4th CAESAR Symposium Held

Audience of the 4th CAESAR Symposium

Prof. Fujii during his keynote lecture

CAESAR held the 4th CAESAR Symposium at the Hitotsubashi Memorial Hall, Tokyo, on Aug. 24th, 2011, under the title “Response to the Imminent Danger.” The program of the Symposium was intended to highlight relevant issues including the maintenance of road bridges and dealing with the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake from various perspectives.

The keynote lecture was delivered by Kyoto University Professor Satoshi Fujii. He spoke on the significance of infrastructure maintenance and renovation as well as plans for reconstruction following the damages caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. He spoke for an hour, covering a wide range of topics from socioeconomic to technical issues centering on his book The Discourse on Reinforcement of the Archipelago (Bunshun Shinsho, May 2011).

Mr. Kazufumi Hiraga of the Hokuriku Regional Development Bureau, MLIT, spoke about case examples of chloride-induced deterioration and various problems facing road bridges in the Hokuriku area, including the current status and maintenance needs. Tetsurou Kuwabara, director for the Bridge and Structural Technology Research Group, CAESAR, spoke about the researches CAESAR has conducted and the recent research achievements including solutions to problems related to the deterioration of road bridges.

The latter half of the Symposium consisted of lectures on the Great East Japan Earthquake which dealt specifically with three major points: the response to emergency road rehabiritation, the status of bridge damage, and future issues to solve. Mr. Shoichi Akagawa of the Tohoku Regional Development Bureau, MLIT, made great contributions to post-disaster road repair as Director for Road Management at the time of the earthquake. He played a central role in the effort to ascertain the extent of damages to road bridges and in operating emergency rehabilitation immediately after the disaster in cooperation with NILIM and PWRI. As a guest speaker, Mr. Akagawa gave a detailed explanation of the disaster-related damage along with videos of the tsunami and many photos. Following Mr. Akagawa was Waseda University Professor Mitsuyoshi Akiyama, a specialist in earthquake-resistant technology, durability, and reliability as related to concrete structures. He worked for Tohoku University at the time of the earthquake. Prof. Akiyama spoke about the status of damages to bridges, centering on earthquake damage to railroad bridges and the future issues to tackle. The last speaker was Chief Researcher of CAESAR, Dr.Jun-ichi Hoshikuma, who introduced the future subjects of research based on the damage experience of bridges due to this earthquake and tsunami.

All the seats in the hall were filled with participants from various fields, including road administrators and private sector specialists involved in bridges and post-disaster rehabilitation efforts, a total audience of 496. We received a lot of feedback from the audience on the questionnaire survey handed out to them. Some comments included that the lecture of Prof. Fujii was very interesting, that the program was timely and in-depth, that CAESAR’s future activities are very highly anticipated, and that CAESAR should continue this symposium.

Lecture materials distributed to the audience are also available on the CAESAR website (http://www.pwri.go.jp/caesar/lecture/lecture04.html).


(Contact: CAESAR)

CERI Open House: Civil Engineering for Safe Living Environments in Northern Areas

Panel display in the hall

Simulation of water overtopping a levee

Children checking their answers in the quiz rally

       

The Civil Engineering Research Institute for Cold Region is opened to the public each year in July to coincide with Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Day. These open days provide local residents with opportunities to get to know about the research conducted at the institute. Research activities in progress are explained in plain words, and various measures are implemented to raise public interest in cold-region civil engineering technologies. On Jul. 1st (Fri.) and 2nd (Sat.) this year, the 29th open house was held based on the theme of civil engineering for safe living environments in northern areas. Due to fine weather on both days combined with FM radio and newspaper coverage, our event attracted 1,081 visitors to the institute.

An overview of CERI
In the lecture hall, panels introducing major research activities (mainly concerning disaster prevention) conducted by individual CERI teams were displayed, and researchers from each team explained their activities and technical development work. They also answered a wide range of questions and provided a technical consultation service. Other panels showing the devastating damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake attracted the attention of many visitors. A research explanation area for engineers was also set up to provide detailed answers to technical questions, thereby improving the consultation service for civil engineers. Visitors commented that the explanations of advanced technologies were easy to understand.

Learning through fun activities
At this year’s public open days, exhibition items and hands-on experience/demonstration programs on the theme of disaster prevention were provided. The Materials Research Team demonstrated a compression test bench used to evaluate concrete strength. Based on the theme of rivers and disasters, the River Engineering Research Team and the Watershed Environmental Engineering Research Team used a levee breach model to simulate water overtopping a levee with the aim of enhancing public understanding of the civil engineering techniques necessary to support everyday living. The Snow and Ice Research Team conducted a visualization experiment to demonstrate the effects of snow fences and snowbreak forests during blizzards, and also provided hands-on experience using avalanche transceivers in a search for treasure boxes on the theme of technologies to protect people from the harshness of winter. According to a questionnaire survey, these programs were highly rated, with comments such as “The explanation of snowbreak forests was very interesting” and “It was a wonderful idea to display models that facilitated children’s understanding.”
Visitors enjoyed the experimental facilities and panel displays as well as participating in a quiz rally and searching for answers hidden around the institute. We believe that visitors developed a feeling of familiarity with the institute by listening to clear explanations given by the researchers at the exhibits, and in turn, institute staff were encouraged by the curiosity and smiles of the children there.We will do our best to display even better exhibits next year.


