Activity Characteristics and Safety distance of Gaoliying Ground Fissure in Beijing

In all ground fissures in Beijing, Gaoliying Ground Fissure has characteristics of highly activity, and it cause serious damages on constructoins. With the distribution as well as the development of land subsidence and the change of the groundwater level, a series of work has been conducted to explain the mechanism of the formation of Gaoliying Ground Fissure. For example, field damage investigations and trench observations were used to define the affected distance of ground fissure; three-dimensional deformation was monitored to determine active characteristic of ground fissure. This paper points out that Gaoliying ground fissure is controlled by Huangzhuang-Gaoliying Fault, which mainly moves in the vertical direction. The rapid decrease of the ground water level greatly increases the development of ground fissure. The distance of damaged zones affected by ground fissure in the hanging-wall of the fault reaches 49.5m, and the distance of damaged zones in the footwall of the fault is 17.5 m. A suggested safety distance of type-one and type-two buildings is 100 m. For type-three buildings, the suggested safety distance is 80 m.