International Press-in Associationwww.press-in.org

I NSIDE T HIS I SSUE
1. Messages
・from the Chairman
・from the Vice Chairman
2. Case History
・Kochi Prefecture, Japan
3. Event Reports
・From Singapore
・From Hanoi, Vietnam
・From Ukraine
4. On-Site Interview
5. Recent Publications
6. Announcements

Volume 1, Issue 2

December 2016

Message from the Chairman
Dr. Osamu Kusakabe
IPA is a unique engineering association. Unique because IPA
aims a multi-disciplinary association, covering a variety ofengineering disciplines: mechanical engineering, control
engineering, geotechnical engineering, environmental
engineering, measurement engineering and others. Dialogue
among experts in these various fields, for example, dialogue
between mechanical engineers and geotechnical engineers,
therefore, will be an important activity of IPA.
Concept of Internet of Things (IoT) has widely spread to all industrial sectors. Recent
rapid advances in artificial intelligence imply that days will come soon where mostconstruction works are carried out by construction robots. The way forward of IPA
activities must be along this line. The following issue of the IPA Newsletter will invite
an expert on construction robots to make a special contribution.

・Research committee
・10th Press-in Seminar
・Singapore Seminar
7. Event Diary
8. Corporate Members
9. Editorial Remarks

EDITORIAL BOARD
Osamu Kusakabe
Tadahiko Okumura
Limin Zhang
Andrew McNamara
Yukihiro Ishihara
Kazuyoshi Ishii
Mutsumi Minami
Hongjuan He

Unique because IPA is a meeting point between technological development andworkmanship. Feedback from operators on site is of vital importance to further
improvement of machineries as well execution methods. This issue of the IPA
Newsletter includes an article of “On-Site Interview”, in which experienced operatorstell us their experiences of Press-in piling operation.
As was reported in the previous issue of the IPA Newsletter, Kumamoto Earthquake
occurred in April, 2016. Thick soft deposits prevail over the south-western part ofKumamoto Prefecture with two major rivers. The project of raising river bank along
these two rivers has continued over a long period of time to mitigate water-related
disaster mainly due to storm surge. To avoid the excess influence of consolidation
settlement due to the raising bank on residential areas outside the river bank, a seriesof steel sheet piles have been installed along the toe of the bank slope on theresidential side. Although this project did not originally aim to mitigate earthquake
damages, the initial field investigation after the earthquake suggests that extensive
damages of the river embankment are concentrated in the areas where no sheep pile
was installed. This suggests that the sheet piles are effective in mitigating earthquake
damages as well. IPA has recently formed a Technical Committee on sheet pile
installed in a soft deposit, looking into the behavior of the sheet pile during
earthquakes. More than several million people live below the sea level in Japan.
Maintenance and reinforcement of the river bank system is one of the crucial issues
for mitigation plans against large earthquakes anticipated to occur in the near future.
Increasing urbanization poses a congested construction environment. Press-in pilingusing Silent Piler has a significant advantage in installing piles in a limited space.
Retaining structures of self-standing type, by adopting large diameter steel tubularpiles, are often constructed in such a congested construction environment. IPA has
also established another Technical Committee on design of retaining structures oflarge diameter tubular pipe piles socked into a stiff layer.
Launching the quarterly IPA Newsletter and establishing Technical Committees willcertainly enhance IPA activities.
1Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Message from the Vice Chairman
Prof. Limin Zhang
Professor of Geotechnical Engineering
Director of Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
It has been nearly 10 years since the inauguration of the International Press-In Association, IPA,
in Cambridge in 2007. IPA has been extremely active, hosting annual ordinary general
assemblies, annual Press-in engineering seminars, international workshops, and international
workshops for young researchers. The 9th Press-in Engineering Seminar was held in Kochi,
Japan in July 2016 and the 5th IPA International Workshop was held in December 2014 in Ho
Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
The Press-in technology has achieved silent and vibration-free pile installation by hydraulicallycontrolling pile movements and automatically measuring valuable ground information duringpile penetration. Over the years the Press-in technology has provided a means ofenvironmental-friendly construction method for urban retaining structures and foundations, particularly in Japan, USA,
China and Southeast Asia. Recently this new technology has been extended to costal and earthquake hazards mitigation.
In fact, the Press-in technology has been applied extensively to the costal defense facilities in the US after Hurricane
Katrina in 2005 and in Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. A handbook of Press-in retaining structures
was published by IPA in 2016 to help standard various applications of the Press-in technology.
The IPA has granted 5 rounds of research awards in the 2015 fiscal year to boost improving the quality, sustainability,
safety, environmental friendliness and economic efficiency in foundation engineering, promote the Press-in technology
worldwide, and foster young researchers and student education. These research awards were made possible by thegenerous support from the Kochi-based high-tech company, Giken LTD.
I am confident IPA will continue to contribute to the sustainable developments of society in the years to come.

Biography of Dr. Limin Zhang
Dr. Limin Zhang is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and Director of
Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility at the Hong Kong University of Science andTechnology. His research areas include dams and slopes, geotechnical risk
assessment, pile foundations, multiphase flows and centrifuge modeling. Dr.
Zhang is Past Chair of Geotechnical Safety Network (GEOSNet), Past President of
the ASCE Hong Kong Section, Vice Chair of ASCE’s Risk Assessment andManagement Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Georisk, Associate Editor of ASCE’s
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, and an editorial
board member of Computers and Geotechnics and several other journals. He isan active member of ISSMGE’s TC205, TC212, TC302 and TC304. His latest book
“Dam Failure Mechanisms and Risk Assessment” was published in June 2016 by
John Wiley & Sons, as shown in Picture 1.

