A Greeting from the New Chair of International Activities Committee:
On behalf of the International Activities Committee (IAC) and taking this opportunity of thesecond issue of IAC's Newsletter of 1999, it is my great pleasure to introduce the readersmajor activities of Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), in particular, those of IAC. JSCE
is now headed by a new President, Dr. Hajime OKAMURA who is one of the professors
emeritus of Tokyo University and also currently acts as the Vice President of Kochi
University of Technology.
JSCE is widely open, to be responsible for the consolidation of infrastructures, to increase /multiply their values, and to maintain them effectively. Our websit is also open to effectively
communicate among not only all of the Society's members but also with the general public.
One of our activities relating to public relations is to host "Civil-Engineering Day" on
November 18th every year, which gives general public an opportunity to participate andunderstand our civil engineering activities through various demonstrations. Here is a small
quiz that you may be interested in. Do you know why the Xociety specified November 18thas the Civil Engineering Day of JSCE? Because the Japanese word "Civil" can be
decomposed into the Chinese numeric characters of "eleven" and "eighteen."
Under the leadership of new JSCE President, we would like to promote international activities
more aggressively. Following are some of the highlights sponsored by JSCE and IAC in 1999.
The Society hosts a nation-wide Annual Conference at different places every year. TheConference used to gather more than 6,000 civil engineers to present or exchange theirinteresting research outcomes. This year, we will meet at Hiroshima University. The details ofthe Conference program is presented at the English website of JSCE. Since last year, theConference is providing some research presentations in English and is organizing a forum inEnglish to discuss the specific topics relating to international issues.

I would also like to introduce that IAC hosted a Summer Symposium on August 6th 1999
with the active participation of foreign students who are currently studying in Japan. The
detailed report of this event is introduced in this Newsletter.
As you may know, JSCE is one of the founders of the Civil Engineering Conference of AsianRegion (CECAR) together with societies of Philippines (PICE) and USA (ASCE). JSCE will
host the 2nd CECAR in Tokyo in April 2001. Please keep your eyes on the forthcoming
announcements on this important event. In addition, JSCE has so far entered into agreements
withtwelve other societies overseas, such as ASCE, ICE, etc., as shown later.
I believe that the ongoing globalization toward 21st century definately requires mutual
understanding and cooperation among civil engineers in the world, for which this JSCE
Newsletter assists you to understand the new orientation of JSCE.

JSCE 54th Annual Conference Offers Two Programs in English
The above Conference will be held on the Hiroshima University Campus and the International
Conference Center Hiroshima from 22 to 24 September 1999. It will provide many events andprograms. Among others, two particular programs will be attractive for non-Japanese
speakers because these will be conducted in English.
The first is a panel discussion on "Technical Cooperation in Asia and the Role of Japan"
chaired by the former President of JSCE, Dr. Hiroshi Okada. The objective of this panel is todiscuss how Japanese civil engineers should cope with the emerging issues in globalization,
particularly in Asia. With this aim in mind, there are many pending issues to be discussed in
the proposed panael including: effective technology transfer based on the Japanese experiencein its modernization process including infrastructure planning and management; developmentof technical standards and design codes in the Asian developing countries; mutualcertification of qualified engineers; business opportunities, challenges and thecompetitiveness of Japanese construction industry; and many other matters. This panel
discussion will be held on 22 September from 13:30 to 15:30 at K108 Room of the Faculty ofIntegrated Arts and Sciences Building.
The second prgram to be conducted in English is one of the Common Session Programs(CS-5) under the Academic Research Presentations, which will be held on 24 September inRoom 219 of the Faculty of Engineering Building. This full-day presentation in Engish
comprises three main topis, namely "Researches Related to Reduction of Construction Costand Low-Cost Construction Projects" under which 9 articles will be presented, and "CasePresentations of Overseas Construction Projects" under which 10 overseas projects arediscussed.
The two specific programs above welcome participation of non-Japanese speakers as well asJapanese interested in these exciting topics in civil engineering.

