Investigation report of geotechnical disaster on river area due to typhoon landfall three times on Okhotsk region, Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

For one week from August 17 to 23, 2016, three consecutive typhoons made landfall in Hokkaido for the first time on record. These typhoons and the front they stimulated brought record-breaking torrential rain over the eastern part of Hokkaido. To investigate the damage to grounds and rivers resulting from this rainfall, the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) and the Japanese Geotechnical Society (JGS) formed a disaster research group to conduct an investigation. This report provides the results of the investigation into damage to the grounds of areas along the Tokoro River of the Okhotsk region, Hokkaido, that suffered from this tremendous and diverse disaster. Specifically, the report describes the situation of the levees which were broken and eroded by the overflowing water, the shape of the levee bodies, the levee body soil properties examined by observation of the sections, as well as the occurrence of sand boiling and air blows. The washout of road embankments as well as damage to road bridge mounting fills and abutment backfills were also investigated. The investigation has demonstrated the need to clarify the resistance of the abutment backfills and levee bodies to flowing water as well as the geotechnical predominant factors in order to clarify the mechanisms behind erosion and washout, the need to review new measures that allow for the scale of sand boiling and resultant changes in levee body stability, and the fact that the existing embankments were able to temporarily suppress the flooding water which had spilled over from the river. Furthermore, although it has been identified that the findings of a study on an embankment washout associated with a tsunami can be applied to measures taken against the overflowing water, it has also been found necessary to clarify the predominant geotechnical factors using model tests and to use a more sophisticated analytical approach to establish a geotechnical stability review as soon as possible in order to prevent the levees and embankments from being eroded and washed out due to overflowing water.