PWRI Lectures 2013 Held

  PWRI Lectures 2013 was held at Hitotsubashi-auditorium in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, on Nov. 5th (Tue), 2013 (Photos 1 and 2). An audience of about 330 people from various fields including the private sector listened to the lectures.

  The PWRI Lectures are designed to introduce to the public the achievements and state of PWRI's research studies together with trends of the related fields through lectures and reports by PWRI researchers. The event is one of the important platforms for PWRI to share information with the public.

  In this session, the state of highway bridge maintenance and dam redevelopment was introduced as representing the trends of the respective civil engineering fields. Achievements of recent research studies were also reported, such as efforts to reduce disasters caused by blizzards, hard and soft measures to prevent and mitigate water disasters and observational results of a natural dam formed in Ambon Island, Republic of Indonesia, and The Aerial Placeable Floating water stage gauge (hereafter, APF gauge) developed by Public Works Research Institute (hereafter, PWRI) used there. Furthermore, environment-friendly pavement technologies, test methods to assess the impact of chemical substances on aquatic organisms and soft ground countermeasures at home and abroad were presented as examples of the research studies conducted by PWRI. In addition, there was a quick report on the debris flow disaster that occurred on Izu Oshima Island three weeks before the lectures.

  This year, PWRI invited Professor Haruhiko Higuchi of the Police Policy Research Center, National Police Academy, as a special lecturer. Under the title of "Pitfalls of Professional Engineers: Learning from Case Examples," Professor Higuchi, after introducing past scandals, stressed the importance of a practical viewpoint when taking measures against scandals (Photo 3).

  The audience found the lectures very constructive. Through a questionnaire survey, many opinions and requests were received, such as "I wish to learn about the handing down of civil engineering technologies in Japan," "I want to know how PWRI's researches and studies are used in the field," "I request lectures on disaster prevention and mitigation," and "I'd like to know about recovery after the earthquake." This is precious feedback for future lectures.

  PWRI will continue to present study findings and other matters in lectures in future years.

(Contact: Planning and Management Division)

Get Familiar with Civil Engineering! 2013 Open House of Civil Engineering Day

  With an eye to Science & Technology Day on Nov. 18th, PWRI and the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) opened their facilities to the public on Nov. 16th (Sat.) Blessed with fine weather, the event attracted 970 visitors.

  Facilities made open this year include: the pavement test field, a moving car non-contact power supply system for electric vehicles, the dam hydraulic laboratory, the coastal hydraulic laboratory, the exhibition of removed bridge members, the debrisflow generator and the test track. In the exhibition of removed bridge members, for example, an experience using a probe vehicle to find various objects buried in concrete (Photo 1) was very well-received by both adults and kids. In the coastal hydraulic laboratory, an experiment of island forming process was reconstructed, inspiring the audience's exclaims of surprise. After high-speed driving on the test track that enjoys great popularity every year, a wide variety of visitors said "it was fun to have the extraordinary experience."

  There was a "Stamp Rally" where participants collect a series of stamps at the experiment facilities. This year, participants who had collected more than four stamps and visitors who answered survey questions were presented with origami construction machines folded by our staff members (Photo 2). Because the origami construction machines came in more than 30 colors, it was impressive to see many people wondering which they should choose.

  There was also a civil engineering experience class for visitors to learn about civil engineering technologies. This year again, many people, mostly children, participated in the class. For example, participants enjoyed "Let's experience geological survey!" where they could learn hard numbers of the force necessary to break various types of rocks (Photo 3).

  The event was further boosted by an exhibition and riding of "Heavy Vehicles" with cooperation from the MLIT Kanto Regional Development Bureau, commemorative photography with Zosan (elephant), the mascot of PWRI, and Suisui, a guest from the Japan Sewage Works Association (Photo 4), a "Cardboard Bridge Competition" gathering works created by 5th graders of elementary schools in Tsukuba City, wind-instrument music played by students of Azuma Elementary School and Azuma Junior-High School, and Japanese drums, violins and band performances by staff members.

  Open House of Civil Engineering Day is an event to have fun while learning about civil engineering technologies, which we see every day but take for granted, in an easier-to-understand manner. Don't miss it next time!

(Contact: Planning and Management Division and General Affairs Division)

RIKEN and PWRI have signed a Coordination and Cooperation Agreement

  RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics (RAP) and PWRI Center for Advanced Engineering Structural Assessment and Research (CAESAR) signed a coordination and cooperation agreement concerning research and development in photonics on Sep. 13th, 2013.