Agreement of Cooperation with European Council of Civil Engineers
JSCE and European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) signed an agreement of cooperation
at the office of ECCE in the Institution of Civil Egineers, London, on January 25, 1999. Theagreement of cooperation was officially approved at the recent ECCE council meeting inDublin in May this year. This was the 11th Agreement of Cooperation which has provided
JSCE a strong network of 27 civil engineering related societies and institutions throughout
Europe, consisting of more than 200 thousands professional civil engineers.
ECCE was created in 1985 out of the common concern of the professional bodies for civilengineers in Europe that the civil engineers working together across Europe could offer much
more to assist Europe advance its built environment and protect the natural environment.
Attendees at the signing ceremony from ECCE were the President, Dr. Antonio Adao daFonseca, Secretary General, Mr. John Whitwell and Deputy Secretary General ofInternational Activities Committee, Dr. Kusakabe and four other JSCE overseas members.
They discussed the issues of current common interest, mainly professional qualifications,accreditation of engineering education, and global / regional technical standards. JSCE andECCE also shared the mutual recognition that Asia is the most promising and biggest market
for construction industry in the next century, and ECCE showed keen interest in the second
International Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region to be held in Tokyo in April
2001.

JSCE Establishes a Cooperative Network with PRC
JSCE President Dr. Okada signed an Agreement of Cooperation with the China CivilEngineering Society (CCES) in Beijing on May 12, 1999. JSCE now holds Agreements with12 overseas societies.
CCES is a nationwide organization that was founded in 1912 and has a membership of over
90,000. It has 12 sub-associations and 50 professional committees, which are directly
affiliated to the Society. It has established its local organizations in 30 provinces over China.

The signing ceremony was held in the conference room of the Ministry of Construction
gathereing five delegates from each society. Dr. Okada said, "JSCE is determined to put forth
further efforts for internationalization of the Society and this agreement is an important stepforward. Especially in engineering, there is no national border." Mr. Yao Bing, Vice Presidentof CCES said, "It is easy to put the signature on the Agreement, but it is difficult to put it inpractice."
After top representatives of JSCE and CCES explained their international activities, a gooddeal of time was spent on searching ways to cooperate. When Dr. Okada spoke about the 2nd
Civil Engineering Conference in Asian Region scheduled to be held in Tokyo in April 2001,
Mr. Yao showed a great interest in the Conference an dexpressed himelf strongly on inviting
3rd Conference to China.

Progress in Preparation for the Second Civil Engineering Conference in Asian Region
After a series of meetings between ASCE, PICE and JSCE from March to June this year, thepreparation for the Second Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region (2nd CECAR)
is now under way. The local organizing committee chaired by Dr. Sumiyoshi, seconded bySecretary General, Dr. Terashi has been working on a detailed plan for the 2nd CECAR,coordinating and integrating suggestions from a great number of technical committees ofASCE, PICE and JSCE. Although the final selection of the conference venue and theconference date is the matter of the Steering Committee to decide, the tentative plan at present
is that the 2nd CECAR is to be held at Hotel Metropolitan, Tokyo, from April 17 to 18, in2001.
To ensure the continuity of CECAR, ASCE, PICE and JSCE have agreed to create a
non-prifit organization that is proposed to be called the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating
Council (ACECC). The purpose of ACECC shall be to schedule Asian Forums whereworldwide members of the civil engineering profession may jointly develop programs ofcoordination and mutual action in designated matters affecting the interest of civil engineers
and related professions. A letter of invitation to joing ACECC has been recetnly sent to theAgreeement of Cooperation societies.

The First International Summer Symposium for Foreign Students in JapanDespite the large number of overseas students studying civil engineering in Japan, few forums
exist for meeting and exchanging views. JSCE is therefore taking steps to internationalize its
activities in order to develop mutual understanding between the engineers of Japan and othernations. JSCE recognizes overseas students and engineers in Japan and other nations. JSCE
recognizes overseas students and engineers in Japan as a valuable resource with whom
opinions and ideas can be shared to strengthen core knolwdge in civil engineerg. In an effort
to foster international communication, JSCE has initiated an International Summer
Symposium series, the first of which was held at JSCE Headquarters in Tokyo on August 6,
1999.
The symposium was conducted entirely in English, and overseas students studying civilengineering were encouraged to participate. The subjects of the summer symposium covered
seven areas in civil engineerg: I) structural mechanics and earthquake engineering, II)
hydraulics, III) geotechnical engineering, IV) urban planning and transportation, V) materials,VI) consturction management and infrastructure system, and VII) environment.
The emphasis of this seminar is put more on providing opportunitites for getting to know
eachother and fostereing fellowship than on the presentation of academic thesis. The first
seminar received participation from 92 overseas students and 25 Japanese members, andturned out a great success.
JSCE plans to hold the summer symposium annually, and will continue to strive to facilitate
the exchange of information and help to maintain participants' ties with Japan after they returnto their native countries.

