CAESAR's activities in the United States and Japan Conference on the Development and Utilization of Natural Resources (UJNR)
UJNR, a US-Japan government meeting, was established for the two countries to learn as much as possible about the effective use and maintenance of the natural resources around the world, as well as solutions for problems concerning the human living environment through a partnership.
Considering that both Japan and the United States are countries that suffer damages from earthquakes, strong winds, high tides, and tsunamis, the UJNR founded a special committee called Wind and Earthquake-Resistant Structures Special Committee. It was established to enable professionals of the area to apply the results of their development research to design methods of wind- and earthquake-resistant structures and exchange ideas.
In addition, CAESAR is responsible for the office of the Working Group G: Transit System, one of the working groups of the Wind and Earthquake-Resistant Structures Special Committee. As part of its activities, so far, we have held bridge workshops and exchanged information with governmental institutions, such as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state transit authorities, to establish partnerships.
In July 2018, we held a Japan-US bridge workshop T/C "G" Transportation Systems at the California Department of Transportation as an opportunity to discuss issues concerning road bridges.
In this workshop, both countries explained the status of the respective technical standards for bridges, and then discussed four topics (Topic 1: Rehabilitation and Retrofitting for Enhanced Durability and Preservation, Topic 2: Bridge Instrumentation and Health Monitoring, Topic 3: Guidelines and Use of Refined Numerical Calculations for Design and Bridge Assessment, Topic 4: Innovative Materials for Bridges Design and Construction). The discussions were significant, and there was a consensus on the importance of continuing to exchange ideas in the future.
At CAESAR, besides the dissemination of Japanese technology abroad, we promote activities such as information exchange and research cooperation on technical issues shared by research institutions and road administrators overseas. In the event of earthquakes and other disasters in other countries, we conduct field examination and provide restoration support as needed.
When an earthquake struck Chile in 2010, CAESAR sent specialists to the affected area to examine the damaged bridges and introduce Japan’s seismic design criteria to the technicians of the Chilean government. In July of the same year, the country formulated its provisional criteria, which included some of the seismic technologies developed in Japan. In addition, from 2014, a technical cooperation that supports the permanent revision of the seismic design criteria was coordinated by JICA, with CAESAR providing technical support based on JICA’s requests. During this partnership, Japanese and Chilean technicians exchanged opinions about the seismic design criteria on site, and TV conferences between Japan and Chile were held for Q&A sessions and discussions with the Chilean technicians that had been sent to Japan. In 2017, the Chilean seismic design criteria for bridges were revised. The new criteria included a few Japanese technologies, such as the liquefaction prediction method and the bridge unseating prevention system. Later, not only did the PWRI receive a letter of appreciation from the Chilean Ministry of Public Works but it was also cited in the preface of the seismic design criteria the cooperation of the institutions that sent specialists to provide on-site support.
Field survey after the earthquake in Chile
With the objective of offering information about road bridge maintenance as well as a place for engineers to interact, we hold our “CAESAR Lecture” once a year. This program consists of pertinent keynote speeches and lectures from a wide range of professionals, such as professors involved in the maintenance of local road bridges, road administrators of the state and local governments, road companies, and private groups. The lecture is attended by over 400 people every year (with a total of 4,130 attendees until the 10th assembly), including road administrators and private groups involved in the design, construction, and maintenance of bridges, as well as professionals from different fields including materials, telecommunications, and nondestructive testing. After each edition of the event, we receive many positive comments from participants, saying that the lectures were meaningful, useful in their workplace, and that they would like to participate again.
