Verification of topography and soil condition of slope where disaster occurred during snowmelt season in railway

Abstract

In snowy areas, slope failure triggered by snowmelt water (hereinafter referred to as snowmelt disasters) have occasionally occurred. In this paper, we analyzed 45 cases of snowmelt disasters that occurred along the railway slope. In embankment cases, there was a tendency to cause snowmelt disasters frequently in expanded or embankments under cutting slope with the height of about 3m or more, and in cutting slope of terrace cliff. In addition, as an extracting method of the dangerous location concerning snowmelt disasters, we focus on the risk assessment criteria of rainfall for the slope failure that is used in Japanese railway and compared the evaluation points of that criteria between the snowmelt disaster cases and the no-disaster cases. As the result of comparison, the tendency of the evaluation point of disaster cases to be lowered and it is confirmed that the proposed extracting method of dangerous location can be effective.

Effect of snow cover evolution on pore water pressure behaviour in embankments and cut slopes: Field observations

“…While the degree of significance may depend on regions, Hokkaido area in northern Japan has had its share of incidents reported for decades (e.g. Ishikawa, 2015;Aoki et al, 2019;Takayanagi et al, 2019). One of the most prominent cases is failure of a road embankment at Nakayama Passway along Route 230, due to snow melt water infiltration, occurring in May 2012 and April 2013.…”