Picture 1

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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Case History

Seismic and Liquefaction Countermeasuresin Kochi Coast, JapanMr. Sachio Shintaku
Kochi Office of River and National Highway,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
Kochi Office of River and National Highway has mainly three objectives to conduct countermeasures for river, coast androad. The ‘river’ project includes River improvement and maintenance of Monobe and Niyodo Rivers, control of thelandside water along Uji and Kusaka Rivers, survey of the hydrology and water quality, and making flood warning andflood forecast. In ‘coast’ project, we construct coast protection facilities and make flood warning in Kochi Coast. In ‘road’project, we construct sidewalks in Tosa City.
Kochi Coast is about 30km long, from Konan City to Tosa City in the central part of Kochi Prefecture. Coast section under
the jurisdiction of MLIT are 13.3 km long. It is sandy coasts, lying from Nankoku City to Tosa City. As Kochi Coast is shaped
like a fan and is opened toward the south, it is susceptible to a typhoon, and regardless of the course of typhoon, waves
tend to converge and their height increases. Sources of sand in the coasts are Monobe and Niyodo River, located in theeast and west of the coast.
In the past, beautiful sand beaches spread in Kochi Coast. However, costal erosion has progressed due to a massive
consumption of sea sand and gravels. Due to the disappearance of sand beach and the high waves, the frequency ofoccurrence of disaster has increased. Collapse of coastal levee and the closed traffic of the prefectural road have occurred
frequently in recent years.

Figure 13Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016
There are several types of countermeasures against storm surge and erosion in Kochi Coast: the offshore breakwater, theheadland defense, the artificial reef and the artificial nourishment.
The estimation of damage due to tsunami in Kochi Prefecture, published by the Cabinet Office of the Government ofJapan in 2012, is shown in Figure 1. The inundation areas are painted with colors. For examples, red means 15 to 20
meters height, orange 5 to 10, yellow 3 to 5 and green 2 to 3. Seismic and tsunami countermeasures in Niyodo River andMonobe River were completed in 2012 respectively. Along the coast, there are five sections, and two of them in Nii andNino were completed in 2014 and 2012.
In designing the structures in Kochi Coast, the earthquake and tsunami are assumed to be the ones determined by ‘Kochi
Prefectural Committee of Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Prevention Technologies’. The assumed earthquake is
Tonankai and Nankai Earthquakes with the magnitude of 8.6. The planned height is determined as the highest of theheights assumed in each coastal region. It is 8.0m in Kochi Central Coast and in Nankoku Konan Coast. For tsunami withrelatively high frequency of occurrence, the basic policy is to construct the coastal protection facilities such as coastal
levees. For tsunami with largest scale, the basic policy is to integrate the structural and non-structural countermeasures,and the main option will be the evacuation.
The examples of seismic and tsunami countermeasures in Kochi Coast are shown in Figure 2. The construction methods
were selected in terms of the workability and economic efficiency, taking into account the ground conditions in each area.
In Nii section, tubular pile wall and double sheet pile walls were adopted, taking into consideration the shape of the leveeand the ground conditions. In Nagahama and Tobara sections, a tubular pile wall was adopted, as the construction space
was limited due to the adjacent houses. In Nankoku section, a tubular pile wall was adopted, as the construction space
was limited due to the adjacent houses and plastic greenhouses.
There are two advantages in the tubular pile method. Firstly, the space required for construction is smaller, comparedwith other methods. Secondly, smaller construction space reduces the influence on adjacent structures and traffics. The
construction procedure of the tubular pile method is as follows. Firstly, the construction of temporary works. Secondly,
earthwork and construction of retaining wall. Thirdly, emplacement of materials. Fourthly, installation of tubular piles by
the Gyropress Method.

【Nii section】
Tubular pile wall
Prefectural road
Parapet【Nagahama section】

Double sheet pile walls
Wale and tie rod
Wave-dissipatingconcrete block

FencesExisting
revetment

Existing
wave dissipating
Prefectural concrete blocks

Fill

Existing
revetment

L shaped
retaining wallAs

(花)

Prefectural
road

road
Tubularpile

Tubular pile
Sheet pile

Tubular pile wall was adopted, as theconstruction space was limited due to theadjacent houses.

Tubular pile wall or double sheet pile walls were adopted, taking into consideration the shape ofthe levee and the ground conditions.

【Tobara section】【Nankoku section】

Prefectural
Pavement road
Superstructure concrete

Existing revetment
Existing
wave dissipatingconcrete blocks

Construction space

三連ブロックSand beach

L shaped retaining wallAs

Plastic greenhouse

テトラポットTubular pile （L=12.0m）
Existing
revetment

Tubular pile

Tubular pile wall was adopted, as theconstruction space was limited due to theadjacent houses.

Tubular pile wall was adopted, as theconstruction space was limited due to theadjacent houses and plastic greenhouses.

Figure 24Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016
Finally, construction of superstructure. There were three difficulties in this construction. Firstly, consideration of safety of
traffic was necessary because of the limited construction space. Secondly, it was necessary to cope with the obstacles
such as the existing levees. Thirdly, it was a hard work to secure the press-in machines, as they were frequently occupiedin other projects.

