PWRI News

PWRI's River Restoration Research Attracting Worldwide Attention
Participating in the International Water Management Forum (in Switzerland)

Forum venue: Kartause, a renovated medieval monastery
Forum venue: Kartause, a renovated medieval monastery
Visit to riverside restoration site on the Thur River
Visit to riverside restoration site on the Thur River
Little ringed plovers return to the restored riverside for the first time in 160 years!
Little ringed plovers return to the restored riverside for the first time in 160 years!

As concern for natural environment grows, river restoration is becoming popular around the world. Eawag, a Swiss research institution, held the International Water Management Forum 2007 on the topic of "River Restoration: Decision Making Processes and Evaluation of Success" for three days, starting on Sep. 4th. In addition to the 40 participants from Europe, the forum invited 11 lecturers, including researchers, government officials, and NPO representatives engaged in river restoration.

Dr. Keigo Nakamura, Senior Researcher at PWRI, took part in the form and gave a 40-minute lecture entitled "River Restoration Efforts in Japan". While many river restoration projects have been implemented in Japan, these activities are not widely known overseas. For this reason, interest in the lecture was high. The Aqua Restoration Research Center, one of the world's largest river experiment laboratory and one in which PWRI takes pride, attracted particular attention and was mentioned in Eawag's website and on dradio, a German national radio broadcast. Participants were seemingly encouraged by the fact that river restoration is conducted in a country like Japan which has heavy rainfall, is susceptible to topographic changes, and has a large population.
In this forum, not only scientists but also economic researchers gave presentations on how to proceed with river restoration projects. Although their numbers are still small in Japan, more researchers in other countries in humanities-related disciplines such as economics and sociology are starting to participate in the field of natural restoration.
Activities for sharing information about river restoration have also become vigorous. The leading organizations in considering the compilation of river restoration databases are the River Restoration Centre in the U.K. and the European Centre for River Restoration in Europe. In the U.S., a river restoration database has already been created with Professor Palmer and others playing a central role. In Asia, the Asian River Restoration Network (ARRN) has been established with the Foundation for Riverfront Improvement and Restoration as the central organization. One idea was presented in which the proper linking of these networks could lead to a global-scale database.
These kinds of information sharing are expected to improve the quality of river restoration in the future.

(Contact: River Restoration Research Team)

ICHARM Symposium
ICHARM Quick Report on Floods 2007 Implementation Report

Venue: Auditorium, 1st floor of the ICHARM Building
Venue: Auditorium, 1st floor of the ICHARM Building
Panel discussion with the floor
Panel discussion with the floor
Group photo
Group photo

The International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) held a symposium entitled ICHARM Quick Report on Floods 2007 on Nov. 6th at the ICHARM Auditorium. The venue, which accommodates 60 people, was fully packed with participants including university professors, water hazard experts, and overseas trainees currently stationed at ICHARM.
First, Dr. Sakamoto, Chief Executive of PWRI, gave the opening address, after which Dr. Takeuchi, Director of ICHARM, made a speech stating that adaptation to potential future climate change would be one of the major keywords in ICHARM's activities for the prevention and mitigation of water hazards and announcing a future plan to regularly offer opportunities such as the Symposium as venues for disseminating information.
Next, Dr. Kuang Shangfu, President of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, who was one of the two lecturers invited from overseas, gave a lecture entitled Flood Disaster and Flood Countermeasures in China. Dr. Kuang explained that even though losses due to flood damage in China were declining based on a comparison between the 1990s and the 2000s, it still accounted for 1.8% of the country's GNP and that flood loss per unit area was increasing, although deaths caused by floods have been constantly decreasing since the 1950s. He also presented flood countermeasures such as the implementation of a combination of structural measures such as the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, reservoirs and dikes, and non-structural measures including the revision of the Water Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws. Dr. Kuang also introduced the preparation of a flood hazard risk map of Shanghai and actual cases of disaster.
The second lecturer was Dr. Ian Cluckie, Director of the Water & Environmental Management Research Centre of the University of Bristol. Dr. Cluckie gave a presentation entitled Flood-related Disasters in the U.K. to report on the situations surrounding the floods that hit southern Britain in 2007 and the lessons learned from them. He pointed out that rainfall probability in some parts of the country exceeded the return period of 200 years, saying that the technique of planning based on the statistical processing of past data would be meaningless if this rainfall was caused by climate change. He also told the audience that in terms of climate change, storm surges were of more serious concern than floods in Britain. Dr. Cluckie ended his presentation emphasizing the importance of collaboration between the fields of meteorology and environmental studies in terms of future action.
Subsequently, Mr. Mori, Senior Deputy Director of Disaster Risk Management Office, Disaster Prevention and Relief Division, River Bureau, MLIT, reported on the recent flood disaster occurrence and future measures to be taken in consideration of the recent trend toward an increase in the frequency of torrential rains.
After the presentations by the three invited lecturers, Director Takeuchi chaired the panel discussion with the floor, in which lively opinion exchanges took place on strategies for responding to flood damage that may be brought about by the global climate change that is almost certain to occur in the future.

