The Sinking Threat: Kansai Airport May Be Submerged by 2056

Kansai Airport may sink in 2056. (Photo/Dazhi/Associated Press)

Japan’s “Kansai Airport”, the first reclaimed land airport in human history, is in danger of sinking. Kansai Airport, which will be in operation for 30 years on September 4 this year, has sunk about 3.7 meters in the past 30 years because it was built on a “soft clay layer” with a water depth of 18 meters. Some experts predict that Kansai Airport may be in 2056. Submerged by the sea.

Kansai Airport, which carries more than 28 million passengers every year, has a total construction cost of more than NT$600 billion. Although it only took 5 years to build, it covers an area of ​​nearly 1,067.7 hectares to Taiwan Taoyuan Airport, and has a dedicated power plant for power supply. , if the time of the construction plan proposal is included, the entire airport took a total of 29 years from the proposal to open. American Society of Civil Engineers.

Kansai Airport altitude continues to drop. (Photo/Dazhi/Associated Press)

However, this engineering marvel built on a mound of 180 million cubic meters of earth, considered the ultimate victory for man and nature, is not only sinking every year, but also at a faster rate than originally expected in the first artificial island has sunk 3.73 meters so far, with an average decrease of 6.6 meters per centimeter year; the second artificial island has sunk 5.36 meters since its opening in 2007, with an average decrease of 22 centimeters per year.

The center of the airport is deteriorating faster than the two ends of the artificial island. (Photo/Dazhi/Associated Press)

Engineers originally predicted that the airport would decay evenly within 50 years and maintain a stable state when it fell to a height of around 3.9 metres.. Unexpectedly, it only took 6 years for the airport to fall to the critical value originally set. About NT$4.6 billion has been spent to rebuild the seawall, but some experts worry that it is too late. Some experts predict that the airport will be under sea water in 2056.

Kansai Airport is currently sinking “unevenly across regions”, with the center of the airport sinking faster. In order to solve the foundation problem, which is “essentially like a wet sponge”, the authorities are expected to install 2.2 million ropes containing concrete. on the seabed Pipe columns of sand “prop up” the foundation, fundamentally solving the problem of deterioration.

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