(Contact: Cold Region Technology Promotion Division, CERI)

ICHARM master course students make presentations at a JSCE symposium

Mr. Zhou Huaqiang from China

Mr. Rodrigo Fernandez from Guatemala

Mr. Rodrigo delivers his presentation
in front of an international audience.

The 13th International Summer Symposium was held by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) on Friday, 26 August, at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University. The symposium was organized as part of JSCE’s international activities to support overseas students currently studying in Japan. Its goal was to provide an opportunity for international students and engineers to share their current studies and ideas for further international exchange and better mutual understanding.

ICHARM has been conducting a one-year M.Sc. program entitled the “Water-related Disaster Management Course of Disaster Management Policy Program” in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) since October 2007. Twelve students studied in this program last year from October 2009 to September 2010. Writing a master thesis is one of the graduating requirements, and additionally they were encouraged to present their theses at a conference to finalize their studying in the program. Eventually, Mr. Zhou Huaqiang from China and Mr. Rodrigo Fernandez from Guatemala were able to make presentations at the summer symposium. Many overseas students and researchers took part in the session in which the two presented their theses, asking questions and exchanging ideas.

Mr. Zhou made a presentation on “Changes of Water Resources of Jiangsu Province Indicated by MRI-AGCM3.2S Projection”. He studied possible future changes in water resources of Jiangsu Province by using MRI-AGCM3.2S, a high-resolution atmospheric general circulation model which can estimate precipitation from the present to the end of the 21st century. He hopes that the research will help solve water issues in the rapidly developing province located at the estuary of the Chang Jiang River.

Mr. Rodrigo’s presentation was entitled “Assessment of Future Changes in Precipitation and Discharge in Motagua River Basin Using High Resolution Climate Model”. In this research, he studied the impacts of climate change on the Motagua River basin, one of the most important basins where many of Guatemala’s major cities are located. He also used MRI-AGCM3.1S to estimate precipitation from the present to the end of the 21st century in addition to the BTOP model, a run-off analysis model which can estimate river discharge.

Four others with the JISC study-tour grant also made presentations at the conference besides the two from the ICHARM master program. They reported on several places they had visited during the one-week stay in Japan, including a road construction site, the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution and the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. The Public Works Research Institute was one of those destinations, and they mentioned its experimental facilities in their presentation as being very impressive.

ICHARM has already started the 2011-2012 master course program with new students since October and will actively promote opportunities like this symposium for the students to present research results from their master theses.

(Contact: ICHARM)

Site Tour for International Participants of the 2011 JSCE Annual Meeting

Participants listening to the explanation on the tour route

Visit to the Tatara Bridge

Participants listening to the explanation of
the Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridges at the Kurushima
Strait Observation Hall

Participants visiting Oyamazumi Shrine

The Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) 2011 Annual Meeting was held at Ehime University in Matsuyama from Sep. 7th to 9th. As part of the program, PWRI, together with the International Activities Committee of JSCE (some of whose members are from PWRI) held a site tour for international participants of the Sep. 9th meeting. A total of 32 participants from six countries, including Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Nepal, attended the tour. They visited the Nishi-Seto Expressway Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridges and the Tatara Bridge, both of which link Imabari City at the northern tip of Ehime Prefecture to Onomichi City in Hiroshima Prefecture. They also heard a lecture on the various civil engineering technologies suitable to the specific meteorological and maritime conditions of the Seto Inland Sea.
The Tatara Bridge was completed as the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge in 1999. The bridge was originally planned as a suspension bridge, but given the advancement in cable-stayed bridge technology as well as considerations of economic efficiency and the surrounding scenery, the cable-stayed bridge plan was adopted instead. The Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridges were completed as a three continuous suspension bridges crossing the approximately 4-km wide water passage of the Kurushima Strait. Since the strait is a major thoroughfare for marine traffic in the area, this suspension bridges were planned and constructed with the safety of vessel navigation taken fully into consideration.
During the tour, they also visited Oyamazumi Shrine at Omishima, seeing the facilities in the compound, and learning about the history and culture of the Seto Inland Sea area.
The participants from overseas listened intently and with great interest to the explanations on the advanced technology used in the construction of the important main roads connecting Honshu and Shikoku. It is our hope that international exchange relating to civil engineering technology can be further promoted through site tours of this kind.