(Contact: International Technical Exchange Team, ICHARM)

Participation in the 1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit

Vice-Minister for Engineering Affairs Taniguchi, MLIT, Taniguchi making a speech at the Symposium on Integrated Approaches to Water-Related Disaster Management
Vice-Minister for Engineering Affairs Taniguchi, MLIT, Taniguchi making a speech at the Symposium on Integrated Approaches to Water-Related Disaster Management
Director of ICHARM Takeuchi giving explanation
Director of ICHARM Takeuchi giving explanation
Representatives gathered from international organizations, the academic community, and governments
Representatives gathered from international organizations, the academic community, and governments

The 1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit (APWS) was held in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture on Dec. 3rd and 4th. The summit dealt with various issues including the influence of climate change on water-related issues in Asia-Pacific countries.
In terms of water-related disaster management, one of the three priority theme of the Summit, the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) has taken the lead in the preparation of the policy brief containing the major recommendations of the Summit and in carrying out the following activities:

Open event organization
On Dec. 2nd, before the start of the Summit, ICHARM held the Symposium on the Integrated Approach to Water-Related Disaster Management jointly with the River Bureau of the MLIT as an open event.
Anticipated climate change and other wide-ranging themes related to water-related disasters were discussed at the Symposium. Currently global discussions tend to focus on the control of CO2 emissions to cope with climate change. However, it is anticipated that serious impacts on floods and droughts will take place despite the efforts implemented to date. In order to better deal with future threat on water related disasters, a consensus was established on various issues such as the need to integrated flood and drought management, and gradual implementation of new approaches to cope with climate change (adaptive water management).

Subcommittee meetings at the Summit
On Dec. 4th, ICHARM organized a session titled Water-Related Disaster Management in which leaders from various countries and international organizations participated and discussed, from various viewpoints, on specific case examples of water-related disaster management and the framework and principle of disaster management.
As a result, a consensus was obtained on the need to promptly start taking measures by effectively combining the development of facilities required (structural) and warning systems for smooth evacuation (non-structural) in anticipation of climate change.

(Contact: ICHARM)

Report on the Research Collaboration Workshop with LCPC (French Public Works Research Laboratory)*

Location of Nantes (France)
Location of Nantes (France)
LCPC Nantes Centre
LCPC Nantes Centre
Construction site using new technology (carbon fiber applied on the bottom of girder for reinforcement) Click to enlarge
Construction site using new technology (carbon fiber applied on the bottom of girder for reinforcement)

Many countries outside Japan have institutions just like PWRI that research civil engineering technology that the country requires. Research exchange with these foreign research institutes (the latest research topics and results, information exchange regarding research facilities, etc.) will go a long way to enhancing civil engineering technology research at home.
Our research collaboration agreement with LCPC is representative of such cases. LCPC is a national research institute that conducts research on road and bridge in France and is similar to PWRI in Japan. Our first research collaboration workshop with LCPC was held in November 1995 in Paris, followed by one every three years that alternately takes place in Japan and France. Recently, the 5th research collaboration workshop was held in France from Sep. 24th to 27th, 2007.

In western France, there is a town called Nantes in which there is a research center characterized by LCPC's large-scale testing facilities. Lectures were given at this research center on the overview of LCPC's latest research and new projects, and a tour of the research facilities was conducted as well. Development of research facilities that are hard to find anywhere in the world and test machinery based on LCPC's unique research has been underway.
On the second day, participants were divided into several groups according to specialized field, such as road structures, ground, and pavement materials, and presented recent research details to each other. We also visited a construction site that had applied France's new technologies was applied.
On the last day, a meeting regarding future research collaboration was held at the LCPC's Head Office in Paris, and both sides signed a memorandum pledging that the next workshop would be held in Japan in three years.

