ICSE6 Paris - August 27-31, 2012

Subsurface erosion in old land fill, Kuwano, Kohata and Sato

ICSE6-228

A Case Study of Ground Cave-in

due to Large Scale Subsurface Erosion in Old Land Fill
Reiko KUWANO1, Yukihiro KOHATA2, Mari SATO1
1

Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo

Bw304, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, JAPAN, kuwano@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
2

Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Muroran Institute of Technology

Mizumoto-cho 27-1, Muroran 050-8585, JAPAN, kohata@news3.ce.muroran-it.ac.jp

Ground cave-in is usually initiated by the formation of cavity under the ground due to subsurface erosion. When the
location of the cavity is deep in the ground, the detection of the cavity is not easy. Then it is possible that the hidden
cavity expands for a long time to eventually cause sudden large-scale collapse. A case of large scale ground collapse in
the old fill ground was studied and described in this paper. The underground cavity appeared to be caused by
subsurface erosion deep in the ground and to expand/extend upward till it was ended by the catastrophic ground failure.
A model tests simulating the subsurface erosion was conducted to understand the major factors for the process of such
a large cavity formation. Loss of fine particles in permeable soil due to water pathway in the ground seemed to be key
issues of the case studied.

Key words
Subsurface erosion, soil pipe, volcanic ash, cave-in

INTRODUCTION

A sudden collapse of the ground occurred in the 8th fairway at the Le Petaw golf course in Hokkaido on
April 2, 2009, when a woman golfer unfortunately stepped on it. She fell into a hidden hole formed
underneath the ground and by the time a rescue team arrived she had passed away.
The hole was 5m deep and 7m wide at the bottom. Although the golf course was daily checked by
maintenance staffs, they could not get any sign of the hidden hole even in the morning of the accident. The
ground collapse seemed to have happened all of sudden, as the victims son who walked just a couple of
meters behind her saw her suddenly disappearing into the ground.
A detailed investigation took place by Hokkaido prefectural police, assisted by the authors. This paper
reports findings in the investigation, based on which the mechanism of the hidden cavity formation is
discussed.
II
II.1

OUTLINE OF THE COLLAPSE

Topography and ground condition

The golf course was originally built more than 15 years ago in hilly land, by filling a valley with local soil.
The ground consists of mud rock covered with silty volcanic ash. The thickness of the land fill seems to be
10 to 15 meters. The surface layer of about 0.5m was added fertile soil for the growth of lawn. It is a gentle
slope in the 8th fairway and there used to be a stream along the east-west direction at the location of the
collapse. Although the exact locations are not identified, drain pipes should have been installed underground
to carry away the subterranean water while preventing soil from seeping out. There are several artificial
ponds around the fairway for water hazards in the course, as shown in Figure 1. When the accident occurred,
the ground water level was considered to be higher than usual, as it was the spring snow-thawing season.

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Subsurface erosion in old land fill, Kuwano, Kohata and Sato

collapse

The 8th fairway

Figure 1: Photo at the location of collapse

(after Asahi Newspaper 090417).
II.2

Underground cavity

The hidden hole had a flask shape with a 1 m wide opening at the ground surface (see Figure 2), and was 5
m deep and 7 m wide at the bottom. There was an about 0.6m deep shallow water pool in the east side of the
hole, and the water flew to the west direction. Noticeable erosion was found in both west and east sides at the
bottom as schematically shown in Figure 3.
11.5m

5m

West

East
erosion

water flow

water
pool

erosion

7m

Figure 2: Opening at the ground surface

(from Hokkaido Newspaper).