Two Years' Challenges under Transformation by Yumio ISHII, Past Chair of IAC
During my tenure of the Chair of the International Acitivites Committee (IAC) in the past twoyears, JSCE has seen the true beginning of our internationalization. It has been my pleasureand honor to have engaged in challenging international activities of JSCE.
Japan currently faces its third great upheaval in the modern age. The first began with theMeiji Restoration of 1868 and was characterized by the opening of the country to the outsideworld, civilization and enlightenment, and nation's wealth with strong military. The second
started with defeat in the war in 1945. It ushered in an era of peace and saw Japan join theranks of the democratice nations of the world. The third, which is taking place now, is thedecisive globalization of industry and culture. JSCE is also undergoing this transformation inresponse to a pressing need of internationalization.

The "JSCE 2000" of 1997 formulated a strategy for internationalization comprising thefollowing key actions:Increase the number of Agreements of Cooperation with overseas societies
Disseminate information internationally
Establish overseas branches
Strengthen exchanges with overseas societies at the society level
Cooperate with overseas societies for mutual recognition of engineers' qualifications

Along the above strategy, there has been substantial progress in the past two years.
The first International Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region was successfully
held in 1998 in Manilla. As a member of the Steering Committee, I was chosen to help run theconference as technical track chair. The conference also held an Englishlanguage essay
contest, the finalists of which made oral presentations. It was most encouraging for us thatboth finalists from Japan were women sho gabe remarkable presentations. This firstConference is being followed up by the establishment of the Asian Civil Engineering
Coordinating council among the civil engineers societies of Japan, the US, and the Philippines(JSCE, ASCE, PICE), which is open to the world. The 2nd Civil Engineering Conference inthe Asian Region is to be held in Tokyo in April 2001.
The 1998 JSCE Annual Conference held in Kobe conducted English-language sessions,which was well appreciated by the participants and representatives from the US and thePhilippines. It is my pleasure that this innovative arrangement isto be expanded in theforthcoming JSCE Annual Confdrence in Hiroshima in September 1999.
New Agreements of Cooperation have been signed with those societies in Mexico, China andthe EU, bringing the total to 12. Other Agreements of Cooperation are also being pursued.
The first issue of Newsletter in English has been published in February 1999, and the JSCE
English website is now on line.
While being the Chair of IAC, I participated twice in the ASCE Round Table in 1997 and1998 respectively. As the theme in 1998 was my favorite subject on water issues, I made apresentation on the current situation in Japan. At this juncture, IAC sponsored one of thesessions on technology introduction in the Round Table, where the Akashi Strait Bridge waspresented. In addition to the above, JSCE representatives participated in the annual
conferecne of the Korean Society of Civil Engineers in 1997.
IAC is considreing the establishment of overseas branches or liason offices with assistancefrom former exchange students and / or Japanese resident members.

The above mentioned activities will be further expanded in the future, which is definitely
helping advance the internationalization of JSCE and its members. I believe that IAC's active
performance would greatly contribute to the mutual understanding and actions between civilengineers of Japan and those of other nations in the world.

Tatara Bridge - World's Longest Cable-Stayed Bridge

1. Introduction
The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project, consisting of three routes linking two main islands,
Honshu and Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea, is a big project aimed to form part of thetrunk road and railway network in Japan.
The western-most route, the Onomichi-Imabari highway route includes the Tatara Bridge,with a center span of 890m, the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world and a total length of

