国総研ニューズレター
NILIM News Letter

No.51

Winter 2015

■ Report on NILIM Lecture Meeting 2014
Planning and Research Administration Department, Planning Division

The NILIM Lecture Meeting 2014 was held in Nissho Hallin Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo on December 3 (Wed.),2014.
The NILIM Lecture Meetings are held annually to inform as
many members as possible of the general public of initiatives
taken by the NILIM through comprehensive lectures and reports
on recent NILIM research achievements and research topics
and trends.
The lecture meeting was attended by 674 people representing
private companies, the national and regional governments, andconcerned corporations, mainly those involved in public works
and construction.
A special lecture, How to Tackle the Maintenance of thePublic Capital Stock, was given by Professor Miki (Photo 2),
Vice-President of Tokyo City
University and Professor
in the Advanced ResearchLaboratories (now Presidentof Tokyo City University), thetop expert on bridges, and a
key member of various committees including the Council
for Social Infrastructure, Road
Maintenance Technology Subcommittee. Professor Mikipresented his lecture in clear
Photo 1: View of the Halland easily understood terms
including his own rich experience.
The other lectures beganwith a lecture about recent
activities at the NILIM by
the Executive Director for
Research Affairs, then headsof all Research Departments
and Research Centers each
introduced research achievements, surveys, and research
trends etc. conducted to meet Photo 2: Professor Miki Chitoshi
recent needs in each field.
In particular, the “Immediately useful” series was presented
at two special sessions. In order that people involved in workin the field can make better use of knowledge accumulated
in the past at the NILIM, two lectures, “Immediately UsefulDisaster Countermeasures (head of the Sabo Department)” and“Immediately Useful Road Structure Maintenance (Head of theRoad Structures Department)” were given.
Documents concerning that dayʼs event are available at thefollowing URL.

Details * NILIM Lecture Meeting (NILIM web page)
http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bbg/kouenkai/kouenkai2014/
kouenkai2014.htm■ Full Scale Loading Test on the Five Story Reinforced Concrete Building
Building Department, Standards and Accreditation System Division

A full scale test on a five-story reinforced concrete building
was conducted publicly on January 13 in order to establish
a damage controlling design to ensure the sustained usabilityof critical post-disaster buildings (buildings used as bases for
emergency and restoration activities) after large earthquakes.
The NILIM has developed a new structural method to achievesustained use after a large earthquake as a part of the project
research, Development of Technology to Sustain the Functionsof Critical Post-Disaster Buildings (2013-2016), including aloading test of a full-scale building.
The specimen was a five-story reinforced concrete building
with 1×2 spans and height of about 19m, and the wall frame haslarge openings in longitudinal direction. The slit (gaps), which
was formed at a joint of walls and columns in conventional
design are shifted to the inside of the walls to form a frame
consisting of columns with wing wall and beams. This method
improves the strength and stiffness of the moment resisting
frame without raising the cost, and reduces the deformation

during earthquakes. This can mitigate the damage on nonstructural members or beam-column joints, which are difficult

Photo: Loading test of a Full-scale Five-story Building1

to repair after an earthquake, and perform sustained use of thebuilding. The test was open to the public, attracting about 70
visitors on January 13.
The Building Department continues developing furthersurveys, analysis and studies to establish a damage controllingdesign. The results of the study will be included in a design
guideline for critical post-disaster buildings which will beprepared in 2016.

Details * Project Research Website

http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bbg/project/ppdf/pro-h25_5.pdf(in Japanese)

Photo: A Full-scale Five-story Building open to the Public■ Field survey of damage to buildings, soils and foundations from the 2014 Northern Nagano earthquake
Housing Department and Building Department

The department conducted two surveys of damage tobuildings, mainly wooden houses, by the November 22, 2014
earthquake in Northern Nagano Prefecture, and a survey of thesurrounding ground and foundations.
In order to clarify the state of damage to wooden houses andother types of buildings from the earthquake that struck northern
Nagano prefecture at 22:08 on November 22, 2014, incooperation with the Building Research Institute, the department
conducted surveys centered on the Kamishiro part of Hakuba
Town. The primary survey confirmed many houses thatcollapsed or showed severe residual deformation in theHorinouchi district of that region. Judging from such conditions,
it is thought that earthquake motion higher than upper 5 on theJapanese seismic intensity scale might have occurred in Hokujo
in Hakuba Town, which is the location of the nearest earthquake
observation station. And damage to mud-plastered wall houses,
damage to houses in which the column and brace end joints
were not connected adequately, displacement of houses inwhich the column ends or sills were not fixed to theirfoundations, and damage
to houses with block
foundations or nonreinforced foundations
were found at many
places. The secondary
survey was a detailed
survey of the state ofdamage including avisual inspection of the
Photo: Collapsed House

