Date: May 13, 2002
Place: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Attendees: U.S. side -- W. Phillip Yen (Chairman) FHWA
Hamid Ghasemi FHWA
Ray Zelinski CALTRANS
Japan side -- Hiroshi Sato (Chairman) PWRI
Kazuhiko Kawashima TIT
Shigeki Unjoh PWRI
Keiichi Tamura PWRI
Kazuhiro Nishikawa NILIM
Masahiro Ishida NILIM
1. Objective and Scope of Work
The objectives of work include:
(1) To plan, promote and foster research on the behavior of transportation facilities when subjected to wind and seismic forces, and
(2) To disseminate research results and provide specifications and guidelines based on the Task Committee's findings.
The scope of work includes:
(1) To investigate existing and new bridges design, the behavior of whole bridge systems and/or single component of a bridge without limitation on their size and function, and
(2) To investigate offshore, coastal and airport facilities' behavior during earthquake.
2. Accomplishments
(1) The 17th U.S. - Japan Bridge Engineering Workshop was held during 12 - 14 November 2001, at Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. 16 U.S. and 73 Japanese participants attended the workshop. 47 technical papers were presented and discussed on the following main topics: a) Bridge Management Technology and b) Evaluation of Seismic Performance and Seismic strengthening.
(2) Dr. Phillip Yen (FHWA) was invited to the PWRI during 18 - 22 November 2001 to discuss the experimental evaluation methods for establishing Guideline for Seismic Performance Testing in Bridge Structures.
(3) Dr. Hiroshi Sato (PWRI) visited the Turner - Fairbank Highway Research Center on 7 March 2002, to discuss future plans of the Task Committee with Dr. Phillip Yen, and to exchange technical information on bridge management and bridge aerodynamics.
3. Future Plans
(1) The proceedings of the 17th U.S. - Japan Bridge Engineering Workshop will be published and distributed by the Japan-side. The 18th U.S. - Japan Bridge Engineering Workshop will be held in October 2002 in the U.S. Specific dates, location, themes, program, and itinerary will be proposed by the U.S.-side Task Committee G with the concurrence of the Japan-side Task Committee.
(2) Conduct the following cooperative researches:
a) Seismic Performance Testing of Bridge Structures. This program is to establish Guidelines for seismic performance testing of bridge structure. The objective of this program is to establish Uniform National Guidelines for Testing Bridge Components, which will increase comparability of test results and reduce the duplications of similar testing. In 2002, FHWA and PWRI will meet to develop draft common Guidelines for the experimental methods. The 1st U.S. side Expert Panel Meeting will be held in August 2002.
(3) Following a devastated earthquake or hurricane (typhoon) in the US or Japan, the committee will form a joint reconnaissance team to investigate the performance of transportation system.
(4) Exchange technical information on the following topics:
a) Seismic design and retrofit of highway bridges including the development of seismic response modification devices, smart materials such as SMA, seismic retrofit for long-span bridges, and the development of damage evaluation methods using sensor systems.
b) Seismic and aerodynamic response of long span bridges including suspension and cable-stayed bridges, with emphasis on behavior of composite materials, cable inspection, vibration control, and corrosion protection.
(5) Encourage coordinated researches on the following topics:
a) Bridge design methodologies which enhance performance based design concepts, limit state design concepts and life cycle cost analyses.
b) Modeling of seismic isolator and the seismic isolation design methods.
c) System identification techniques, non-destructive evaluation of bridge structures, use and performance of structural materials including new materials, and performance of jointless bridges.
d) Bridge response due to near fault effects.
e) Bridge foundation performance-based design methods.
f) Post-earthquake damage evaluation methods for seismic retrofitted bridges.
4. Others
(1) The 3rd International Transportation Structure Workshop on Bridge Seismic Performance-Based Design will be held in July 9-11 at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. Task committee members are encouraged to participate.