Volume 3, Number 1, June 2005
This issue of Panel Update Volume 3 Number 1 begins the third year of the Panel’s eNewsletter
aimed as sharing Panel activities. We value your readership and welcome your comments aboutcontent and format. The June issues of each eNewsletter deviates from its normal two page format bysharing the highlights from the Panel’s recently conducted annual Joint Meeting.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 37th JOINT MEETING OF THE PANEL ON
WIND AND SEISMIC EFFECTS 16-21 MAY 2005

The 37th Joint Meeting of the Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects was held during 16-21 May2005, Japan. The Panel’s technical meetings were held during 16-18 May at the National Institutefor Land and Infrastructure Management, Tsukuba, Japan followed by technical site visits during
19-21 May 2005 in the greater Osaka area and Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

Technical Meetings, 16-18 May•••

28 technical presentations (14 paper per side) in nine technical sessions- Lessons Learned from Recent Natural Disasters (Indian Ocean Tsunami)/StormSurge and Tsunamis- Lessons learned from Recent natural Disasters (Mid-Niigata prefecture Earthquake)- Geotechnical Engineering and Ground Motion- Next-generation Building and Infrastructure Systems- Dams- Wind Engineering- Advanced Information and Communication Technology for Disaster Prevention andPublic Health Evaluation- Transportation Systems- Fire performance of Buildings and Transportation Structures/Progressive Collapse
Technical presentations highlighted work by the US and Japan Panel organizations:- Japan’s public works projects and civil engineering research and their applications ofresearch into practice,- Strong motion monitoring in Japan and US,- Modeling of earthquake response of dams and stability evaluation of dams,- Framework for real-time global natural hazards simulations and data exchanges led
to partnerships between NSF’s NEES and NIED’s E-Defense (Earthquake Defense)
and research collaborations in areas of steel buildings with innovative systems,bridges, and cyber infrastructure (initiated under auspices of the Panel),- Real time disaster information systems,- New technologies in remote sensing/data fusion for infrastructure hazard mapping,remote sensing data integration,- Construction of Japan’s 15 m x 20 m, 12 MN (1 200 ton) 3-D shake table test facility,- Research data for major revisions of highway bridge design criteria and for seismic
retrofit,- Analytical and experimental research results on wind engineering,- Application of research findings to revisions and creation of both country’s codes andstandards.
Panel Task Committees (T/C) serve as an effective vehicle to exchange in-depth
advanced seismic, wind, and storm surge and tsunami technologies. A new T/C was•

created on Fire Performance of Structures. Five T/C workshops are planned for thecoming year.
The Panel’s web site was expanded with Panel and T/C activities and its bimonthly PaneleNewsletter Panel Updates highlights Panel activities and results.

Technical Site Visits 19-21 May
1.
HANSHIN EXPRESSWAY PUBLIC CORPORATIONThe Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation (HEPC) was created in 1962 by the national andlocal governments in the Kansai Metropolitan Area to improve the traffic conditions that hadsignificantly deteriorated from the rapidly growing population within the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.
HEPC performs construction and management of expressways (such as the HanshinExpressway) urban redevelopment projects as requested by the local governments; constructionof related roads when the roads are integral to the expressway construction; road surveysand studies; and construction of offices, stores and other buildings which are integrated with its
road structure. Construction funding is raised through bonds (90 percent); the remainder frominterest-free investments and loans. Since its creation the HEPC operates 234 km ofExpressways that soon will be expanded to 24 routes totaling 280 km. These new segments ofexpressways are designed and constructed to provide emergency access to the region especiallyafter earthquakes. The delegation was briefed on HEPC’s seismic retrofit projects and visitedseveral HEPC projects including:a. Seismic Retrofit of the Minato Bridge, Osaka. The Minato Bridge is a long-spancantilever truss bridge on the Wangan route of the Hanshin Expressway in the Port ofOsaka. It was constructed in 1974 to link Osaka with the industrial port city of Amagasaki
on Osaka Bay. It consists of two 235 m side-spans and a 510 m main span, and it is 22.5
m wide. With total length of 980 m, it is the longest truss bridge in Japan, and the third
longest truss bridge in the world. The floor system has two levels (double floor decks).
The bearings of the intermediate part are fixed against horizontal movements, and havedesign capacity of 131.4MN for dead and live load. The foundation type is caisson at theintermediate part, and steel piles at the edge piers. A 3D global model of the bridge,
which included the effects of soil-structure interaction, gave the following estimates forthe first and second mode periods of the bridge: 2.8 s and 1.4 s for longitudinal vibrations,and 4.4 s and 1.9 s for transverse vibrations.
The Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake of January 17, 1995, which occurred at epicentral
distance of about 40 km from the bridge and the bridge was subjected to a $33 million
seismic retrofit. The adopted retrofit strategy was response modification by seismic
isolation. The old bearings were replaced by a combination of sliding isolation bearings,
and lateral rubber bearings on the floor deck. Non-linear rubber bearings were used at
the base of the tower and elastic ones at the end supports. Also, lateral damping bracing
and sway damper bracing (buckling restrained braces) were installed between chordmembers.
3D linear and non-linear analyses were performed using Japanese code and ABACUS.
Various scale models of a new brace was constructed and tested under cyclic horizontalloadings. Ground motions were input at each support in a phased manner. The bridge
was evaluated and designed for two components of horizontal ground motion but did notinclude a vertical component. This retrofit did not include instrumentation for response toearthquakes. Additional information about the seismic retrofit of this bridge can be foundin:• Kanaji, H., Hamada, N, and Naganuma T. (2005). “Seismic Retrofit of a Cantilever
Truss Bridge in the Hanshin Expressway,” Proc. International Symposium onEarthquake Engineering, January 13-16, 2005, Kobe, Japan.
• Kanaji, H., Kitazawa, M., and Suzuki, N. (2005). “Seismic Retrofit Strategy Using
Damage Control Design Concept and the Response Reduction Effect for a Long-