Picture 1

Picture 2

The situation after the completion of construction is shown in Picture 1. The left one is the double sheet pile wall methodin Nii section. The right one is the tubular pile method in Tobara section.
The situation during the construction in Nagahama section is shown in Picture 2. The left one is the view of Nagahama
section. The right one is GRB Non-staging Method.
Finally, the seismic and tsunami countermeasures in Kochi Port is based on the plans of ‘triple protection’ with three linesof protection, which has been shown by the country and the prefecture. The first protection line is the breakwaters which
are expected to reduce the energy of tsunami and conserve the function of Kochi New Port. The second protection lineis the outer edge and mouth of Urado Bay, which is expected to prevent or reduce the intrusion of tsunami. The third
protection line is the revetments in Urado Bay, which is expected to prevent the collapse of revetments or the inundationof inland. We are going to push these plans forward in the future.
※ This case history is based on the presentation at “9th IPA press-in Engineering Seminar in Kochi 2016”, which washeld in July 2016.
5Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

ReportA new Silent Piler F301 is introduced in Singapore
Mr. Seichiro Oiyama
Giken Seisakusho Asia Pte. Ltd.
A newly developed Silent Piler F301 is introduced with
900mm width hat type sheet piles in Singapore and that iscurrently working on a drainage project. The project is to
widen and deepen the existing drainage for flood protection
by utilizing hat type sheet piles. F301, which is developed to
install hat type sheet piles, was adopted since this site
locates in a congested urban area where the introduction of
conventional installation methods with large machines is
impossible.
F301 is available in standard mode, and water jetting andsuper crush mode by simply changing the chuck and chuck
frame as well as auxiliary equipment. The machine can be
adjusted to suit for various soil conditions and working
environments.
F301 is also equipped with the implemented control system
to manage not only its proper positioning but the press-in
force as well as the phase less linear auger torque control
during press-in operation, therefore the durability of eachmachine component is maximized.
The power unit of F301 equips high combustion efficiency andhydraulic control technology so that it complies with strict
environment requirements. F301 also uses biodegradable oiland grease so that environmental damage is eliminated even
if hydraulic oil or grease is spilled into soil or water.

Picture 1: F301 Silent Piler with 900mm width hat
type sheet pile being used on a drainage project inSingapore.

F301 ensures high quality pile installation due to two
following reasons. Firstly, there are two press-in points togrip the sheet pile in the chuck, compared to Piler for U
shape sheet piles, thus the press-in force is effectivelytransferred to each sheet pile. Secondly, the clamping onreaction piles to obtain reaction force at interlock positions
optimizes the stability of the reaction base. Those featuresare shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Picture 2: F301 can install 900mm width hat typesheet pile by 750mm space between an existing
structure and a pile center.
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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016
The 900mm width hat type sheet pile is available, with various
different heights for 230mm to 370mm in profiles, therefore
the most suitable material can be selected based on therequired cross-sectional performance for each project. The
hat type sheet pile has high structural reliability, compared to400mm width U shape sheet piles, as no reduction is requiredin cross-sectional performance to consider the possible lackof shear force transmission at the interlocks. Furthermore,
the total volume of steel can be reduced so that it is resulted in
total cost improvement.
The F301 Silent Piler with hat type sheet pile has been
introduced recently in other ASEAN countries such as
Philippines and Indonesia as well.

Picture 4:
Side view of F301

Picture 3: A site visit has been held as inviting Government
Agencies, Design Consultants and Construction Companies.

Picture 5: Front view of F301
Soil boring log

Project outline

Construction objective

Drainage improvement

Location of construction

Lucky Heights Estate, Singapore

Construction machine used

Silent Piler F301-900

Type/Dimension

278 Hat-shaped steel sheet piles NS-SP-10H,
W = 900 mm, L = 12.0 m

Features/Effects

Hat sheet pile with the Press-in Method achieves
higher installation efficiency and productivity
compared to U sheet pile.
1. Press-in force can be transferred efficiently bygripping the pile with two points.
2. Clamping reaction pile at Interlock positions
optimizes the stability of the reaction base.
3. Productivity of Hat sheet pile can be higher
than U sheet pile (type III or IV) by 50-80%.

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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

ReportSeminar on Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering
at Le Quy Don Technical University in Hanoi, Vietnam
Mr. Yukihiro Ishihara
IPA Secretariat
On 23rd of November 2016, “Seminar on Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering” was held at the meeting hall of
Institute of Techniques for Special Engineering in Le Quy Don Technical University in Hanoi, Vietnam. The seminar wasplanned by Associate Professor Nguyen Tri Ta and Associate Professor Nguyen Tuong Lai at Le Quy Don Technical
University and Prof. Tatsunori Matsumoto and Mr. Vu Anh Tuan at Kanazawa University. The main objectives of theseminar were to share knowledge and discuss the possibility of future cooperation on the issues of geotechnical andfoundation engineering. Four presentations were made, and about 50 engineers and students at the university attended,as shown in Picture 1.
The first presentation was made by Assoc. Prof. Lai, as
shown in Picture 2. He introduced the outline of Institute ofTechniques for Special Engineering in Le Quy Don Technical
University, including the three on-going projects of piled
foundation in coral and calcareous media under cyclicloading, development of piling equipment integrated on
excavator for tubular piles, and development of tools forlaboratory tests. Four cooperation topics as well as possible
approaches for cooperation were also proposed.
The second presentation was from Dr. Osamu Kusakabe atInternational Press-in Association, titled as “Towards
resilient society against natural disasters - Japaneseexperiences-”. The experiences of Japanese engineers
related to earthquakes and tsunamis were introduced, andthe importance of ‘awareness of living people’ on the risk ofdisasters as well as the engineer’s efforts to prevent themwas emphasized. Although the risk of earthquake is muchsmaller than Vietnam, he pointed out some risks that
Vietnam and Japan similarly have; for example, the risk offlooding brought about by the recent climate changes.
The third presentation was from myself, titled as “Research
examples on Press-in technology and Implant structure”.
The basic information of the Press-in Method as well as its
application examples as the Implant structures wereexplained in the first place. Then the research on the use ofpiling data to estimate the subsurface information was
introduced. The final presentation was made by Prof.
Tatsunori Matsumoto, titled as “Research activity at
Geotechnical Laboratory of Kanazawa University”. Detailed
information on the methods and results of the researches
at Kanazawa University on piled rafts, influence of pilepenetration on buried pipes, the performance of tunnels
and the comparison of jacked and vibro-hammered piles were explained.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Continuous interaction and cooperation will be expected from now on among the engineers at Le Quy Don Technical
University, Kanazawa University, Giken Ltd. and International Press-in Association.

