Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
02 May 2013, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Abstract
At milestone 3.1 km of the Formosa Freeway in northern Taiwan, a landslide occurred on April 25, 2000, causing nearly 200,000 m3 of earth and rock to slump down onto the freeway below. Four people trapped in cars beneath the collapsed slope died. How such a tremendous slope failure could happen in dry weather without advanced warning is attributed to two key factors: (1) Long-term groundwater infiltration resulting in the softening of thin interlayer between sandstone and shale; (2) Ground anchor corrosion resulting in a decrease in slope stability. Together these two factors caused the slope to reach a critical limit resulting in a collapse. In Taiwan ground anchors have been widely used to improve slope stability along roadways for more than 40 years. After the Formosa Freeway slope collapse the government began a comprehensive survey to examine anchors on the slopes along all freeways. This paper uses finding from this survey as well as information from other slope failure investigations to examine the performance of ground anchors in Taiwan. The factors contributing to the failures of the permanent ground anchors and the required inspections/maintenances are discussed in addition to recommendations for improving design and construction.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
7th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2013 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Jeng, Ching-Jiang and Chen, Yen-Cheng, "Investigating the Performance of Ground Anchor Through The Failure Slope Disaster in Taiwan" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 23.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session03/23
Investigating the Performance of Ground Anchor Through The Failure Slope Disaster in Taiwan
Chicago, Illinois
At milestone 3.1 km of the Formosa Freeway in northern Taiwan, a landslide occurred on April 25, 2000, causing nearly 200,000 m3 of earth and rock to slump down onto the freeway below. Four people trapped in cars beneath the collapsed slope died. How such a tremendous slope failure could happen in dry weather without advanced warning is attributed to two key factors: (1) Long-term groundwater infiltration resulting in the softening of thin interlayer between sandstone and shale; (2) Ground anchor corrosion resulting in a decrease in slope stability. Together these two factors caused the slope to reach a critical limit resulting in a collapse. In Taiwan ground anchors have been widely used to improve slope stability along roadways for more than 40 years. After the Formosa Freeway slope collapse the government began a comprehensive survey to examine anchors on the slopes along all freeways. This paper uses finding from this survey as well as information from other slope failure investigations to examine the performance of ground anchors in Taiwan. The factors contributing to the failures of the permanent ground anchors and the required inspections/maintenances are discussed in addition to recommendations for improving design and construction.
