The classification, recording, databasing and use of information about building damage caused by subsidence and landslides

Abstract

Building damage due to subsidence and lateral movement can be caused by numerous mechanisms including mining, dissolution of soluble rocks, shrinkswell of clays and landslides. In many instances, the distribution and severity of the damage caused can be diagnostic of the underlying geological condition and can be used as an aid to geological and geomorphological mapping. Many rigid buildings are sensitive to movement, meaning that careful surveys can delineate fine details which can be compiled to identify broader patterns of mass-movement. This paper discusses how damage has been recorded in the past and presents a unified scheme that is based mainly on UK and Italian practice and which can be applied to most situations. It broadens the existing schemes to include the assessment of damage to infrastructure (such as roads and pavements), which are also sensitive to movements; it also extends the existing schemes to include more serious building damage. In this way it unifies the current, disparate approaches and extends the usage of the semiquantified approach to damage assessment. The damage assessment lends itself to storage in a database that can be interrogated, displayed and interpreted using a Geographical Information System (GIS).In Great Britain, figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) posted on the internet indicate that building damage due to subsidence cost about £500 million over the dry summers of 1975-6, and £400 million in 2003(Professional Broking, 2007. Other figures from the ABI (Dlugolecki, 2004) suggest that with the effects of climate change, by 2050 the costs could be as much as £600 million in a normal year and £1.2bn in a bad year (at 2004 prices). This damage is caused by a range of geological problems, including natural subsidence, mining induced subsidence, shrink-swell clays, collapsible soils and landslides. In many cases, the style and severity of damage can be directly related to the nature of the geological event and the distribution of the geological unit responsible. Many man-made structures, especially old buildings with very inadequate foundations, are prone to damage by such movements and as such, they form sensitive recording devices for small amounts of movement. By mapping out the degree and spatial extent of damage, it is often possible to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms and magnitudes of movements causing the subsidence. By repeating the monitoring after an interval of time, it may be possible to understand the evolution of the spatial and temporal aspects of the subsidence and gain a measure both of how the area is evolving and its long-term stability. This paper presents a review of several building damage schemes currently in use, and proposes an amalgamated scheme that can be applied more universally to varied

A multidisciplinary approach for the investigation of a rock spreading on an urban slope

“…Complementarily, the damage of the buildings was ranked according to Cooper's (2008) building damage recording scheme, based on distribution and severity of the damage. The building structures of these properties are mainly composed of loadbearing masonry walls and wood joists, which are quite sensitive to vertical and horizontal differential displacements due to their rigidity (Burland and Wroth 1975).…”

“…10 Damage observed in the buildings placed in the crown of the studied slope. Note that the level of damage of the buildings has been ranked according to Cooper's (2008) classification. The main damage observed on the buildings placed on the top of the slope consists of a long persistence and wide-aperture cracks (Fig.…”

6.35 Dealing with Gypsum Karst Problems: Hazards, Environmental Issues, and Planning

“…In places that have already been developed, mapping the damage caused to buildings and infrastructure can reveal patterns of subsidence that complement the more obvious subsidence features (Gutiérrez and Cooper 2002;Cooper 2008a). Airborne surveys using laser altimetry (LiDAR) can pick up subsidence on buildings (Waltham et al, 2005).…”

The Role of Sulfate-Rich Springs and Groundwater in the Formation of Sinkholes over Gypsum in Eastern England

“…The sulfate-and carbonate rich water is also favorable to the deposition of calcareous 1998). Planning for these problems and developing such areas requires special engineering mitigation measures (Paukstys et al, 1999;Cooper and Saunders, 2002;Cooper, 2008aCooper, , 2008bGutiérrez et al, 2008).…”

“…These springs are located in a low part of Ripon where there are numerous peat bogs and abundant active subsidence features (Cooper, 1986(Cooper, , 1989(Cooper, , 1998(Cooper, , 2008aCooper and Saunders, 2002). Recent site investigation has proved sulfate-rich water in a peat bog that occupies part of the former Spa Field near the former Spa Well.…”