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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Report
GEOTEC HANOI 2016
Mr. Yukihiro Ishihara
IPA Secretariat
On 24th and 25th of November 2016, “GEOTEC HANOI 2016 – the 3rd International Conference on Geotechnics for
Sustainable Infrastructure Development” was held at JW Marriott Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam. The conference was organizedby FECON Corporation, the Vietnamese Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (VSSMGE) and theJapanese Geotechnical Society (JGS). 10 sponsors, 45 exhibitors and nearly 600 experts and attendees from more than
30 countries participated, according to the organizing committee of the conference.
Five themes were dealt with in the conference: 1) Deep foundations, 2) Underground construction & tunneling, 3) Ground
improvement for infrastructure projects, 4) Coastal geotechnics for climate change and 5) Monitoring, inspection andmaintenance. Keynote lectures were made with respect to these five themes: 1) “The Unified Design of Piled Foundations”
by Prof. Bengt H. Fellenius, 2) “Evaluation of three different measures in reducing the movements in deep excavations”
by Prof. Chang-Yu Ou, 3) “Recent Development in Soft Ground Improvement using PVD and Vacuum Application” by Prof.
Buddhima Indraratna, 4) “Geotechnical Responses to Natural Disasters and Environmental Impacts in the Context of
Climate Change” by Prof. Kazuya Yasuhara and 5) “Monitoring ground and structural response to tunneling – lessons
learnt from three major projects in London” by Prof. Jamie Standing.
I made 2 presentations at the ‘Deep foundations’ session, subjected as “Model test and full-scale field test on vertical andhorizontal resistance of hatted tubular pile” and “Pull-out resistance of a large diameter steel tubular pile installed by
Rotary Cutting Press-in”. It was a good opportunity to inform the engineers, especially in Vietnam of these latest
technologies related to press-in. In the same session, there were another two presenters who have been contributing to
IPA activities: Mr. Vu Anh Tuan at Kanazawa University and Mr. Yoshiro Ishihama at Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal
Corporation. The titles of their presentations were “Experimental and numerical study on small-size piled raft foundation
models subjected to cyclic horizontal loading” and “Development and application of steel pipe pile installation by inner
excavation with enlarged foot protection” respectively. On the other hand, I was able to see the latest technologies in the
exhibition hall. The fields of the 45 exhibitors can be classified into five, in my personal point of view: piling, ground
improvement, measurement devices (mainly those for site investigation), numerical analysis and others.
In summary, the conference have successfully gathered nearly 600 people working on geotechnical issues, providing themgood opportunities to receive both classical and new information on the five conference themes and to let each otherknow what he or she is doing. It was a good opportunity for me to inform the engineers of the latest technologies ofpress-in.

Opening ceremony

Exhibition9

Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Report9th All-Ukrainian Scientific-Technical Conference“Soil Mechanics, Geotechnics and Foundation Engineering”
Prof., Dr. Michael Doubrovsky
Head of Department “Sea, River Ports and Waterways”
Odessa National Maritime University.
The ninth edition of this conference devoted to geotechnical innovations and implementation of Eurocodes in Ukraine
took place in Dnipro-city, Ukraine 3-7 October 2016.
In spite of the title “All-Ukrainian” the conference was rather “International” because participants from 10 countries
representing Europe, Asia and Africa took part in different conference’s activities. Scientists and experts from Ukraine,France, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Byelorussia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iraq and Mauritius presented theirinnovations and interesting case histories. Totally 134 papers were published in the conference proceedings.
We had a pleasure to greet as key-speakers Prof. Roger Frank, President of International Society on Soil Mechanics andGeotechnical Engineering and Prof. Ivan Vanichek, ex-Vice-President of ISSMGE. They presented speeches devoted toproblems and experience of implementation of Eurocodes.
During the Conference fruitful discussions took place at four sections:geotechnical innovations and implementation of Eurocodes in Ukraine

actual problems of soil mechanics and engineering geology

structure-soil interaction and numerical modelingconstruction in complex soil conditions; modern technologies of fundaments and bases installation

Among new construction related publications presented at the Conference, IPA brochures “Implant Structure” devoted
to principles of Construction Revolution and philosophy of Press-In approach (in Ukrainian and Russian languages) werein good demand; these brochures attracted special interest of academicians, researchers and practitioners.
To conclude I would like to express a hope that next Ukrainian conferences on soil mechanics and geotechnicalengineering will present also development of Press-in technologies applied to Ukrainian soil conditions and local
construction market.

Picture 1: Conference poster
Picture 2: IPA brochures “Implant Structure” published in
Ukrainian and Russian languages were in good demand at
the Conference.
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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

On-site Interview
Interviewer: Ms. Hongjuan HeIPA Secretariat
IPA has just opened the new corner of the On-Site Interview in the IPA Newsletter. I have interviewed Mr. Morisita andMr. Okabayashi who are working for Giken Seko Co., Ltd., and have constructed a retaining wall at Hachioji city in Tokyo
using large diameter of steel tubular piles by Gyropress (Rotary Cutting Press-in) Method. I thank them for giving us
valuable insights during this interview.
Profile of Mr. Takeshi Morishita, Assistant Manager of Giken Seko Co., Ltd.
Mr. Morishita joined the company on April 1993, and has engaged in Press-in Method for over 23
years. He had experienced working on “Steel Tubular Sheet Pile Press-in Method”, “Hard Ground
Press-in Method”, “Gyropress Method” and so on. Also he had also experienced working inAustralia. He was engaged as a Chief Site Engineer in this project. He has qualifications of “Firstclass Press-in Operation Engineer, The Second-class Civil Engineering Works Execution Managing
Engineer, Superintendent, Safety and Health Controller” and so on.

