2024-01-08 12:24:41
Kansai Airport may sink in 2056. (Photo/Dazhi/Associated Press)
Japan’s “Kansai Airport”, the first land-reclamation airport in human history, is in danger of sinking. Kansai Airport, which will be in operation for 30 years on September 4 this year, has sunk by about 3.7 meters in the past 30 years because it was built on a “soft clay layer” with a water depth of 18 meters. Some experts predict that Kansai Airport may collapse in 2056. Submerged by the sea.
Kansai Airport, which carries more than 28 million passengers every year, has a total construction cost of more than NT$600 billion. Although its construction took only 5 years, it covers an area of 1,067.7 hectares close to Taiwan’s Taoyuan Airport, and has a dedicated power plant for power supply. , if the construction plan proposal time is included, the entire airport took a total of 29 years from proposal to opening. After its completion, it was hailed as a “monument of the new century” by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The altitude of Kansai Airport continues to decrease. (Photo/Dazhi/Associated Press)
However, this engineering miracle built on a 180 million cubic meter mound of earth, which is considered to be the ultimate victory for man and nature, is not only sinking every year, but also at a faster rate than originally expected. The first artificial island has sunk 3.73 meters so far, with an average decline of 6.6 meters per year. centimeters; the second artificial island has sunk 5.36 meters since its opening in 2007, with an average decline of 22 centimeters per year.
The center of the airport declines faster than the two ends of the artificial island. (Photo/Dazhi/Associated Press)
Engineers originally predicted that the airport would decline evenly within 50 years and maintain a stable state when it dropped to an altitude of about 3.9 meters. Unexpectedly, it only took 6 years for the airport to drop to the originally preset critical value. Although the authorities dropped the About NT$4.6 billion was spent to rebuild the breakwater, but some experts worry that it is too late. Some experts predict that the airport will be flooded by seawater in 2056.
Kansai Airport is currently sinking “unevenly across regions”, with the center of the airport sinking faster. In order to solve the foundation problem, which is “essentially like a wet sponge”, the authorities are expected to lay 2.2 million concrete-containing ropes on the seabed. The pipe columns of sand “prop up” the foundation, fundamentally solving the problem of decline.
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