NILIM News Letter

No. 67● Publications (research results)
Download here

2 019

http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/index.htm

NILIM Research Reports
No.

Title

Department/Division

Research concerning standards for residential conditions in share house-type rental housing based on the utilizationof existing stock (Draft)

61

Department/Division

Title

1038

Development of life cycle cost calculation tool for coastal protection facilities

Coastal Disaster Prevention Division

1039

Influence of typhoon parameters on estimates regarding storm surge flowing into the three major bays

Coastal Disaster Prevention Division1040

Probability evaluation of expression relating radius of maximum wind and typhoon’s central pressure

Coastal Disaster Prevention Division

1041

Analysis of trends in demand for cruise ships calling at Japanese ports and consequent effects

Port Systems Division

1042

Report on damages to port facilities, etc. due to the Kumamoto earthquake of 2016

Port and Harbor Department

1043

A study on improving accuracy of deterioration predictions for mooring facilities

Port Construction Systems andManagement Division

1044

Analysis by air route of the amount of domestic flow of foreigners visiting Japan

Airport Planning Division

1045

Consideration of flatness evaluation of asphalt paving in airports utilizing BBI (Boeing Bump Index)

Airport Facilities Division
Bridge and Structures DivisionInspection of consideration of improvement methods based on depth increase improvement of gravity-type quay
walls (Part 2)

Port Facilities Division

1048

Guidelines regarding considerations of construction of sabo facilities as countermeasure for sediment and water
flooding utilizing riverbed variation calculation (Draft)

Sabo Planning Division1049

33rd report of the Landscape and Ecology Division, National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management(Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism)

Landscape and Ecology Division

1050

Japan’s Roadside Trees VIII

Landscape and Ecology Division1051

B-DASH Project No. 21
Wastewater and Sludge
Guidelines for introduction of water treatment technology following water volume fluctuation and utilizing DHS system (Draft) Management Division

1052

Analysis of actual harborage conditions of vessels in Osaka Bay at the time of Typhoon No. 21 of 2018 utilizing AIS data Port Planning Division

1053

Trial calculations regarding the effects of trade conflicts caused by United States Trump administration’s protectionist
trade policy on seaborne freight volume

Port Systems Division

1057

NILIM report regarding the “Evaluation of Research and Development Institutions” (2013-2017)

Research Administration and
Evaluation Division

1058

B-DASH Project No. 23
Guidelines for the introduction of technologies to convert sewage sludge to fuel and fertilizers based on a dewatering and drying system (Draft)

Wastewater and Sludge
Management Division1061

B-DASH Project No. 24
Guidelines for the introduction of self-heat recuperation model, heat pump-type high-efficiency sewage sludge drying technologies (Draft)

Wastewater and Sludge
Management Division● Receive information on research performed at NILIM
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・ 2018 Annual Report of NILIM

This website introduces NILIM research activities and achievements, as well as details of the latest research activities
to be formally initiated in the future. Go to this website: ‫ ܍‬http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/2018report/index.htm

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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, JapanNo.
(Yokosuka) Nagase 3-1-1, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 239-0826, Japan
2 019
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FAX: +81-29-864-4322
Editing/Publishing National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management
http://www.nilim.go.jp/

67

NILIM News Letter

With a super-aging society, making homes barrier-free has become a pressing
matter in Japan. In reality, while quite a lot of progress toward barrier-freedesigns can be seen in new buildings in recent years, existing homes, on theother hand, tend to undergo only individual repairs, with even the installation of
simple handrails being covered by nursing insurance (90% of 200,000 yen), forexample.
Additionally, for repair works that are reasonablefrom the point of view of barrier-free designs, it isindispensable that their results can be visualized asthey alleviate activity and nursing burdens in daily
life, as well as repair and nursing costs.
With this in mind, in 2018 we started a 3-year
project at NILIM to develop this subject under thetitle “Establishing a method to visualize barrier-freeeffects based on life stage”.
The aim is to evaluate the barrier-free capacities
of homes, using METS (metabolic equivalents) as
an indicator of the amount of physical activity to
The iBeacon by itself
visualize the ease of performing activities in the(bottom-right) andliving environment.
installed on the ceiling

Physical activity
monitor andsmartphone

Measurement of the amount ofactivity while cleaning, as well as
location and time spent, with asmartphone capable of receiving
signals from both the iBeacon andthe physical activity monitor
attached to the waist