Profile of Mr. Kei Okabayashi, Chief of Giken Seko Co.,Ltd.
Mr. Okabayashi joined the company on April 1997 and has over 19 years of field experiences of“Steel Tubular Sheet Pile Press-in Method”, “Hard Ground Press-in Method”, “Gyropress Method”
and so on. He was engaged as a main operator for this project. He has qualifications of “First-classPress-in Operation Engineer, The Second-class Civil Engineering Works Execution Managing
Engineer, Superintendent, Safety and Health Controller” and so on.

Q1. Can you tell us why the Gyropress Method was adopted and what are the features of thisconstruction?
Mr. Morishita: Because of the population increase in Hachioji city in recent years, traffic congestion has become a social
issue. That’s why Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism planned to mitigate the traffic
congestion by widening the road and decided to order the project. Our scope was to construct a retaining
wall by Steel Tubular Pile. The Gyropress Method was adopted because this method is able to reduce total
cost with no adverse impact on surrounding environments and regional economy though the project shallbe carried out in a narrow site with adjacent housing and road.
Mr. Okabayashi: Feature of the project was to use the φ2000mm of Large Diameter Steel Tubular Piles because of thelimited construction space due to the adjacent housing where the high retaining wall to bear big earthpressure is required.

Q2. Was the construction carried out smoothly? If there were any difficulties, can you tell us about it andhow did you solve it?
Mr. Okabayashi: Yes, the construction was carried out smoothly, but there were some difficulties because it was the firsttime to adopt the φ2000mm of Large Diameter Steel Tubular Pile, compared to other projects. There are
two water-pipes inside a tubular pile for lubrication to assist piling smoothly. We use fixing plates to fasten
the water-pipes. On this operation, we considered the ground condition, and found that it was still possible
to conduct the piling with less fixing plates than usual. But when we started operation, the soil resistanceof large diameter steel tubular pile is larger than the prediction, so it was necessary to increase the numberof the fixing plates more than we planned. Through this experience, we found that it is necessary to feedback issues beyond the scope of assumption to the future projects.

11Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016
Q3. You said that you try predicting the problems before the operation, can you tell me more in detail?
Mr. Morishita: Firstly, the construction promotion section of our company evaluates all information such as groundconditions and site requirements which are given by the client, the prime contractor and the designer thenmake the appropriate site planning for safe and smooth operation. Secondly, the construction
development section which takes charge of site operation, re-examines the planning, then deploys on-sitemembers by providing the meeting to disseminate the site planning. However, it is difficult to predict
problems completely in advance, so it is necessary to deal with those unforeseeable problems at site.

Q4. I heard that this project has drawn high attention from project clients, designers and neighborhoods.
What is the reason behind there?
Mr. Morishita: The site tour was held many times. The visitors were not only people affiliated with construction but alsoneighborhoods, parents and children so that we felt their keen interest to the project. I was happy that somany people came to the site tour and it have been good opportunities for them to appreciate the
Gyropress Method.

Q5. Please share with us your toughest operational experience.
Mr. Okabayashi: One of the tough projects was the aseismic reinforcement to bridge piers in which sheet piling had been
conducted in the river during the mid-winter in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. It was very freezing since myfeet were in the cold river water while I had operated the Silent Piler under the bridge even I had tried mybest to warm myself. The other one was the project at shipyard in the Hiroshima Prefecture. Gyropress
Method was adopted but the toe bits had been worn out quickly since the piling was conducted
throughout bedrock. We had carefully re-examined the situation and had decided to introduce Preauguring Pile Method *1. This method enables piles to be embedded properly to hard bedrock and we had
carefully continued the piling operation.
Pre-auguring Pile Method *1: pile(s) specially used for pre-augering when there is an underground obstacleor hard bedrock during Press-in operation with rotary cutting (Gyropress Method)
Mr. Morishita: I have experienced different difficulties through all projects so far and I still can clearly remember my first
operation in particular. That was Press-in operation of steel sheet piles. I had learned about Press-in
machine before I was assigned to the project, but I didn’t have on-site experience. So, I had asked all kindsof questions to my seniors and colleagues to obtain whatever I need to know about Press-in technology.

Photo 1: Gyro Piler is installing a φ2000mm large diameter of steel tubular pile.
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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016
Q6. Did you have any overseas project experience? What’s the difference between Japan and overseas?
Mr. Morishiita: Yes, I had experienced to engage in a subway project in Australia. I had pressed-in steel sheet piles forstarting and arrival shaft for shield machine. Languages and cultures were of course different, in addition
there were difference in operating time and role allotment. Besides, the strength of Australian sheet piles
were weaker than Japanese one, so I had to pay a careful attention to the piles causing no damage during
the piling operation.

Photo 2: Site tour

Q7. I believe that the training to local operators for Press-in technology is needed when overseas
construction is expected more and more. What are the important things for it in your opinion?
Mr. Morishita: The perspective of pile and piling, for usages and functions, varies in countries, the same as languages,
cultures. For example, sheet piles are mostly used for temporary works in Japan, on the other hand thoseare often used for permanent work in overseas. It is of course important to complete the project asplanned but our objective is to complete the project with aesthetic and accuracy. However, we found somecases in overseas projects that aesthetic and accuracy are not concerned as far as the final products
perform the required functions. Bear in mind, if each pile is off by 1 cm and the continuation of 10 piles
installation ends up with 10 cm off in total. I believe it is very essential to share this basic Press-in concept
with local operators for proper understanding. I had conveyed this to local operators while working inAustralia, then I had observed that they had become very responsible for piling. But it is a time consuming
and costly process if you conduct this through one to one. We can consolidate all the know-how based onwhatever we had so far and compile those to the Silent Piler for automated operation, so that we canshorten the time to convey the know-how to local operators effectively and the piling process can be
carried out with a simple manner to complete project just as planned.
I understand that GIKEN Ltd. as the manufacture of the Silent Piler has been already in the process for theabove together with GTOSS (Giken Total Support System) program for machines and operators so that thePress-in technology to be globally disseminated.

