1)
where: δ is the coefficient of proportionality called the
“fluidity coefficient”
integration of (1) gives
= constant
(2)
which may be written
*
constant
1
t
t
S
S
T
(3)
where t*=t at S=1/2S
T
and we may write
S
S
T
1
t
t *
(4)
Figs. 1 and 2 show the graphs of (4) for different values of δ in
natural and semi-log plots respectively. From Fig. 1 we may
observe that it appear that we should have δ≤1.
Juárez Badillo (2005) specify that the parameter values to be
obtained are S
T
, δ and t*. They may be obtained from good
experimental points. The author prefers, however, to obtain
them from semi-log plot, Fig. 2. It can be shown (Juárez Badillo
1985 a) that the middle third of the settlements S
T
is practically
very close to a straight line. So, if one is able to determine from
the settlement data the beginning of this straight line, one is able
to determine the three parameters since this straight line extends
l cycles in the graph, where
0.6
l
cycles
(5)
