Damage Situation of Stone Walls in Kumamoto Castle Caused by the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake

摘要

The authors investigated the damage situation of masonry structures caused by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. In this paper, the damage situation of stone walls in Kumamoto castle is reported and the mechanisms of failure and collapse of stones are discussed. The 3-D laser scanner was also applied to obtain the 3D geometry and the displacement/deformation of the stone walls was analyzed by comparing with the previous measurement results before the earthquake. The 3D laser scanning results clearly show the unnatural shape of the stone walls caused by the movement of the backfill. This unnatural shape of the stone walls can be observed even in the stone walls which avoid the collapse. In the future, the evaluation of the safety/stability of the masonry walls is important for the restoration and 3D digital data obtained by 3D laser scanning technique will be useful.