Kansai International Airport is located on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, Japan. It was an ambitious $14 billion project constructed between 1987 and 1994 to serve the major cities of Osaka, Kobe, and their surrounding regions. The airport was built offshore due to a lack of available land near existing airports and public opposition to expansion. However, the soft clay soils beneath the new island caused significant sinking issues, with the island settling over 27 feet instead of the predicted 19-25 feet. Engineers had to install hydraulic jacks and take other measures to stabilize the passenger terminal building. Future expansion plans aim to apply lessons learned to better predict and manage further soil consolidation.
3. Key Features
Located on a biggest man-made island in Osaka
Bay about 50km south of Osaka, Japan
Constructed cost over $14 billion
The island of 4km long and 2.5km wide, was
proposed
Project Started in 1987
Opened for flights in 1994
The ASCE named KIA the #2 civil engineering
project of the 20th century, second only to the
Panama Canal
4. History
In the 1960s, when the Kansai region was rapidly losing trade to Tokyo
, planners proposed a new airport near Kobe and Osaka. Osaka
International Airport, located in the densely populated suburbs of Itami
and Toyonaka, was surrounded by buildings; it could not be expanded,
and many of its neighbours had filed complaints because of noise
pollution problems.
After the protests surrounding New Tokyo International Airport (now
Narita International Airport), which was built with expropriated land in
a rural part of Chiba Prefecture, planners decided to build the airport
offshore. The new airport was part of a number of new developments to
revitalize Osaka, which had lost economic and cultural ground to
Tokyo for most of the century.
5. Initially, the airport was planned to be built near Kobe, but the city of
Kobe refused the plan, so the airport was moved to a more southerly
location on Osaka Bay.
KANSAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
11. Second phase KIA
The second runway opened on 2 August 2007,
but without the originally planned terminal
portion, now postponed to a later date.
12. Second phase has expanded the airport size to
10.5 sq. km
Further into the future, the airport is planning to
construct a new terminal building (scheduled to
open in late 2012), a third runway with a length
of 3,500 m, a new cargo terminal and
expanding the airport size to 13 km2
.
15. FLIGHTS
Weekly international passenger flights: 710
Weekly international freighter flights: 152
Weekly domestic (passenger and freighter)
flights: 495
16. Problem caused after completion of
Airport
Airport goes on sinking, sinking prediction are
as follows:
Lack of experience with construction on deep
deposit of diluvial clay
Expected settlement = 19 to 25 ft.
Actual settlement = 27 ft. (by the end of island
construction in 1990)
It continued at the rate of 2 in/month
17. What Went Wrong in Predictions?
Un-conservative estimation of consolidation
settlement
Wrong estimate of the time required for
completion of consolidation settlement
Ineffectiveness of the sand drains in achieving
the required success 100%
18. Coping With The Problem of Continued
Settlement
Basement of the terminal was lined with a
quarter of a million tons of iron ore.
Result: Island sank faster than the building it is
trying to hold
Installation of hydraulic jacks under the
columns.
Result: No differential settlement between the
columns of entire building
19. Learning From Mistakes
Using data actual settlement data obtained from
1st
phase of project
Analysis of 400-m-deep boring exploration
State-of-the-art soil test methods
Expected Settlement = 18 m
20. Present
Kansai International Airport (KIX) is Japan's second
most important international airport.
Kansai Airport has two terminal buildings: the main
terminal building (terminal 1) serves international
and domestic flights by regular airlines, while a
second terminal building (terminal 2) serves
international and domestic flights by low-cost
airlines. Various train and bus lines connect the
airport with the nearby cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe
and surroundings.