(Contact: Research Evaluation and International Section)

Public Opening of Facilities for the 2011 Tsukuba Little Doctor
- Experiencing High-speed Travel and the Public Opening of the Dam Hydraulics Laboratory and Vibration Laboratory -

High speed driving experience of
the steep bank in Test track

Impressive demonstration of
the dam model experiment

Hit a device and reproduced liquefaction

  

As one of the 34 institutions participating in this year’s Tsukuba Little Doctor. On Jul. 29th, PWRI publicly opened its facilities to participants together with the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) in usual. The weather was cloudy with high temperatures and occasional showers which made the day seem even more hot and humid, but despite this weather, 296 people visited the PWRI.
Two courses were arranged this year, combining NILIM’s test driving track and the other PWRI’s Dam Hydraulics Laboratory or their Vibration Laboratory, and participants were brought to the courses separately by two large buses.
On the Test track, the bus rode slowly along the track, during which time the passengers were given an overview of the laboratories they could see from the bus. At the south loop, the participants could experience the steep bank.
Then the high-speed driving experience, which was the main event of the visit to the test track, participants looked worried before the first bank, wondering “Can we really make it up?” But once the bus rode up the slope, children shouted, “Wow, just like a roller coaster!” The excitement gleaming in their eyes at that moment was very memorable.
At the Dam Hydraulics Laboratory, after participants had a panel briefing, they listened to the staff’s explanations while examining the nearby scale model of an actual dam.
At the Vibration Laboratory, the staff spoke and showed videos explaining the set-up of the facility and the experiments conducted so far. The children listened enthusiastically to the explanation, surprised with the size of the three-dimensional large-scale shaking table.
Then, the participants were shown the phenomenon of soil liquefaction through the liquefaction simulator.
When the phenomenon was reproduced, both children and adults showed a high level of interest, partly because of their knowledge of serious damage caused by the major earthquake in March. Many participants voiced their surprise, saying, “That explains it!”, when they saw with their own eyes how while heavy things, like buildings, sank, light things, like buried piping, floated in the machine’s reproduced liquefaction conditions.
On that day, it was raining on and off, and we were concerned about whether we would be able to carry out the high-speed traveling experience on the test track, but all programs were conducted safely on all courses. We believe that the participants truly enjoyed the event.
It is our hope that if children, who are the foundation of our future, are able to have these kinds of experiences, they may grow up to play important roles in these fields. That is why we intend to continue cooperation with the Tsukuba Little Doctor.


(Contact: General Affairs Division)

Students on the JSCE Study Tour Grant Visit PWRI for Training

Students visiting the geotechnical
dynamic centrifuge facility.

Students listening to the explanation of
the RC bridge pier loading experiment.
The earthquake engineering laboratory.

Getting a close look at dam models.

Students listening to
the explanation on pavements.
The pavement test field.

       

Four students from Asian countries invited by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) as part of its Study Tour Grant Program* visited PWRI on Aug. 22nd and 30th, 2011.
This was their third visit to PWRI for training.
The students who were invited to Japan had specialist training in civil engineering in their respective countries of Malaysia, the Philippines, Nepal and Bangladesh. They spent about a week attending lectures and visiting research institutes, construction companies and construction sites.
At PWRI, all explanations and Q&A were given in English. The students were given an introduction to PWRI and its research results, after which they visited the experiment facility.
At the lecture hall, students heard explanations on the doctoral courses and master’s courses in ICHARM’s training and education program. Nabesaka, a researcher of the ICHARM, explained about the Integrated Flood Analysis System (IFAS) which is used in areas where sufficient hydrological observation is not conducted (such as in developing countries) to analyze run-off and predict flooding using rainfall information obtained by satellites.
In the large-scale geotechnical dynamic centrifuge facility, the students saw how the machine was operated, as well as experiments on anti-liquefaction measures for river levees and on anti-seismic reinforcement of retaining walls with lectures on them. At the Earthquake Engineering Laboratory, they saw a large displacement vibration exciter and an axial loading machine and listened to the explanation of the staff while watching an experiment to apply a load to an RC bridge pier. At the Dam Hydraulics Laboratory, after hearing explanations on the experiments in progress and on various types of dams, the students got a close look at models of dams that are currently in operation or under construction in Japan. In the pavement test field, the students were given an introduction to the current state of pavements in Japan as well as to heat-shield and water-retention pavements used to combat heat island problems. They touched the pavement with their bare hands and felt the temperature difference.
The students enthusiastically asked questions about the latest information and research results in preparation for their scheduled presentations at the JSCE Summer Symposium held at the end of the Study Tour Grant Program in Kyoto University.

*The Study Tour Grant is a program that invites to Japan civil engineers belonging to overseas academic societies with which the JSCE has formed a cooperation agreement. Its purpose is to promote an understanding of the actual conditions of and activities in the civil engineering field in Japan. The participants are given financial support for travel and for the other expenses necessary for them to attend the training provided at facilities and institutions related to civil engineering. After completing the program, the students are required to submit reports to related academic societies both in Japan and in their home countries.


(Contact: General Affairs Division)