span Truss Bridge,” Proc. 19th US - Japan Bridge Engineering Workshop, October
27-29, 2003, Tsukuba Science City, Japan.

Photos of a newly installed sliding isolation bearing (left) and a rubber isolation
bearing (right). Photo taken by M. Todorovska
b. Aburanokoji Route Overpass Road Ramp Construction. The new Hanshin
Expressway Public Corporation’s Kyoto Expressway Aburanokoji Route from Osaka toKyoto is under construction to reduce traffic congestion. The delegation visited a bridge
overpass construction site at the intersection of the Aburanokji Route and the Meishin
Expressway in southern Kyoto. Due to on-ground construction space limitation the two
highway approach ramps to the Aburanokoji Route Bridge were constructed directly on
the new bridge, which was constructed using push-out method andtemporary bents, crossing the Meishin Expressway. These two approach ramps will belifted from the bridge and placed on their adjacent sides of the bridge by a Liebherr
transport crane vehicle. The work will be performed in a series of steps involving lifting
and rolling the ramps into their final location at the bridge pier columns.
c.

Inariyama Tunnel. The extension of the north-south Kyoto Expressway Aburanokoji
Route leads to the east-west Kyoto Expressway’s Shin-Jujo-Dori Route (to significantly
reduce loss of city functions from traffic jams). This Route travels 2.5 km through amountain. Two tunneling methods were used 1) the New Austrian Tunneling Method(NATM) and 2) shield tunnel method using a tunnel boring machine. The delegation
visited the west end of the mountain where the shield tunnel method was used. The eastend of the route was completed several years ago using the NATM. The delegation wasbriefed on the pressurized slurry shield tunneling method. The shield method uses a steel
shell with cutters at the front to bore through the ground. The evacuated ground isprevented from collapsing by the pressure of slurry, etc., pumped back to the work face.
Segment prefabricated with steel shells and precast concrete sections are installed inside
the shield behind the work face to finish the tunnel. Soil ahead of the 10.8 m diameter 70
mm thick shield cutting plate is stabilized through injection. Rate of shield travel averages
6 m per day. Bores are performed at 1.5 m per segment. Shield tunnel boring is computer
operated; lasers make measurements for each cut. Soil is excavated by rotary blades
and high pressure water. Soil and water are pumped to the surface. The soil istransported away from the site for possible other use. After cutting the tunnel a liner isinstalled, followed by a waterproofing membrane that is covered by a second concreteliner. The east bound shield tunneling machine is positioned to travel 150 m at a threepercent decline then 150 m at 1.7 percent decline before leveling off to meet the NATM
cut tunnel 900 m away. At this point the shield tunneling machine will make a U-Turn to
cut the west bound tunnel. Obayashi Corporation is performing the tunneling work. This
10.8 m diameter tunnel is expected to cost $1 billion.