Current state and changes in roadside trees across Japan
Research Center for Infrastructure Management Landscape and Ecology Division
We have gathered and published the latest survey results (as ofMarch 31, 2017) regarding the current state and changes inroadside trees across Japan.
In order to sustain road greening measures that address the state oftimes we live in, with the diversification of Japanese citizens’ needs
and vast changes in socioeconomic conditions, the NILIM has
conducted a nationwide survey every 5 years since 1987 to grasp theactual situation of road greening.
The total number of roadside trees in Japan is around 6,700,000(trees managed to grow to 3 meters or taller). Looking at the changes
every 5 years, we can see this number has grown consistently between
1987 and 2002, leveling off thereafter (Fig. 1).
Analyzing the data by prefecture, Hokkaido, which has an extensive
road network, has the largest amount of trees, followed by the
metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Hyogo, Aichi, and Osaka, making
apparent the results of the strong demand for road greening functions(landscape improvement, shade tree formation, environmental
preservation, etc.) in urban areas with many pedestrians and intenseroad traffic.
As for the number of trees by species, among the 545 species foundacross Japan, ginkgo is the most numerous, followed by different typesof cherry trees, and then by Japanese zelkova, flowering dogwood,and trident maple (Fig. 2). These species likely appear at the top of thelist because of their strength, for example, seeing how they growrelatively easily even in places as unsuitable for plant development asalongside urban roadways, and how they can germinate even after theheavy pruning that may occur in order to bring them in line with thespace allowed for growth; or because of the beauty of their flowers orautumn foliage, which can add color to the cityscape.
Based on the results of this survey, we hope to organize efficient andeffective methods to manage and maintain roadside trees, and tocontinue contributing to urban planning that is greener and more
pleasant.
National highways (directly-managed)
Prefectural highways
Amount per road length (trees/km)

National highways (auxiliary) *Amount of trees by road type in 1987 is unknown
Total amount between ( )Municipal highways

Amount per road length (trees/km)

Report on collaborative research concerning evaluation of the influence of initial deformations in pre-stressed
concrete bridges and countermeasures (Part 2)

We are examining technologies that may lead to barrier-freesolutions based on citizens’ life stages, visualizing the ease of
performing activities in the living environment while using theamount of physical activity as an indicator.

In the first year, we are conducting an
investigation by using a physical activity
monitor and iBeacon, a device that records
where residents are at any given moment
as well as the time, to monitor the actual
state of their daily lives (places where they
stay, period of stay, number of visits to theplace, physical activity, etc.). The picture
here shows a preliminary experiment at thehouse of this article’s author.
In the second year, we plan to build abarrier-free environment evaluation
program from the monitoring dataobtained, and to propose barrier-free repair
projects that are based on life stage.
Also, in this research, we are working toefficiently spread the results by collaborating and sharing information with membersof related academic societies, etc.

Amount of roadside trees (in 10,000)

1046
1047

English Version: http://www.nilim.go.jp/english/nnl/index.html

Housing Department, Housing Production Division

Housing Department

NILIM Materials
No.

Aiming to establish a method to visualize barrier-free effects based on life stage

1987

1992

1997

2002

2007

2012

2017

Fig. 1 Amount of roadside trees in Japan
Ginkgo546,693 (8%)

Other

*Ratio of total amount is shown between ( )Cherries
519,735 (8%)

3,544,536 (53%)

Japanese zelkova
461,521 (7%)

Number of species
in Japan545

Flowering dogwood
361,715 (5%)

Trident maple
312,410 (5%)

Camphor tree
261,168 (4%)

Japanese rowan
189,464 (3%)

Kurogane holly

Americansweetgum

Maples grown in Japan

148,136 (2%)

172,567 (3%)

183,288 (3%)

Fig. 2 Amount of roadside trees in Japan per species

Details ‫ ܍‬NILIM website: “NILIM Research Materials, 1,050th Edition”
http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/tnn/tnn1050.htm

1Revolutionary wastewater management technology - With effective downsizing, cost and energy demands are greatly reduced

NILIM Lecture Meeting 2018

Water Quality Control Department Wastewater and Sludge Management Division
We have performed empirical research on water treatment
techniques that make it possible to reduce cost and energy
demands in response to a reduced amount of inflow caused bypopulation decline, and we have formulated draft guidelines forthe introduction of this revolutionary technology.
The amount of wastewater produced by homes, etc. (volume of inflow totreatment facilities) has diminished due to population decline and current efforts
to conserve water, which not only reduces revenue from wastewater fees, butalso lowers treatment efficiency at wastewater treatment plants. This happens
because the capacity of most machinery in wastewater treatment methods
employed up to now is determined according to the volume of the water tank(civil engineering structure) used to treat sewage, and even if the amount of flow
diminishes, it is difficult to reduce only the capacity of machinery whenreplacements are carried out, since their lifespan is shorter than that of civilengineering structures.
For this reason, as part of the B-DASH Project, we have conducted empiricalresearch to evaluate wastewater treatment plant technologies by building andoperating facilities of the same scale as actual plants as Susaki, Kochi, consideringa “water treatment technology following water amount fluctuation and utilizing
DHS system” (hereafter referred to as “revolutionary technology”).

