Preface

The second UJNR workshop on Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) was held during March 6-8 at the Tsukuba International Congress Hall. Many researchers representing in the field of both countries have participated in the workshop. This workshop follows the first workshop on SSI held in Menlo Park, CA, September 22-23, 1998 that initiated the interaction between researchers both in U.S. and Japan in the field.

Based on the remarkable advances in the SSI technology after the Menlo Park workshop, considerable number of new findings and ideas has been presented by participants during this workshop. In addition, the discussions following the technical presentations were so fruitful and had given a distinct orientation to the SSI research and our activities in the very near future.

In this workshop proceedings, the papers presented in the workshop were compiled as well as the discussions and activities and stored in electrical form.

Finally, on behalf of the Steering Committee of the 2^nd UJNR workshop on Soil-Structure Interaction, I will express my sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and Japan International Science and Technology Exchange Center (JISTEC) for their financial support.

The appreciation will also be extended to the participants who enthusiastically joined the discussions and to the staff of BRI who devoted to the preparation and the successful completion of the workshop, and I strongly hope that the activity should be continued for the development of the SSI research in the future.