interiors of houses. The
results of the surveys
will be analyzed andsummarized in technicaldocuments to be used tostudy the causes ofdamage to buildings.
The survey of groundand foundations has
Photo: Collapsed Stone Wallrevealed that a numberof stone and retaining walls were heavily damaged or overturnedin the Horinouchi district, which is a south-facing slope terrace.
Many power poles were also shifted and inclined southward in
the district, and the degrees of their damage seem to be severein the middle of the slope.
Some documents reported that this district was already placednear the shore of a large lake, suggesting that the surface strata
consist of soft soils and their geophysical conditions could varywith locations on the slope in the district. And by surveying soil
investigation data, we will study the relationship between thestructural damage and ground characteristics in the district.

Details * Survey report website<Report on the primary survey of wooden construction etc.>

http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/kisya/journal/kisya20141127.pdf<Report of survey of foundation ground>

http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bbg/saigai/h26/141126nagano_kenchiku.pdf<Report on secondary survey of wooden structures>

http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bbg/saigai/h26/141129nagano_juutaku2.pdf■ Report on information exchange meeting for Action Plan of sewerage system in next 10 years
Water Quality Control Department, Wastewater System Division

The Sewerage and Wastewater Management Department of
the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(MLIT) and the NILIM held an information exchange
meeting concerning the Action Plan to Enlarge the Sewered
Area (below, “the Action Plan”) on December 18 in orderto achieve the 10 year plan for the provision of wastewater
treatment facilities.
2At the end of FY2013, the percentage of the population withwastewater treatment service (including public wastewater
systems, Johkaso , rural wastewater systems, and community
plants) was about 89%. Among these, about 76% were servedby public wastewater systems by MLIT About 14 million people
could still not use wastewater treatment systems (unservicedpopulation).

Three concerned Ministries, Ministry of the Environment,Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and MLIT havejointly revised “The Manual for Prefectural Planning ofEffective Sewage Treatment” in order to enhance wastewater
systems all over Japan. The Manual has set the goal as “nearcompletionof
theprovision of wastewater
facilities in 10 years”.
This manual also
requests regional governments to enact actionplans incorporating specific initiatives to almost
fully achieve this goal in
Photo: More than 150 participants
10 years. In this line the from local governments gathered at
Sewerage and Wastewater the lecture meeting

Management Department has held information exchange meetings to report cases studies in several model cities to provide
information and suggestions concerning enactment, research
trends at the NILIM, and supporting measures taken by MLIT.
The conference room at the Japan Sewage Works Association(Kanda in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo) where the meeting was held
was filled to its capacity with more than 150 representatives oflocal governments throughout Japan. Many questions following
the report indicated the high level of interest in enlarging thesewered area.
The NILIM introduced a study to connect a flush toilet to awastewater system.

Details * MLIT Water Quality Control Department website
http://www.mlit.go.jp/mizukokudo/sewerage/mizukokudo_sewerage_tk_000321.html■ Awarded the Hydrographic Technology Encouragement Award by the Japan Hydrographic

Association (JHA)

Administrative Coordination Department
Coastal, Marine and Disaster Prevention Department

The Coastal Marine and Disaster Prevention Department,
Marine Environment Division, Division Head, Okada
Tomonari, was awarded the 2014 Hydrographic Technology
Encouragement Award by the JHA.
Okada Tomonari, Head of the Marine Environment
Division was awarded the 2014 Hydrographic Technology
Encouragement Award by the JHA in honor of "Developmentof a Three-dimensional Visualization System for Sounding andTopographical Information on Shorelines to Clarify Habitats ofLiving Organisms in Port Areas”.
The Hydrographic Technology Encouragement Award isawarded to recognize extremely remarkable achievements
in research and development of hydrographic technology inorder to contribute to the advance of hydrographic technology
in Japan by stimulating the willingness to conduct research byyoung technologists working on hydrography.
This achievement is the development of a system that canperform three-dimensional visualization of topographicalinformation by surveying shorelines, which have been difficult
to measure until now, by a method combining a sonic depthfinder with a terrestrial laser.
The award ceremony was conducted accompanied by a poster
display at the New Hydrographic Technology Conference held

on February 13, 2015 by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic
Department of the Japan Coast Guard.
The Coastal Marine and Disaster Prevention Department
won this award the second consecutive year. Last year, it wasawarded to Fuji Ryotaro, then Guest Research Engineer in theCoastal Zones System Division.