The research collaboration between LCPC and PWRI involves not only the workshop held every three years but also information exchange through more frequent interchanges between researchers in various fields.

*LCPC: Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées


(Contact: Advanced Materials Research Team)

Civil Engineering Day Open House Held

Bridge Contest Award Ceremony
Bridge Contest Award Ceremony
Comparison between cases with and without sabo dams
Comparison between cases with and without sabo dams
Debris flow causes serious disasters without sabo dams 'Debris flow generator'
Debris flow causes serious disasters without sabo dams
"Debris flow generator"
What is drainage pavement? 'Pavement test field'
What is drainage pavement?
"Pavement test field"
There are so many different kinds of rocks! 'Let's become a Stone Expert!'
There are so many different kinds of rocks!
"Let's become a Stone Expert!"
Is the water clean now? 'Let's find Out how Water is Cleaned!'
Is the water clean now?
"Let's find Out how Water is Cleaned!"

The Civil Engineering Day Open House, now an annual event, was held jointly by PWRI and the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) on Nov. 10th. This event is intended to help the research and civil engineering projects conducted by the two institutes become more broadly understood. Various events were held this year, including the Cardboard Bridge Contest, an open tour of the research facilities, and a civil engineering work experience class. Despite the unfavorable weather, the Open House had 1,032 visitors.

Cardboard Bridge Contest
The "Cardboard Bridge Contest" has been held since 1994 so that children, who have responsibility for the future, can experience the joy of creation in civil engineering projects. We accepted entries from fifth graders at elementary schools in Tsukuba City, who built creative, dream-inspiring bridges with handicraft cardboard under the theme of "My Bridge".
This year we received 214 works of various shapes and colors from 30 elementary schools. All of the entered bridges embodied dreams and ingenious ideas that cannot be expected from adults.
When the judges convened before the contest was open to the public, art and bridge experts and education officials examined the bridges from their own specialized points of view and selected, from those works that satisfied the creation conditions, three winners of the Best Bridge Award, five winners respectively of the Artistic Design Award, Structural Design Award and Award of Effort.

Open tour of research facilities
This year's tour included working vehicles of the Kanto Regional Development Bureau in addition to the eight research facilities: the test track, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) laboratory, the pavement test field, the dam hydraulics laboratory, the debris flow generator, the wheel running machine, noise control laboratory, and mechanized construction laboratry. The tour of the facilities took the form of a quiz and scavenger hunt in which visitors with a stamp sheet with questions printed on it went to the respective research facilities, answered the questions and collected stamps. The questions were related to the research facilities and the explanations given by the staff provided clues.

Civil engineering work experience class
Events entitled "Let's become a Stone Expert!", "Let's become a Tunnel Expert!", "Let's find out how Water is Cleaned!", "Landscape Simulation", and "Let's find out More About Familiar Animals and Trees!" were held as fun civil engineering work experience classes intended to promote understanding of where and how civil engineering technologies are used in everyday life.

Other events
· Experimental model display
A model of the bridge used in tests at large wind-tunnel experimental facilities - one of the world's largest wind-tunnel experimental facilities, used for experiments on Akashi Strait Bridge and other projects - was displayed in a hallway on the first floor of the ICHARM building.
The model bridge displayed assumes a bridge of 5,000 m in total length, which is about 1,000 m longer than Akashi Strait Bridge, and is made to a scale of 1/125, measuring 40 m in length. The wind-tunnel experimental results for this bridge confirm that harmful vibrations leading to collapse will not be generated even at an assumed wind velocity of 80 m/s.

· Commemorative photo with PWRI's mascot elephant costume
Visitors took commemorative photos together with PWRI's mascot elephant costume, which will be made into composite photos that include civil engineering structures in the background and will be mailed to the visitors at a later date. In the commemorative photographs, visitors posed with their family and friends in different ways.
We hope that visitors will enjoy the original calendars and use it next year.

(Contact: Planning and Management Division)

Participation in Tsukuba Science Festival 2007

At the venue (PWRI booth in the center)
At the venue
(PWRI booth in the center)
Let's make a paper craft bridge Voila! It stands even without supporting by hands.
Let's make a paper craft bridge
Voila! It stands even without supporting by hands.