  PWRI CAESAR signed a coordination and cooperation agreement in compact neutron imaging system with RIKEN Innovation Center (RInC) in fiscal 2010 and has been conducting researches based on the agreement. Taking the opportunity of the organizational change at RIKEN in fiscal 2013, CAESAR will start research and development of a nondestructive inspection and internal soundness diagnosis system using photons with an eye to using terahertz and lasers in addition to neutrons.

  To ensure safety management of bridges and other structures, CAESAR is actively conducting research and development of technologies for maintenance, inspection, assessment/prediction and repair/reinforcement. In recent years, deficiencies due to aging, etc. have been exposed in roads and bridges that are important infrastructures. Nondestructive inspections are conducted to grasp damage conditions inside of structures, but information that current inspection technologies can provide is limited. There is a call for the development of innovative inspection technologies over the world.

  Taking advantage of photon beam technology and Volume-CAD (VCAD) systems, RAP is developing nondestructive inspection and presumptive diagnosis technologies through simulation using measured data toward the goal of "making the invisible visible." Application of imaging technologies using photons such as highly penetrating neutron, terahertz and lasers makes it possible to obtain internal data of large structures made of concrete, steel frames and plates without destructing them.

  This coordination and cooperation agreement aims to ensure safety and longer life of infrastructures by developing new nondestructive inspection systems using photons to enable interior inspection and soundness diagnosis of bridges and other structures.

  Based on the agreement, RAP and CAESAR will work together on the development of portable neutron imaging instruments and visualization of steel corrosion used terahertz waves.

(Contact: CAESAR)

The 6th CAESAR Symposium held

1.Introduction

  The 6th CAESAR Symposium was held by CAESAR at HitotsubashiMemorial Hall in Tokyo on Sep. 11th, 2013 (Photo 1). The program agenda is shown in Table 1. CAESAR Symposiums have been held with the aim of providing information on maintenance of highway bridges and offering a forum for engineers to interact every year since 2008 when CAESAR was established.

2.Keynote lecture

  Under the title of "Depopulating Society and Challenges for Next-generation Infrastructures," Takashi Onishi, President of the Science Council of Japan (SCJ), gave a lecture on the efforts at the Frontier Subcommittee under former Prime Minister Noda and the concept of the next-generation infrastructure proposed at the Council for Science and Technology Policy of the Cabinet Office (one of the councils on important policies formed for planning and general coordination of comprehensive and basic science, technology and innovation policies) that was set up based on the subcommittee.

3.CAESAR reports

  Hiroshi Matsuura, Director of Bridge and Structural Engineering Research Group and five chief researchers of CAESAR reported the activities for the five years since its establishment and future plans.

  Director Matsuura introduced the role of CAESAR and its relation with recent trends of infrastructure maintenance.

  Chief Researcher Ishida introduced "support to the field" and provision of the forum concerning maintenance technologies that are positioned as roles of CAESAR.

  Chief Researcher Murakoshi presented cases of serious damage due to corrosion or fatigue that represent major deterioration damage to steel bridges and challenges related to each of the cases and also introduced an outline of key findings of the past forensic studies.

  Chief Researcher Kimura introduced load resistance performance evaluation techniques and efforts for sophistication of salt damage prediction techniques among the "clinical study" efforts using decommissioned bridge girders to develop techniques for maintenance of concrete bridge .

  Chief Researcher Hoshikuma introduced a variety of studies concerning improvement of seismic performance evaluation of highway bridges based on the experience of earthquake disasters, experiments, etc. and efforts to study impacts of tsunamis on bridges.

  Chief Researcher Nanazawa introduced research and development carried out in response to failures of bridge foundations including damage caused by earthquakes, failures in soft ground and material degradation.

4.Conclusion

  The lectures enjoyed about 490 participants from a variety of fields including road managers and engineers from the private sector involved in bridge design, construction, maintenance. As the lectures of the chief researchers covered a broad range of topics, there were opinions that more time should have been allocated to them but they were generally favorably received.

  Finally, we would like to thank President Onishi for his precious lecture and the audience who listened to the lectures with great attention throughout the session.

 Note: The lecture materials are available on our website (in Japanese).

   http://www.pwri.go.jp/caesar/lecture/lecture06.html

(Contact: CAESAR)

Attending a Science and Environment Festival

  On Nov. 9th (Sat) and 10th (Sun), 2013, the "Tsukuba Science Collaboration 2013 Science and Environment Festival" was held at Tsukuba Capio and Oshimizu Park, Tsukuba City (Photo 1). Hosted by Tsukuba City, the Tsukuba Municipal Board of Education and the Tsukuba Science City Network 3E Forum, the festival is designed as an interactive event to enjoy science in a variety of booths for science experiments by researchers, school personnel and children, observation, handicraft and an exhibition of science works made by kids, for example. According to Tsukuba city, 60 groups including elementary, junior-high and high schools, universities and research institutions in the city attended the festival drawing about 16,500 visitors.