Figure 3: Schematic of the underground cavity

The volume of the soil for the hole was about 75m3. One of the questions is where such amount of soil
went. There is a water reservoir in the down stream of the 8th fairway, where large amount of soil sediment
was found. It may be the possible destination of the soil flown from the hole.
III

INVESTIGATION BY EXCAVATION

A large scale excavation was carried out around the hole to understand how and why such a huge
underground hole was created. Soil sample was taken to characterize their physical properties.
III.1

Soil pipe discovered beside the hole

Figure 4 is a photo of excavation. Excavated soil was a mixture of volcanic clay, silt, sand, and relatively
small gravel, as shown in Figure 5. Roots of plants were also included, which indicates the excavated strata
were filled soil. Atterberg limits and particle size distribution are shown in Table 1 and Figure 6, respectively.
The soil seemed to be highly permeable. When the repeated water infiltration was applied to the compacted

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Subsurface erosion in old land fill, Kuwano, Kohata and Sato

soil sample, fine particles around gravels tended to easily move and flown out with water, resulting in the
formation of scattered voids in the sample, as shown in Figure 7.

East

West

Location of
opening at
ground surface

Figure 4: Excavation around the hole.

Sand with high

water content

Plant root
Figure 5: Soil in the excavated wall (GL-approx.6m).

Liquid Limit
Plastic Limit
Plasticity Index

B
24.4
18.4
6.1

C
23.2
15.3
7.9

Percentage of particles finer by weight (%)

Table 1: Atterberg limits of soil sample taken from the hole.

100

Fines content
C20.5 %
B17.4 %

80
60

40
20
0
0.001

0.01

0.1
1
Particle size (mm)

10

Figure 6: Particle size distribution.

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Subsurface erosion in old land fill, Kuwano, Kohata and Sato

Initial state

After the repeated water infiltration

of 24 times

Figure 7: Loss of fine particles in the volcanic soil due to water infiltration.

At the depth of 8 m from the ground surface, there was the boundary between original stiff ground and
filled soil, where a lateral ground cavity of about 2 m wide was discovered in about 20 m west from the
centre of the hole, as shown in Figure 8. The sound of water flow was clearly heard in the cavity. The length
of the cavity was at least 6 m, but could not be confirmed as the further excavation was not conducted. It
seemed to be a path through which soil with water was transported out of the hole.

Figure 8: Natural soil pipe due to internal erosion.

III.2

Search for the destination of the water flow in the soil pipe

Water coloured by fluorescent paint was poured into the cavity to search for the destination of the water
flow in the soil pipe. After 20 minutes, the coloured water started flowing out at the reservoir, 700m down
from the cavity. It can be considered that a soil pipe is formed in the ground between the collapsed location
and the reservoir where a large amount of soil sediment was found.
III.3

Location of the water inflow

In the excavation on the east side, the point where the water flew into the hole was found at about 10m
away from the centre (Figure 9). It was indicated that the hidden hole was formed on the subsurface water
stream.

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Subsurface erosion in old land fill, Kuwano, Kohata and Sato

Figure 9: Water inflow at the east side of the hole.

IV

ESTIMATION OF THE PROCESS OF UNDERGROUND CAVITY FORMATION

Comparison between old and current map of the location revealed that the ground collapse occurred at the
land fill exactly on the old stream, as shown in Figure 10. The locations of the water inflow and outflow
were identified at east and west side of the hole respectively.

Land fill of about 10-15m thick

The 8th fairway

Old stream
Water hazard
Collapse

???

Reservoir
Large amount
of soil sediment

Road

Figure 10: Location of the old stream.

Ground appeared to be internally eroded by the natural water path formed at the old stream. It is like a
natural drainage pipe, so that it is generally called soil pipe. As the erosion of the soil at the location of the
collapse seemed to be accelerated for some reason, a distinctive ground cavity was created. The hidden
cavity grew silently, possibly due to the seasonal change of ground water level and eventually caused ground
collapse. Such a process is schematically shown in Figure 11. However, the state and the condition of the
installed drainage pipes are not yet examined. Further investigation is required in this aspect.
[Sato & Kuwano, 2008], [Sato & Kuwano, 2010], [Mukunoki et al., 2010] and [Kuwano et al., 2010]
investigated the mechanism of ground cavity and surrounding loosening due to the failure of sewer pipes. It
was found that the state of water infiltration and soil properties are the governing factors for the growth of
the ground cavity and loosening, while the failure of pipe is a trigger of the phenomenon. [Kuwano et al.,
2010] further conducted a series of mode tests to examine the pattern of underground cavity formed in
Toyoura sand model ground in case that constant subsurface water flow exists, using a soil chamber as
shown in Figure 12. The size of the soil chamber is 2 m wide, 0.5 m long and 1.2 m high. It has a 5 mm wide
opening at the base, from which soil with water can be flown out. Water level in the model ground was
initially set to be 10 cm from the bottom. Later it was raised to 20 cm and 40 cm. Soil above the opening up
to the current water level was drained first, then surrounding soil was also flown out. A cavity expanded
laterally, as shown in Figure 13, with time until the ceiling of the cavity lost its stability. It was noted that the
shape of cavity after the test was similar to that in the case studied; flask shape. Rate of dry weight of drained
soil depended on the water level, as shown in Figure 14.