1,480m and the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridges (three consecutive suspension bridges). It wasopened in May 1, 1999 as originally scheduled. Both of these bridges carry a four-lane
highway as well as additional lanes for bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians.
2. Design
The bridge was originally planned as a suspension bridge in 1973. However, in 1989 thedesign was altered to a cable-stayed bridge with the same main span by considering
topographical and environmental constraint in the national park area and current technologicaladvances in long-span bridge and developments in computer-based structural analysis.
Various analysis and experiments were condected focusing on the characteristics of long-spanstructure and the aerodynamic stability of entire bridge. Finally, these enabled the longest
span cable-stayed bridge.
3. Innovative Technical Features(1) Buckling tests for the girders with large compressions
The analysis shows that the ultimate loading capacity of long-span cable-stayed bridge isdetermined by buckling of gerders since the extremely large compressions are applied totowers and girders. A large-scale loading test with the scale of 1/50 was conducted to verify
the accuracy of the analysis and confirm the capacity of the bridge. The results of the model
test well agreed with the numerical solution for both the loading capacity and the limit state,
and thereby the ultimate loading capacity was examined successfully.
(2) Wind resistant design
Due to the mutual interference of calbes and girders and the wind greatly influenced by thesurrounding topography, a large-scale full model wind tunnel test with the scale of 1/200 wasconducted to evaluate the influence of topography. The rest result shows the maximum gust
response displacement at mid-span was within design tolerance.
To prevent the turbulence that results from wind blowing on rain water running on thesurgace of the 460m long cable, the indented surface in the polyethylene cable coating thatbreaks up water rivulets was introduced through the study of wind tunnel test. This provides
sufficient damping instead of the ties between cables.

(3)Cantilever erection of the superstructure
The cantilever erection of the center span, which exceeded approximately 435m at themaximum lenght, was carried out. A typhoon did come along while the center span was at its

furthest extention with the installation of the remaining final segment. However, the bridge
suffered no damage.
(4) Field vibration test
The actual structural damping to withstand wind and earthquake is important for long-spanbridge. After the bridge had been structurally completed, the vertical and horizontal vibration
were measured by means of heavy-duty exciters, so as to confirm the accuracy of thevibration characteristics applied in the design. As a result, the measured logarithmic
decrement for the main girder basically satisfied the design value requirement.
4. Conclusion
More than six year's consturction of the Tatara Bridge was accomplished successfully with noaccidents and with great efforts to develop innovative technologies, improve and integrate theexisting technologies at overall stages of research, design, fabrication and construction.
In addition to the contribution for regional development in the related area, the completion ofthis bridge will greatly contribute to realization of the dreams of 1,000m-class long span cablestayed bridges in the world.

Voice from the Students - Anat Ruangrassamee from Thailand I am studying in the master course of the Department of Civil Engineering, Tokyo Institute ofTechnology since October, 1996. My field of research is earthquake engineering as Japan isobviously leading the world in this particular dield of science. As you may be aware that inJanuary 1995, the devastative earthquake named Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Southern part of HyoPrefecture) earthquake stroke many areas in the vicinity of Hanshin (Osaka-Kobe). The
earthquake accelerated Japanese and overseas researchers to develop more effective seismic
design and retrofitting procedures. I had a chance to visit Kobe. I was impressed by many new
concepts in seismic designs and retrofitting. At the same time, I was stunned by therealization of living conditions of people whose houses and families were wrecked by theearthquake. That experience confirmed the mission of earthquake engineering that aims at thesafety and well-being of beloved people around us.
In addition to my study, I am interested in Japanese culture and life style. I have beenchallenging to learn Japanese. I see that the language is the essential tool to comprehend what
other people are doing and to develop mutual understanding. Anyway, I enjoy my life inJapan. After the graduation of my master course, I decided to proceed to the doctor course. Iwould like to improve my problem-solving skill. And there are a lot of technical and social
mysteries left for me to further explore in Japan.

Editor's Note
We have been gratified by the favorable response to the First Newsletter issued in February.
In this second issue, thanks to the cooperations of many, the content has been enriched.

We are willing to make this periodical Newsletter vivid, and we are looking forward toreceiving your comments and suggestions:Postal Address Address:
International Affairs Division, JSCE
Mubanchi, Yotsuya 1-Chome, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo 160-0004, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3355-3452
Fax: +81-3-5379-0125
JSCE Website Address (English)：http://www.jsce-int.org/
Third issue Editors are:Tsuneaki YOSHIDA
Ellen WANG
Jun NOBUTO
International Activities Committee