"Tsukuba Science Festival 2007: Curiosity, the Key to the Door of Science" was held on Nov. 17th and 18th at Tsukuba Capio. The event, which was held by the Tsukuba City Board of Education, included 58 exhibition booths, with participants from elementary and junior high schools and research institutions in Tsukuba City. The individual booths held experience-based events utilizing experiment and handicraft to familiarize visitors with science.

PWRI gave a presentation on 17th entitled "Let's Make a Paper craft Bridge" in which the visitors made paper craft bridges. By using a foundation and seven trapezoidal blocks assembled in a shape of an arch, the structure is stable even without pasting or taping the blocks together.
With the completed arch bridge in front of the visitors, we explained to them why the structure was stable without pasting or taping and that actual arch bridges and the entrances of round tunnels function based on the same principle. Visitors were able to become familiarized with civil engineering structures found in daily life.
In addition, many visitors showed interest in the panels and brochures introducing the research and activities of PWRI that we had set up in the booth.
The venue was crowded, as many adults and children came right as the event started. Many people enjoyed PWRI's booth, including those who enjoyed learning about the mechanism of arch bridges and those who expressed their wish to bring the completed papercraft back home to rebuild it. This event was a very good opportunity to have people learn more about PWRI.


(Contact: Planning and Management Division)

CERI Lecture Held

The venue
The venue
Special lecture by Mr. Yuji Takagi
Special lecture by Mr. Yuji Takagi
General lecture
General lecture

The 21st Civil Engineering Research Institute for Cold Region (CERI) Lecture was held on Dec. 5th, 2007 at Sapporo Education and Culture Hall. More than 500 people attended the event even though it took place on a weekday.

Mr. Yuji Takagi, associate director and also general manager of Sapporo Office of Mitsui & Co., Ltd, was invited as an external lecturer and gave a special lecture entitled Hokkaido from a Global Viewpoint: Expectations for the Seven Treasures. Mr. Takagi, who has abundant overseas experience and who has been active as a top businessman who leads Japan, described the present and future of Hokkaido from a global viewpoint in the concrete, using easy words to understand.

The seven treasures of Hokkaido
· Large land resources
· Japan's best natural environment
· Strategic location
· Plentiful water resources
· Civic functions of Sapporo
· Appeal of the people of Hokkaido
· Appeal of the Hokkaido brand
Together with these, there were future expectations for Hokkaido's economy as well as discoveries that were new even to Hokkaido people. The powerful and encouraging lecture raised hopes for the future of Hokkaido.
In addition to the special lecture by Mr. Takagi, the Lecture featured four lectures from CERI and one lecture from Tsukuba Central Research Institute. The Lecture was a resounding success, and a report is forthcoming in a special issue of "the CERI Monthly Report"(Japanese only) in March 2008.

(Contact: Planning Division, CERI)

Tour of Research Facilities

Tour of Tsukuba Facilities on Nov. 2nd, 2007
Tour of Tsukuba Facilities on Nov. 2nd, 2007
Going around a curve without turning the steering wheel! Test track
Going around a curve without turning the steering wheel!
Test track
Deep water tank: CERI port and harbor engineering laboratory
Wave basin:
Port and Harbor Engineering Laboratory in CERI

In addition to open house and other events, PWRI gives facility tours as needed through the year in order to promote a broad understanding of its activities to the general public, not only to civil engineers. Since 2001, when PWRI has 762 visitors, the number of visitors has continued to increase and nearly doubled to 1481 visitors in 127 tours last year.

On Nov. 2nd, 2007, 17 people including members of the Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Committee and planning managers of organizations joined a tour of PWRI's large facilities, as the first Tour of Tsukuba Facilities held by Tsukuba Science City Network.
Eight facilities were visited on this lightly raining day, including the underwater environmental test pit and the geotechnical centrifuge. At each section, the person in charge of each team gave an explanation of the facilities. Some visitors took photos of the facilities and enthusiastically asked questions about the performance and rental of the facilities.

Facility tours are held as needed in order to improve understanding about activities of PWRI. Those who would like to request a facility visit should contact the following:


(Contact: Tsukuba: General Affairs Division,
              Sapporo: Planning Division, CERI)

Carbon fiber applied on the bottom of girder