d. Hanshin Earthquake Exhibition Hall. The delegation visited the Hanshin EarthquakeExhibition Hall that featured selected damaged structures from the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake along the Hanshin Expressway’s Kobe Route (Route 3) and the Wangan
Route (Route 5). This Exhibition Hall was created to educate the public about thereasons for the Hanshin Expressway failures and to illustrate methods used to repair andretrofit the Expressway against future earthquakes. The exhibit hall contains portions of
the failed structures and photographs that illustrate how earthquakes occur, their
damaging forces, and methods to reduce such damages from future earthquakes.
2.
NIED’S SHAKE TABLE
The delegation visited the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster
Prevention’s (NIED) Three-Dimensional Full-Scale Earthquake Testing Facility (E-Defense) at theHyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center in Miki City, Japan. The facility houses theworld’s largest and most advanced shake table for testing full-scale structures. The shake table
has a surface dimension of 15 m X 20 m with 5 actuators each in two orthogonal horizontal
directions and 14 actuators in the vertical direction. It has a load capacity of 1,200 ton andmaximum acceleration, velocity and displacement of 900 cm/s2; 200 cm/s; and +100 cm,respectively in the horizontal direction; and 1500 cm/s2; 70 cm/s; and +50 cm, respectively in thevertical direction. A test preparation tower with a 2200 m2 surface, 29 m clearance height, andtwo 400 ton cranes are devoted to experimental specimen assembly. The delegation members
discussed a recent shake table test of the response of a typical full-size two-story residentialbuilding subject to the full-scale 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (“Kobe”) earthquake excitation (see photobelow). The building specimen was displayed inside the test facility. It was observed that although
there was noticeable damage to the façade of some interior and exterior walls, we were told thebuilding sustained no significant structural damage. These test results were comforting to thecitizens of Japan as most of them live in such buildings.

Photo of two-story typical residential house that was tested on
NIED’s shake table. Photo taken by S. Yim

3.
NIIGATA CHUETSU EARTHQUAKEThe delegation was briefed on the Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake during the Panel’s technicalmeetings and during a mini-symposium hosted by the National Research Institute for EarthScience and Disaster Prevention’s (NIED) Nagaoka Institute of Snow and Ice Studies as anintroduction to several of the damaged sites. Greater background and specificity on theearthquake and about damage locations the delegation visited are available from four papers