The DHS system refers to water treatment technology that serves as analternative to conventional activated sludge processes, combining a DHS(Down-flow Hanging Sponge) filter bed and a biofilm filtration facility.
As a result of the NILIM’s empirical research, trial calculations have shown that it
is possible to reduce life cycle cost by 37% and greenhouse gas emissions by 76%
in comparison with the conventional activated sludge process, which is one of theconventional wastewater treatment methods, while securing standard quality fortreated wastewater. Also, the experiments have shown that this revolutionary
technology is easy to manage and maintain, making it an especially effective
solution for suburban cities where the workforce has diminished noticeably due
to population decline.
Furthermore, based on the empirical research results, in December of last year
we formulated guidelines organizing contents regarding the consideration of
simple introduction of the system, as well as its installment, maintenance andmanagement, to serve as a reference for wastewater operators considering
introduction of this revolutionary technology. By utilizing these guidelines tofoster the introduction of the technology, we expect to contribute to improvement of operation of sewage works.

More information ‫ ܍‬NILIM homepage (press release materials of January 10, 2019)http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/kisya/journal/kisya20190110.pdf

The technology (DHS system)

http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/kisya/journal/kisya20190110.pdf

Introduction of DHS system
to existing civil engineering framework

This year’s “NILIM Lecture Meeting” had “disaster prevention andmitigation” as its main theme, and it included a special lecture by
Mr. Takatoshi Hashitsume, the Head of NHK’s Disaster andWeather Center, a panel discussion by NILIM’s researchers,
general lectures, and poster exhibition.

The “NILIM Lecture Meeting” is held every year with the objective of
introducing to the public at large, via lectures and reports, the latest research
results and research trends at NILIM.
The main theme this year was “disaster prevention and mitigation”, with theevent being held on December 4, 2018 at
the Japan Education Center (HitotsubashiHall) in Hitotsubashi, Chiyota, Tokyo.
The special lecture, entitled “Theevolution of disaster news coverage:
Aiming for a press that protects lives andlivelihoods”, was given by the Head ofNHK’s Disaster and Weather Center, Mr.
Takatoshi Hashitsume.
Afterward, research status on disasterprevention and mitigation technologies,
as well as efforts toward disastermanagement at NILIM were introduced tothe public in a panel discussion held
under the title “How should we confront
Special lecture by speakerlarge-scale disasters?”
Mr. Hashitsume
On the day of the event there were 767

Planning and Research Administration Department, Planning Divisionparticipants, mainly consistingof people from private
businesses and local publicbodies involved in civilengineering or architecture.
The participants shared someof their thoughts on the special
lecture as follows: “The use of
actual examples and video
made it easy to understand”,“Thanks to this lecture, I was
Poster exhibition regarding main activities at NILIM
able to start thinking about thetype of ‘information’ that can belinked to the evacuation of citizens”. One participant commented on the panel
discussion as follows: “It was easy to grasp the contents of the debate, since it
followed a chronological order starting from the initial response system todisasters, and because the topics related to each field of expertise were
extremely well organized”.
Also, this lecture meeting saw the addition of a poster exhibition, whereexplanations regarding “the focus of NILIM’s main efforts in 2018” were provided
mostly by young researchers.
Videos of the lectures and presentation data (slides), along with the posters
that were exhibited, are available on the NILIM’s website. Please feel free to takea look.

Details ‫ ܍‬NILIM website: “National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management Lecture Meeting 2018”
http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bbg/kouenkai/kouenkai2018/kouenkai2018.htm

Overview of NILIM’s supplementary budget for 2018
Treated water

BlowerPump
DHS filter bed

Compressor

ユニッ
Unitト

Planning and Research Administration Department, Planning Division Administrative Coordination Department, Planning and Coordination Division
As the second supplementary budget of 2018, NILIM allocated asum of 2.5 billion yen for expenses with, for example, investigative research to improve national resilience based on the resultsof an emergency inspection of vital infrastructure.

Based on the results of an “emergency inspection of vital infrastructure”
implemented in response to these disasters, the NILIM allocated, as its second
supplementary budget of 2018, the largest resources to date for expenses withfacility development and investigative research in order to examine countermeasures and clarify the disaster-response mechanisms.

Biofilm filtration facility

Overview of DHS system, where downsizing is simple since capacity can be adjusted according to the number of units

Improving productivity in airport ground support services - Aiming to introduce self-driving technology to GSE
Airport Department, Airport Planning Division2

Details ‫܍‬1) NILIM website (press release materials of December 21, 2018)

List of implemented items

2) Ministerial conference on the emergency inspection of vital
infrastructure (Prime Minister’s Official Residence website)

Investigative research (6 topics, budget of 1.519 billion yen)
Topic

Here we introduce ongoing efforts aiming to introduce
self-driving technologies to the variety of ground support
equipment (GSE) being used at airports.

