24th US - Japan Bridge Engineering Workshop

24th BWS Agenda UP

The 24th workshop was held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, during September 22 to 24, 2008. The three-day workshop focused on seismic response and maintenance. Critical issues included the practice of bridge maintenance, seismic retrofit design in the US, code requirements on the post-earthquake serviceability, and manuals on the post-earthquake emergency recovery of damaged bridges after a severe earthquake in Japan. In addition, an interdisciplinary topic on the maintenance and durability of seismic retrofit materials was raised. Following the Workshop, the delegation members participated in three-day Bridge Technical Site Study where small technical meetings were held at particular bridge project sites with representative engineers and researchers. Minneapolis experienced the I-35 W bridge collapse on 1 August 2007. Delegates attended the Minnesota DOT and the bridge site to discuss the collapse, design, and construction of the new bridge and methods to improve bridge engineering. The delegation also visited the Multi-Axial Subassemblage Testing (MAST)-NEES Facility, University of Minnesota to discuss their experimental studies. The delegation then moved to San Francisco, California. On 26 September they reviewed projects on seismic retrofit and replacement of large span bridges around the San Francisco Bay. There were active discussions on the design of RC towers, retrofit of truss bridges, and durability of seismic retrofit devices.


Workshop Participants