published in the Proceedings of the 37th Joint Meeting of the US-Japan Panel on Wind andSeismic Effects 16-18 May 2005 (see below); the last paper is from NIED’s mini-symposium:• NILIM-PWRI Joint Reconnaissance Team on the Damage Caused by the Mid-Niigata
Prefecture Earthquake in 2004, Report on the Damage to Infrastructures by the MidNiigata Prefecture Earthquake in 2004,• NILIM-BRI Joint Reconnaissance Team of Damage of Buildings, Outline ofReconnaissance Report of damage of Buildings During the Mid-Niigata Prefecture
Earthquake in 2004,• Yasuda, N., Kondo, M., Sano, T., Yoshioka, H., Yamaguchi, Y., Sasaki, T., and Tomita,N., Effects of the Mid-Niigata Prefecture Earthquake in 2004 on Dams,• Sato, H., Sekiguchi, T., Kojior, R., Suzuki, Y., Iida, M., and Sugiyama, M., The
Relationship between Landslide Distribution and the Superposition of Geology,Geomorphology, and Hypocenter: The Mid-Niigata Earthquakes in 2004,• Koyama, S., Kashima, T., Okawa, I., Iiba, M., and Morita, K., Characteristics ofEarthquake Ground Motion During the Aftershocks of the Mid-Niigata Prefecture
Earthquake in 2004.
The Mid-Niigata Prefecture Earthquake occurred on 23 October 2004 registering MJMA6.8 on theJapan Meteorological Agency (JMA) scale. The hypocenter was at a depth of 13 km with peakground accelerations measuring 1.675 m/s2 E-W, 1.141 m/s2 N-S, and 0.869 m/s2 verticalcomponents. Within 40-minutes after the main shock, three aftershocks occurred with magnitudes
from MJMA6.0 to MJMA6.5. Peak horizontal accelerations of 1.5 g were recorded during the main
shock at Ojiya City about 260 kilometers northwest of Tokyo. Forty persons were killed and morethan 4,000 persons injured. Nearly 4 thousand landslides and slope failures occurred in the area.
Many infrastructures sustained damage including sewer lifelines, river dykes, six irrigation andhydroelectric dams, roads and tunnels, and 16 bridges. In addition, several local hospitals
sustained damage. This earthquake derailed a Shinkansen train linking Niigata with Tokyo nearOjiya City, the first since service started 40-years ago. Evidence of liquefaction was found at
many sites. Serious damages included partial and total collapses of embankments that are
constructed on steep mountain slopes producing a flow-like movement of debris. The greatest
infrastructure damages occurred near Ojiya City. More than 2,700 houses were destroyed, about
10,000 were partly destroyed, and about 100,000 were damaged, the majority of these buildings
was old and weakened wooden houses located in the area of Ojiya City. Newer wooden
structures were reported to have performed much better. Newer dwellings are constructed on
first-floor reinforced concrete walls designed for huge snow loads; they provided lateral loadresistance. The delegation visited several damage sites in the vicinity of Ojiya City, the region
which suffered the greatest amount of damage from the earthquake. Some sites included:
JR 3rd Daisan Wanatsu Viaduct. A number of pier walls sustained shear-induced damage fromlack of confining reinforcement. These damages are similar to damaged pier walls from theHyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe) Earthquake. Damaged portions of the pier were removed after shoring
the beam spans, new longitudinal and hoop reinforcements were added and concrete wasapplied. A series of JR patented lateral confining reinforcement were applied externally toimprove the shear capacity of the pier.
JR Uonogawa Bridge. The Uonogawa Bridge is comprised of 3-span concrete box girders
supported on two-6.5 m diameter concrete piers. During the Mid-Niigata Earthquake thelongitudinal reinforcement buckled at the mid-level of the piers. The reinforced concrete and steel
jackets (below the water level only) were applied to strengthen the piers.
JHPC Imonogawa Bridge. The bridge was constructed during the late 1970s before Japan’s
introduction in 1980 or more stringent seismic design criteria. The bridge experienced some pierdamage. The bearing was replaced with a rubber bearing during retrofit and piers will bereinforced in 25 cm thick concrete jacket. The delegation visited Pier 4 that lost a bearing during
the earthquake. Its expansion joint separated by about 20 cm. The bridge is 271 m long precast
3-span continuous concrete girder bridge that is 15 m over the Imo River.

JR Shin Yamamoto Regulating Reservoir. The embankment dam reservoir has an impervious
core with granular fill shells is used for generating hydroelectric power for the East Japan Railway
Company during peak operating hours. Water is diverted approximately 27 km from the ShinanoRiver through diversion tunnels and stored in the reservoir. Releases are made through an outlet
tunnel to hydro power facility where electricity is generated for use as far away as Tokyo.
Discharges from the hydro power facility are returned to the Shinano River. The damage to theembankment sections consisted of longitudinal cracks and vertical offsets (one meter) in the shellnear the top of the dam and caused settlement near the shoulder of the reservoir side slope. The
reservoir was 60 percent full at the time of the earthquake. The dam was instrumented withsensors to monitor behavior changes. The reservoir was emptied for inspection and repairs. The
repairs consisted of removing the shell and replacing and recompacting the shell with a
combination of existing and imported material. The dam sustained damage but did not fail. The
impervious core was determined to be undamaged allowing the dam to be repaired and returned
to service. During this renovation period the JR is purchasing power from neighboring plants at a
cost of about $20,000 per day.
4.
SAGURIGAWA DAM
The Sagurigawa Dam is a 120 m high rockfill dam with crest length of 420 m constructed during
the 1980s and completed in the early 1990s to provide flood control on the Shinano River,maintain a river environment for the public’s recreation, make available a source of drinking water,and supply hydroelectric power as a self sustaining measure and for sale as a profit makingventure. The Ministry of Infrastructure Land and Transport (formerly the Ministry of Construction)is the owner and responsible for the dam design. Taisei, Tobishima, and Konoike Corporations
were responsible for the dam construction. This structure is one of the steepest rockfill dams inJapan. Its construction was completed ahead of schedule even though dam construction waslimited to six-months of the year due to the mountainous terrain that experiences very heavy
annual snow falls. The specific weight of the stone used – granite- is greater than normal rocks.
The dam’s volume is 7 million m3 with a reservoir storage capacity of 30 million m3. The dam did
not experience structural damage from the Niigata Earthquake. The dam management isprovided by the Hokuriku Regional Construction Bureau.