Geotechnical aspects of the new Inchon International Airport Project

초록

As the existing Kimpo International Airport cannot accommodate current aviation demand, the construction of the new Inchon International Airport(IIA) was necessary in order to serve as the hub of Northeast Asia in the 21st century. IIA is located approximately 50km west from the downtown Seoul and is being built on the reclaimed land between two islands, Yongjong and Yongyu in the Korean western coast. The tidal range of this coastal area is approximately 8m, and the subsurface soils consist of four different sedimentary strata deposited over a long period of geological time. These strata are about 35m thick and its uppermost marine deposit is a young sediment stratum consisting of fine-grained soils deposited with the rise of the sea level in the late Holocene. The test embankment was programmed to analyze settlement behavior and to select proper vertical drain method to acceleration consolidation of the upper marine deposit due to the placement of hydraulic fill. A trial compaction was also performed on the hydraulic fills to select the most suitable compaction method. This paper presents the geology and geotechnical properties of the seabed deposit, and the analysis of the results from the test embankment and the trial compaction.