Q8. What is your prediction about the future of Press-in technology?
Mr. Morishita: When I was engaged in overseas projects, I was praised by local staffs because our Silent Piler was very
quiet in operation without disturbance to the surrounding ground. They said there are more places where
the Press-in technology is applicable. I am looking forward to splendid social environment being brought
by adopting the Press-in technology throughout the world.
Mr. Okabayashi: Giken Seko Co., Ltd. is being performed the Press-in piling which has been done by no one before under
the stringent ground conditions and strict construction requirements. I believe that new technology will
be innovated by challenging new projects, then the new technology enables the further difficult projects
to be accomplished.

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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016
Mr. Morishita and Mr. Okabayashi were shy to answer the questions during the interview, but they tried their best to
answer to all questions with their thoughts to me. When I joined the site tour in Hachioji city, the site was so quiet that I
can hear the explanation of the site staff clearly. It was very impressed to me observing huge φ2000 mm tubular steel
piles were rotating into the ground without noise, vibration and ground disturbance. Through this interview, I mademyself sure that Press-in technology will be disseminated globally because of the further advancement of Press-in
Technology and machines.

Photo 3: Interviewing with Mr. Morishita and Mr. Okabayashi

I would like to express my sincere appreciation toward Mr. Morishita, Mr. Obayashi and all who areconcerned in this interview. Thank you so much.
No entry beneathhoisted goods.

Chief Site Engineer

Photo 4: Mr. Okabayashi is instructing co-workers to check apiling situation through a mobile wireless radio.

Photo 5: Mr. Morishita is checking the operation
manual on site.

We welcome the on-site operators who are able to accept the interview. If you have any questions, pleasecontact to IPA Secretariat address to Ms. Hongjuan He (ipa.ka@press-in.org). We are waiting for you!

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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Recent publications related to PRESS-IN Technology(2015-2016)
Model Test and Full-Scale Field Test on Vertical and Horizontal Resistance of Hatted
Tubular Pile

Ishihara, Y., Ogawa, N., Okada, K., Inomata, K., Yamane, T. and Kitamura, A.
Proceedings of the Third International Conference Geotec Hanoi 2016 Geotechnics for Sustainable Infrastructure Development, pp. 131-139, 2016.

Abstract: The hatted tubular pile consists of a tubular pile with a hat part rigidly connected to the pile at around theground surface, and is expected to generate higher vertical and horizontal resistance. It can be constructed by the Pressin Method, where a static jacking force is used to install piles while the reaction force is obtained from the previously
installed piles. This paper introduces the model test on the vertical resistance of the hatted tubular pile and the full-scale
field test on the vertical and horizontal resistance of it. Based on the results of these tests, methods to estimate thevertical capacity and the horizontal resistance of the hatted tubular pile are investigated into.

Pull-out Resistance of A Large Diameter Steel Tubular Pile Installed by Rotary Cutting
Press-inIshihara, Y., Okada, K., Yokotobi, T. and Kitamura, A.

Proceedings of the Third International Conference Geotec Hanoi 2016 Geotechnics for Sustainable Infrastructure Development, pp. 141-147, 2016.
Abstract: The ‘press-in’ method is a piling technique that installs piles with a static jacking force. The applicable groundconditions of this method have been significantly expanded by ‘rotary cutting press-in’, where a vertical jacking force anda rotational torque are applied at the same time onto a pile with cutting teeth on its base. Recently, a new rotary cuttingpress-in machine was developed so that a pile with a diameter of as large as 2500mm can be dealt with. This paper
introduced the result of the pull-out test of a steel tubular pile with the diameter of 2500mm, which was installed byrotary cutting press-in. In addition, the design method based on SPT was confirmed to provide a reasonable estimation
for the pull-out resistance (shaft capacity) of this large diameter pile.

Experimental Study on Tsunami Mitigation Effect of Breakwater with Arrays of Steel
Tubular Piles

Suzuki, N., Ishihara, Y. and Isobe, M.

Journal of Social Safety Science, No. 29, 2016.11, pp. 7-14, 2016.
Abstract: This paper presents experimental data to clarify Tsunami mitigation effect of the breakwater with arrays of steel
tubular piles and the load of Tsunami. The model experiments were conducted to give a better understanding of theinfluence of the distance between the piles, the number of the row and the relative height of Tsunami. It turned out thatthe transmissivity of Tsunami is proportional to the distance between the piles. In particular, the greater number of therow reduced Tsunami load acting on each row of piles, with smaller load on the rows in the downstream side.
Furthermore, in estimating the Tsunami load, the drag coefficient Cd was confirmed to be applied for multiple rows,
whereas revised Tanimoto expression and reduction coefficient CG was confirmed to be applied for a single row. (In Japanese)

Experimental Study on Influence of Porosity and Material of Pile-type Porous
Tide Barrier on Its Tsunami Mitigation EffectSuzuki, N., Ishihara, Y. and Isobe, M.

Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. B3 (Ocean Engineering),
Vol. 72, No.2, pp. I-491-I-496, 2016.
Abstract: Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, tenacity has been required for structures against Tsunami. Especially forthe tsunami with extraordinary power, it is more realistic to adopt the multifaceted protection rather than a single
structure. In this context, pile-type porous vertical barrier is expected to be effective. In this paper, a simple theoretical15

Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016
explanation on its tsunami mitigation effect was provided, and the model experiments were conducted to examine theinfluence of the porosity ratio and the material of the barrier. The results showed that the wave force on the barrier andthe height of the tsunami behind the barrier in the trade-off relationship and are the functions of the loss coefficient,which is expressed by the friction factor and the porosity ratio. It was demonstrated that the effective barrier can be
designed by choosing the adequate value of the loss coefficient. Finally, a case study of designing the barrier was
introduced, by applying the experimental results to the full-scale case based on the Froude law. (In Japanese)

Influence of Surging and Jack-in Pile Installation Methods on Pile Performance
Observed in Model Load Tests in Dry Sand Grounds
Moriyasu, S., Meguro, H., Matsumoto, T., Kobayashi, S. and Shimono, S.
Proceedings of 19 Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGC),
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, pp. 621-626, 2016.
Abstract: In this paper, an attempt was made to experimentally investigate the relationship between the pile installation
method and bearing performance by comparing two different installation methods, jack-in and surging. The term
"surging" stands for the cyclic push-in and pull-out movement of the pile during installation. The experiments were carriedout using model ground of densely and loosely packed dry sand. It was found that the surging causes a reduction in the
total penetration resistance (pile head load) of the pile due to a large decrease in shaft resistance, although the baseresistance increases compared to installation by the jack-in method. It was demonstrated though experiments in different
ground conditions that the degree of impact of the surging is strongly related to the relative density of the ground.

Estimating Base Resistance and N value in Rotary Press-in
Ishihara, Y., Haigh, S. K. and Bolton, M. D.
Soils and Foundations, Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 788-797, 2015.
Abstract: In the Press-in Method, press-in machines use static jacking force to install prefabricated piles, while gaining areaction force by grasping several of the previously installed piles. The emergence of this piling technique in 1975 solved
problems in urban piling construction such as noise and vibration associated with the piling work, restricted construction
conditions due to the existing structures, and so on. Among a variety of press-in methods, rotary press-in is a relatively
new technique to install tubular piles into hard ground by applying axial and rotational jacking force at the same time. An
additional feature of the Press-in Method is that it allows continuous measurement of penetration depth and jacking
force during piling work. The concept of a PPT, Pile Penetration Test, has been developed to apply this feature to improving
the efficiency of piling work and foundation design. This paper highlights the technique to estimate base resistance andN value from the data acquired during rotary press-in.

Measuring Horizontal Stresses during Jacked Pile Installation
Burali d’Arezzo, F., Haigh, S. K., Talesnick, M. and Ishihara, Y.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Geotechnical Engineering,
168 (4), pp. 306-318, 2015.
Abstract: Jacking is an installation technique for displacement piles which is commonly used onshore in urban
environments owing to its low noise and vibration. During pile jacking, stress changes occur in the soil which aresubstantial close to the pile, but also extend a significant radial distance. These stresses are difficult to measure accurately
owing to arching around stress sensors. In the field, stress measurements are commonly made by means of an adjacentpile whose stiffness changes the stress field within the soil. Accurate measurements of stresses due to the installation ofa single pile under laboratory conditions are needed in order to quantify this error. In this paper, null gauges that do not
suffer from membrane deflection are used to measure horizontal stress changes during the jacked installation of acylindrical pile in dry sand. Stresses are measured by means of both an adjacent pre-installed square pile and in-soil
sensors. The paper also presents a comparison between the centrifuge results and the radial stress distribution estimatedusing conventional methods, such as Boussinesq’s elastic analysis and elasto-plastic spherical cavity expansion.
※ Full paper in a pdf form is available upon request to IPA members. Those who wish to have a copy of the full paper,please contact the secretariat.
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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Announcement
Three technical committees are launched
IPA Research Committees
IPA Research Committee, chaired by Prof. Tatsunori Matsumoto at Kanazawa University, is preparing three technicalcommittees to be launched in December 2016 or in January 2017 as below.
TC-1: Technical committee on behavior of retaining wall using large
diameter steel pipe piles socketed into a stiff layer and its design
methodChaired by Assoc. Prof. Jiro Takemura at Tokyo Institute of Technology,
this committee will investigate into the behavior of retaining structure withlarge‐diameter pipe piles socketed into a stiff layer through physicalmodelling and numerical analysis, and develop an economical yet
rational design method. The first meeting was held at International Press‐
in Center (IPC) in Tokyo on 12th December, as shown in Picture 1.

Picture 1

TC-2: Technical committee on the use of data obtained in press‐in piling to estimate subsurface information
Organized by several specialists, this committee will summarize the method to estimate the subsurface information (SPT
N value) from data obtained in press‐in piling and publish a technical material in March 2017.
TC-3: Technical committee on reappraisal of Partially Floating Sheet Pile (PFS) Method and extension to seismic design
Chaired by Prof. Jun Otani at Kumamoto University, this committee will reappraise the effectiveness of PFS method basedon the results of field measurements at the sites, including those experienced during Kumamoto Earthquake in 2016 toinvestigate its dynamic performance. The results of physical modellings such as model test and numerical analysis will also be
discussed to quantify this method.
The activities of these technical committees will be updated in the future newsletters.