  PWRI presented an event titled "Let's learn how a bridge is built by making paper crafts!" on the 9th (Sat). In this event, visitors made paper-craft bridges and placed weights on the completed bridges to learn the principles and structure of bridges. When correctly made, a paper arch bridge is strong enough to bear a 2-liter plastic bottle. Participating kids exclaimed "it's amazing though it is made of paper".

  In addition, PWRI showed an animated film of great figures involved in civil engineering, presented a panel exhibition concerning bridges, and announced The Public opening of Civil Engineering Day to be held on Nov. 16th (Sat.).

  Though for a brief period of time, the presentations seem to have been received quite favorably. We wish to raise PWRI's profile by taking similar opportunities also in the future.

(Contact: Planning and Management Division and General Affairs Division)

Special Session "Water Science, Education and Governance for the Future We Want" at UNESCO Meeting

  Within the framework of the International Year of Water Cooperation 2013, the UNESCO International Hydrological Program (IHP) organized a strategic and high-level meeting on water security and cooperation followed by the IHP implementation strategy meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on Sep. 11th-13th, 2013. ICHARM Director Takeuchi and four researchers attended the conference. This 3-day meeting was divided into the following three segments:

  (1) The High-level Panels on Water Cooperation and Security in Africa was held on Day 1, which focused on the state of cooperation on surface water among countries, and highlighted existing modalities of cooperation. ICHARM hosted a plenary session titled "Water Science, Education and Governance for the Future We Want" and provided a chance to discuss current status regarding the water componentsof the post-2015 agenda. As a keynote speaker, Director Takeuchi pointed out emerging consensus from the water community for the post-2015 agenda and stressed the importance of IHP-VIII (Photo-1).

  (2) The IHP-VIII implementation for the period from 2014 to 2021 was central to discussions on Day 2. IHP-VIII task force members introduced the IHP-VIII strategic plan and collected feedback from the audience. Then, all participants were requested to identify the area of priority to which they would like to contribute among the six IHP-VIII themes. ICHARM joined Theme 1 (Water Related Disasters and Hydrological Changes) and had the International Flood Initiative (IFI) flagship project that ICHARM proposed included in the list.

  (3) On Day 3, discussions were held on how IHP-VIII should be addressed in collaboration with UNESCO's water family. Participants presented various opinions including on ongoing problems, strategies, education programs and cooperation modalities.

  ICHARM invited 15 UNESCO C2C representatives to an informal lunch meeting on Day 2. Takeuchi advocated launching active collaboration among C2Cs and introduced the IFI and its first flagship project.

(Contact: ICHARM)

Field Investigation in the Pampanga River Basin

  Under the Program for Risk Information on Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), a field investigation on floods and droughts was carried out in the Pampanga River Basin, the Philippines (Figure 1) (in addition to the Indus, Mekong Chao Phraya and Solo Rivers). For seven days from Jun. 16th to 22nd, Chief Researcher Okazumi and six other researchers carried out the investigation to understand past flooding cases and collected information necessary for analysis of flood/drought damage from government agencies and local governments. It is often difficult to collect data necessary for advancing research in developing countries, but the team was able to collect information necessary for the research efficiently at local investigation spots (Photo 1), river dikes, Pantabangan dam and other river structures, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council, the National Irrigation Administration and other government agencies and offices in the Province of Bulacan thanks to the cooperation of the director of the Pampanga sub-center of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration who served as a contact person. As a result, the team was able to collect information concerning the behavior of flood water and the storage/retarding effect (effect of temporarily storing water) of the vast Candaba and San Antonio swamps and their roles, the current method to calculate the flood damage amount, and methods to use the Pantabangan dam for irrigation, for example. In an office in the Province of Bulacan, the team was interviewed by local media about the investigation and could introduce its objectives and expected outcomes (Photo 2). When the team's car became stuck on a farm road during investigation in the upper river basin, they had a precious experience of being rescued by a water buffalo.

  The information obtained through the investigation and the results of flood analysis made based on the information were presented by Research Specialist Miyamoto at the joint workshop on climate change "RECCA - S8 - SOUSEI D Joint Meeting" held at the Remote Sensing Technology Center on Sep. 3rd. ICHARM will advance the research and development of flood and drought risk assessment models based on the collected data.

(Contact: ICHARM)