■ Presentation of achievements at the 12th environmental research symposium
Environment Research Committee

Thirteen environmental research bodies gathered to hearresearch achievements announced at the 12th Environmental
Research Symposium held in Hitotsubashi Hall on November
18, with its theme, “Future of the Globe Considering Climate
Change and Science and Technology”.
The Climate Research Committee participated actively in the12th Environmental Research Symposium held by the liaisongroup of the environmental research organizations (comprisedof 13 research institutes including the NILIM and other national
research institutes, independent administrative agencies,
national university corporations, etc.), where it announced
its research achievements to clarify environmental research
initiatives of the NILIM.
At this symposium, it introduced the way that the mostadvanced science and technology should approach the problem
3

of climate change based on scientific knowledge of climatechange announced in the Fifth Assessment Report of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
At the Symposium, presentations were given by 14
researchers active on the front lines in each research institute.
From the NILIM, Research Coordinator for Integrated Water
Disaster Management Fukami Kazuhiko of the Climate
Change Adaptation Research Group spoke on Deepening
Understanding of Flood Control Systems and Adaptation
to Climate Change. About 100 posters about environmental
research were displayed. The departments and centers of
the NILIM provided 8 of these posters concerning themes
including “National Land and Disasters”, CO2 and Greeneryin the City”, and “Regional Energy Consumption”.
Broad-ranging research on the environment is in asynergistic relationship with initiatives to expand theeconomic infrastructure and to prevent and mitigate disasters,
permitting its distinctive expansion directly linked to practicalmatters. The Environment Research Committee will, incooperation with the liaison group of the environmental

Photo: Posters about environmental research (NILIM Corner)

research organizations, do more to inform a wide range ofresearchers, administrative bodies, and the people of Japanof the most recent environmental research achievements ofthe NILIM by taking advantage of opportunities such as theEnvironmental Research Symposium.

Details * lecture slides (website: the liaison group of theenvironmental research organizations)

http://kankyorenrakukai.org/symposium_12/pdf/koen_8.pdf● Publication (research achievements) < November, 2014-February, 2015 >Download from here * http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/index.htm

TECHNICAL NOTE of NILIM
No.

Title of Paper

Names of Divisions

795 Technical note of road crossing structure for wildlife animals and post-survey technique Landscape and Ecology Division
807 Technical guideline for countermeasures against deep-seated catastrophic (rapid)
landslide

Sabo Planning Division

808 How to Enhance the Effect of Public Works on Town Planning and Community
Development- A Guidebook for Improving the Quality of Public Works -Landscape and Ecology Division

809 Classification of Fishes on an Inner Bay Based on Their Habitat Features and Lifecycles

Marine Environment Division

810 Characteristics of Damages of Coastal Protection Facilities in Ports due to the 2011 off
the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

Coastal Disaster Prevention
Division

811 Analysis on World Container Ship Movement and Containerized Cargo Flow(2014)

Port Planning Division

812 Comprehensively report for setting up level-1 earthquake ground motion with aprobabilistic time history waveform for seismic design of Port Facilities

Port Facilities Division

813 Annual Report of Road-related Research in FY 2013

Road Traffic Department,
Road Structures Department,
Research Center for Land andConstruction Management● We provide you with research information.
・ 2014 Annual Report of NILIM

This web site introduces NILIM activities throughout the year, including research activities and achievements,
future initiatives, etc.
Go to this web site: * http://www.nilim.go.jp/english/annual/annual2014/ar2014e.html

National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Asahi 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0804, Japan(Tachihara) Tachihara 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0802, Japan(Yokosuka) Nagase 3-1-1, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 239-0826, JapanWinter 2015
TEL:+81-29-864-2754 FAX:+81-29-864-4322
http://www.nilim.go.jp/english/eindex.htm
Edited and Published by National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management

No.51

国 総 研 ニ ューズ レ ター

NILIM News Letter