Following the increase in air passenger demands and in the number of flights,
the shortage of aviation business personnel has become an issue. In particular,
the scarcity of employees for ground support services (ground handling) issevere, making it difficult to operate in accordance with airline companies’
desired schedules.
For this reason, the MLIT’s Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) is working underpublic-private partnerships to introduce advanced technology aimed at making
ground support services more efficient. As one of these measures, efforts arebeing made to introduce self-driving technology to GSE such as the buses andtowing tractors that are necessary for aircraft operation.
The JCAB has made a public invitation this year for private business wishing toperform practical experiments at actual airports, to which eight groups
responded, leading to ongoing tests with self-driving vehicles alongside manned
GSE being driven during operating hours at the airports of Sendai, Narita,
Haneda, and Chubu.

Recent disasters such as the heavy rain of July 2018, Typhoon No. 21 of 2018,
and the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake led to damage caused by river
sediment and water flooding, by inundation due to high tides and waves, andby soil liquefaction resulting from sediment runoff.

Making infrastructureliquefaction damage
estimation methods highly
accurate

Left: Bus operation

Right: towing tractor carrying out air cargo

Based on the state of implementation of the JCAB’s practical experiments, the
NILIM is currently developing self-driving simulation models in order to verify
aspects such as the effects upon introduction, influence on other manned
vehicles, facility structure, and safety in the case where self-driving GSE comes tobe employed. This year we are utilizing actual operation data for each GSE toverify reproducibility of GSE operation simulations, and from next year we plan toinspect in detail the effects of having self-driven vehicles alongside manned
vehicles in accordance with development trends for self-driving technologies, aswell as possible issues that may arise and relevant countermeasures.

Overview

Development of highly accurate liquefaction damage
estimation methods for infrastructure, etc., taking into
account detailed seismic motion based on 3D groundmodels, in order to consider priority order of countermeasures for liquefaction of infrastructure, etc.
Trend analysis and data
Trend analysis and data gathering for sewage pipelines
gathering regarding pipelines damaged by the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake, anddamaged by liquefaction and recording of damage data in existing database.
other disasters
Consideration of
Analysis of investigation regarding damage risks to earth-fillgroundwater level real-time levees due to rising groundwater level, and consideration ofsurveillance methods
groundwater level surveillance methods from the point ofview of levee management.
Creation and provision of a
Development of easy-to-understand risk display methods andrisk map for complex
of scenario-setting methods for complex disasters involving,disasters involving
for example, occurrence of floods due to heavy rain after anearthquakes and floods
earthquake.
Research concerning theDevelopment of coastal wave run-up surveillancetechnologies in order to facilitate prompt evacuation ofdevelopment of wave run-up
surveillance technologies based citizens from high tides and waves caused by typhoons.
on a crisis management model
Development of an flood
Development of a prediction system for complex flood disasters
prediction system for disaster due to both high tides and heavy rain in order to allow smooth
mitigation countermeasurespre-evacuation of citizens from high tides.
in the case of complex flood
disasters due to both hightides and heavy rain

http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/kisya/journal/kisya20181221-2.pdf

http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/jyuyouinfura/index.html
Facility development (5 experiment facilities, budget of 984 million yen)
Facility name

Overview

Facility to investigate theeffects on sewage pipes ofliquefaction caused by
sediment runoff
Facility to inspect road basestructure peculiarities

Development of an experiment facility to enablereproduction of liquefaction caused by sediment runoff inorder to examine the effects on sewage pipeline facilities in
the case of liquefaction caused by sediment runoff.
Development of an experiment facility to allow reproducing
pavement deformation due to liquefaction in order to, forexample, develop followable pavement or evaluate vehicletransitability after liquefaction.
Development of a test field for verification and evaluation ofdisaster prevention capabilities and constructibility in orderto advance the utilization of new electric pole elimination
technologies in actual roads.

Test field for electric poleelimination technologies

Upgrade of river modelexperiment facilities

Functional upgrade of existing facilities to allow reproducing
a large volume of sediment influx, in order to elucidate howwater flooding due to large volume of sediment influx intorivers occurs, and to consider plans for alleviating related
damage.

Experiment facility fordebris flow / slope failure

Development of an experiment facility to allow reproducing andanalyzing the process from when a debris flow starts until theoccurrence of sediment and water flooding, or the fluidization
process of earth and soil collapsed after an earthquake or heavy rain.

3