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Subsurface erosion in old land fill, Kuwano, Kohata and Sato

Original stream

Formation of small cavity

due to erosion
at some point

Land fill constructed

Erosion progressed
Cavity and surrounding
loosening expand

Natural water path is formed

along the old stream

Failure of cavity ceiling

By repetition of erosion
and failure of cavity ceiling,
a cavity moves upward

Figure 11: Formation of underground cavity.

Soil chamber2m0.5mh1.2m

Toyoura sand
model ground

5mm wide opening

Water chamber

Figure 12: A soil chamber for cavity formation test.

water
(10cm)
24min. after the start of the test

water
(20cm)
63 min.
after the water table was raised to 20cm

Soil above
the cavity fell

water
(40cm)

16 min.
after the water table was raised to 40cm

water
(40cm)

84 min.
after the water table was raised to 40cm

Figure 13: Process of cavity formation

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Subsurface erosion in old land fill, Kuwano, Kohata and Sato

Accumulated dry weight

of drained soil kg)

300
250
200

Water level
10cm

20cm

40cm

water level raised to 20cm

with the base opening closed

150
100
50
0
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Elapsed time (min.)

Figure 14: Amount of drained soil

Based on the research, the followings are considered to be key issues for explaining the formation of large
underground cavity in this case.
(1) Soil properties
The soil was permeable, subjected to the erosion relatively easily. Fines can be first flown away with water,
which created ground loosening around the cavity.
(2) Ground water
There was a subsurface water path which can transport soil out of the hole with water. There is also
seasonal change in ground water level, which may accelerate the cavity growth as the saturation of soil at the
ceiling helps failure and expansion of the cavity.
(3) Soil loss
Direct trigger of the formation of natural water path may be a defect of drainage pipe. But the state and the
current condition of the pipes have not yet examined.
V

CONCLUSIONS

A case of large scale ground collapse in the old fill ground was investigated and described in this paper.
The underground cavity appeared to be caused by subsurface erosion deep in the ground and to expand
upward till it was eventually caused the catastrophic failure. It should be noted again the importance of
proper drainage work in land fill construction.
VI

REFERENCES

Kuwano,R., Horii,T., Yamauchi,K. and Kohashi,H. (2010). Formation of subsurface cavity and
loosening due to defected sewer pipe, Japanese Geotechnical Journal, 5, No.2: 349-361, (in Japanese).
Kuwano,R., Sato,M. and Sera,R. (2010). Study on the detection of underground cavity and ground
loosening for the prevention of ground cave-in accident, Japanese Geotechnical Journal, 5, No.2: 219-229,
(in Japanese).
Mukunoki,T., Kumano,N., Otani,J. and Kuwano,R. (2009). Visualization of three dimensional failure in
sand due to water inflow and soil drainage from defected underground pipe using X-ray CT, Soils and
Foundations, 49, No.6: 959-968.
Sato, M. and Kuwano, R. (2008). Experimental Study on the Evaluation of Loose Ground Surrounding a
Cavity in Soil, Proc. 7th International symposium on new technologies for urban safety of mega cities in
Asia, USMCA, Beijing, October 2008: 751-758.
Sato, M. and Kuwano, R. (2010). Model Tests for the Evaluation of Formation and Expansion of a
Cavity in the ground, Proc. of 7th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics, 2010
June, Switzerland: 581-586.

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