Date: May 12,2003
Place: National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Tsukuba, Japan
Attendees: U.S. Side -- Mehmet Celebi (Chairman) USGS
Jon Ake USGS
Donald Yule CORPS
Japan Side -- Osamu Matsuo (Chairman) NILIM
Takahiro Sugano (Chairman) PARI
Izuru Okawa BRI
Mitsu Okamura PWRI
1. Objective and Scope of Work
The objectives of work include:
(1) To promote sharing of strong motion earthquake data among researchers and practicing engineers, and enhance the availability of technology for evaluating the destructive effects of earthquake motion, and
(2) To promote research on the dynamic behavior of soils, foundations and earth structures during earthquakes.
The scope of work includes:
(1) Exchange strong motion data regularly and identify significant issues.
(2) Exchange information on technological developments, state-of-the-art and practice related to strong motion recording, hazard mapping, soil-structure interaction, soil behavior and stability during earthquakes,
(3) Exchange field data related to geotechnical engineering, and
(4) Plan and conduct programs of cooperative research and/or workshops in coordination with the proposed or ongoing programs.
2. Accomplishments
(1) The task committee held "The Sixth U.S.-Japan Workshop on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering" with a subtitle "U.S.-Japan Symposium on Seismic Performance of Urban, Reclaimed and Port Area - Full Scale Experiment at Tokachi Port", in conjunction with Port and Airport Research Institute and University of California, San Diego, at San Diego on 27-28th February, 2003.
(2) The Task Committee members continued the following cooperative research projects:
a) Physical and Numerical Simulation of Structural Damages Due to Liquefaction and Development of Countermeasure Techniques, 1994-2004, by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Building Research Institute (BRI) and Wayne State University (WSU), and
b) Application of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI) Method to the Study of Soil Behavior and Stability During Earthquakes, by Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) and Colorado School of Mines and the New Mexico Resonance (Non-profit organization).
3. Future Plans
The future plans include:
(1) Plan the 3rd US-Japan Workshop on Soil-Structure Interaction for 2004. Responsible members will be Dr. Celebi of USGS and Dr. Okawa of BRI.
(2) Plan a workshop on Real-Time Instrumentation of Densely Urbanized Areas and Instrumentation of Civil Engineered Structures. Temporary committee will include Dr. Fujiwara of NIED, Dr. Okawa of BRI, Mr. Kusakabe of NILIM, Dr. Borcherdt, Dr. Wald and Dr. Celebi of USGS. The committee will explore cooperation with Panel on Earthquake Research.
(3) Continue the cooperative research "Physical and Numerical Simulation of Structural Damages Due to Liquefaction and Development of Countermeasure Techniques, 1994-2004", by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Building Research Institute (BRI) and Wayne State University (WSU).
(4) Explore the possibility of joint research and/or workshop on site response issues. The responsible members will be Mr. Matsuo of NILIM and Dr. Borcherdt of USGS.
4. Related Activities
(1) The College of Engineering, University of California at Davis and the Public Works Research Institute made the Specific Working Agreement in the area of geotechnical earthquake engineering. Responsible coordinators are Keiichi Tamura, PWRI and Bruce Kutter, UC Davis.
(2) The US members, J. Ake, M. Celebi and D. Yule provided information on a new organization founded in the United States-Consortium of Organization for Strong Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS). This new organization promotes enhancement of strong motion networks and databases. A virtual database (www.cosmos-eq.data.org) is established and is being maintained at UC, Santa Barbara. COSMOS requests the organizations in Japan that operate strong motion networks and maintain databases to join COSMOS. Japan side will provide a list of possible Japanese organizations for COSMOS organization to contact with.