Announcement
Announcement of 10th Press-in Seminar in Kochi 2017
IPA Secretariat
International Press-in Association (IPA) will hold the 10th IPA Press-in Seminar from 20th to 21th July, 2017 in Kochi City,
Japan. The Seminar is the 10th anniversary of IPA since it has been established in 2007. From the seminar, you canexperience the state-of-the art Press-in technology, communicate with kinds of people from various fields and getting
hints for your researches and projects so on. The seminar will have various programs, as follows.
Planned programs;◆ IPA Board Meeting◆ Joint Technical Committee between IPA and JPA (Japan Press-in Association)◆ Lectures (cases introduction for Press-in for overseas and Japanese)◆ Site Visit of the latest Press-in piling◆ Workshop (among young and senior engineers, researches from various countries and IPA members)
Note: Details are announced shortly on http://www.press-in.org/events/calendar/en.
Kochi City is the birthplace of Press-in technology which is located on the island of Shikoku in Japan. We are sure that you
will have a memorable and productive seminar. We are looking forward to you attending the seminar. If you have any
questions, please contact us to tokyo@press-in.org.
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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Announcement
IPA Seminar on Press-in Technology in Singapore
IPA Local Organizing Committees
The Publication Committee of International Press-in Association (IPA) is currently editing the “Press-in Retaining
Structures: A Handbook (First Edition 2016)” in English and it will be published shortly. IPA is now pleased to organize aseminar to disseminate the press-in technology to commemorate the release of upcoming handbook at National
University of Singapore as follows:Date: 2nd March 2017, Thursday [09:00 – 16:30]

Venue: NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House [Guild Hall] at National University of Singapore

Address: 9 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119241

Capacity: 100-120

Program: 08:30〜

Reception

09:00〜13:00

Seminar

13:00〜14:00

Lunch (Buffet)

14:00〜16:00

Site visit (subject to availability of jobsite)

16:30

Closing

Registration fee: SGD 88.00 (inclusive of 7% GST) per person [buffet lunch to be provided]

Registration: The registration form to be downloaded from http://www.press-in.org/events/calendar/en

Payment method : Cheque payment or Bank Transfer (Account details to be advised upon confirmation of attendance.)Note: A Handbook shall be distributed to every participant in an USB form during the IPA Seminar

Speakers: Dr. Ng Tiong Guan/ Golder Associates (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Executive Director, Principal
Er. Dr Poh Teoh Yaw/ Building and Construction Authority, Deputy Director
Prof. Yoshiaki Kikuchi/ Tokyo University of Science
Mr. Tsunenobu Nozaki/ GIKEN LTD., Department Leader of International Business Department

Organizer: IPA Local Organizing Committee (LOC)

LOC Chair: Prof. C F Leung, National University of Singapore / IPA Director

Supporters○ Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS)○ National University of Singapore (NUS)○ Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)○ Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)○ Giken Ltd. ○ Giken Seisakusho Asia Pte.,Ltd.

○ Others

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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Event Diary■ IPA Events
http://www.press-in.org/events/calendar/ja
IPA Singapore Seminar
March 02, 2017/ Singapore,
The National University of Singapore (NUS)
IPA Board Meeting
July 20, 2017/ Japan, Kochi
IPA Kochi Seminar
July 20-21, 2017/ Japan, Kochi■ International Society for Soil Mechanics
and Geotechnical Engineering
http://www.issmge.org/events
9th International Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects ofUnderground Construction in Soft Ground, IS - São Paulo2017
April 04-05, 2017/ Brazil, São Paulo
Third Bolivian International Conference on Deep
Foundations
April 27-28, 2017/ Bolivia, Santa Cruz de La Sierra
Transportation Geotechnics and Geoecology
May 17-19, 2017/ Russia, St.Petersburg
BCRRA 2017 - Tenth International Conference on the
Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields
June 28-30, 2017/ Greece, ATHENS

4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration
Testing (CPT’18)
June 21-22, 2018/ Netherlands, Delft
The 7th International Conference on Unsaturated
Soils (UNSAT2018)
August 3-5, 2018/ Hong Kong S.A.R.

7 ICEGE 2019 - International Conference on
Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering
June 16, 2019/ Italy, RomeISDCG 2019 – 7th International Symposium on
Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials
June 26, 2019/ United Kingdom, Glasgow
ECSMGE 2019 – XVII European Conference on
Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
September 1, 2019/ Iceland, Reykjavik■ Deep Foundations Institutehttp://www.dfi.org/dfievents.asp
SuperPile 2017
June 14-16, 2017/ Coronado Bay, CA
42nd Annual Conference on Deep Foundations
October 24-27, 2017/ New Orleans, LA

GeoMEast 2017
July 15-19, 2017/ Egypt, Sharm El-Sheikh
PBD-III Vancouver 2017 - The 3rd International
Conference on Performance Based Design in Earthquake
Geotechnical Engineering
July 16-19, 2017/ Canada, Vancouver
Second International Symposium on Coupled
Phenomena in Environmental Geotechnics (CPEG2)
September 6-7, 2017/ United Kingdom, Leeds
ICSMGE 2017 - 19th International Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Seoul
September 17-22, 2017/ Korea, Seoul

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Volume 1, Issue 2 December 2016

Editorial Remarks
The Editorial Board of IPA Newsletter is pleased to publish Vol.1, No.2 on schedule. This issue contains messages from
Chairman and a vice Chairman, a case history, and several reports from various parts of the world, including the reportof the establishment of three technical committees. A new corner was also created for the serial ‘On-site interview’. We
plan to include the list of papers published in a respective year in December issues. This issue provided a list of recent
publications (2015-2016) on press-in technology.
Contributions from IPA members are very much welcome, in particular, in the categories of ‘Case History’ and ‘Report’.
Any comments and suggestions to improve the Newsletter are also very much welcome.
Please feel free to contact the Editorial board members below with email address or IPA Secretariat (tokyo@press-in.org)
for your clarifications and/or suggestions.
Editorial Board:
Dr. Osamu Kusakabe (ipa.kusakabe@press-in.org)
Prof. Limin Zhang (cezhangl@ust.hk)
Dr. Andrew McNamara (A.McNamara@city.ac.uk)
Mr. Yukihiro Ishihara (ipa.ishihara@press-in.org)
Mr. Kazuyoshi Ishii (ipa.ishii@press-in.org)
Ms. Mutsumi Minami (tokyo @press-in.org)
Ms. Hongjuan He (ipa.ka@press-in.org)

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