ICUS NEWSLETTER

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering
Institute of Industrial Science
The University of Tokyo

VOLUME 9 NUMBER 1
APRIL – JUNE 2009MASSIVELY PARALLEL SIMULATION
OF CO2 GEOLOGIC STORAGE
By
Satoshi Imamura and Hajime Yamamoto1
1

CO2 capture and storage (CCS)
has the potential to significantly
reduce the amount of CO2 released
into the atmosphere to mitigate
climate change. Technologies areneeded to store CO2 in deep geologic
formations safely and permanently.
We have developed a highperformance computing systemthat simulates the long-term fate of
injected CO2, as well as potential
impacts and associated risks of CO2
injection on surrounding regional
environment. By combining thissystem with a world-class supercomputer, the Earth Simulator (ES,total 5,120 CPUs) at JAMSTEC, we
can now perform high-resolution
simulations 100 times finer thanprevious systems. As a case study,a hypothetical industrial-scale CO2
injection in Tokyo Bay, which issurrounded by the most heavily
industrialized area in Japan, wasconsidered, and the impact of CO2
injection on near-surface aquifers
was investigated, assuming relatively
high seal-layer permeability (higher
than 10 micro darcy).
However, when a volume of CO2 is
injected into a virgin/native aquifer,
it eventually pushes the equivalent
volume of water out of the aquifer.
In industrial-scale projects of CO2
geologic storage, it is expected thatthe amount of CO2 fluid injected into

an aquifer can be several million
tons/year for a typical storage site.
Continuous long-term injections
for more than several decades willbuildup groundwater pressures inextensive regions. The Tokyo Bay
area is the most populated andindustrialized area in Japan, withannual CO2 emission from large

emission sources around Tokyo
Bay is about 100 MtCO2/year,
comprising roughly 8% of Japan’s
CO2 emissions (1.3 GtCO2/ year).
Recently, significant efforts havebeen made to identify the potential
for CO2 geologic storage in thesedimentary basin underlying theTokyo Bay. It is obvious that a geo-(a) Steady state groundwater flow at initial condition(b) After 100 years’ injection
Simulated regional groundwater head distribution
before and after CO2 injection

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Page 2logical CO2 storage site near large
emission sources has an advantage
in reducing the transportation costsof captured CO2 especially in Japan,
where the cost of building pipelines
is quite expensive.
We conducted a large-scale
numerical simulation of CO2
geologic storage that evaluates CO2
trapping capacity and its impact
on regional groundwater pressure,using parallel computing techniques.
The simulation is designed fora preliminary investigation of
hypothetical industrial-scale CO2
injection at Tokyo Bay. To solve thehigh resolution model efficiently,
we used the Earth Simulator. The
model will be used to simulate thehypothetical injection activities inthe study area.
MASSIVELY PARALLELCOMPUTATIONThe simulations conducted inthis study are computationallydemanding, because of the large
number of grids and the complex
nonlinear processes involved. We
adopted the ECO2N module of
TOUGH2-MP for the simulations.
TOUGH2-MP/ECO2N
isanefficient parallel simulator for large
scale, long-term CO2 geologic
storage in saline aquifers. It wasdeveloped at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory.
ES consists of 640 nodes witheight vector processors and 16 GBof computer memory at each node,
for a total of 5,120 processors and
10 TB of main memory. The total
peak performance is currently 40
Tflop/s and is increased to 131
Tflop/s by March 2009. In thisstudy, TOUGH2-MP was ported to
the Earth Simulator and successfully
run on it. The code was speciallytuned up to increase its vector
operation rati for the efficient use of
the ES vector processors.
Amdahl’s law states that if aparallelization ratio is the proportionof execution time for a parallelizable
part to the total execution time when
executed serially, then the speedupthat can be achieved by using nprocessors is: Sn=1/(1-a+(a/n)).
Figure above shows the speedup
obtained for TOUGH2-MP on the

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Relation between computational
speed and number of processors(a: parallelization ratio)
Earth Simulator. As seen in thisfigure, the parallelization ratio a
is currently 99.93%, with the code
benefiting from parallelization on
ES with more than 1,000 processors.
In this study, the calculation time
(CPU time) for the two-phase flow
simulations with about 10 million
gridblock models was generally 1–2
days for 1,000 years’ simulation on
1,024 processors.
MODEL SETUPThe Kanto Plain is the largest
coastal plain in Japan, surrounded by
Tokyo Bay, the mountains of Kantoarea, the Miura Peninsula, and theBoso Peninsula. Since the 1950s,
extensive explorative investigations
and production of natural gas(mostly methane gas, dissolved
in deep groundwater) have been
carried out in the Boso Peninsula.
The geologic structure in the plainis well understood through dozens
of deep borehole investigations
and geophysical explorations forland subsidences and earthquakes.
In recent years, a number of hot
spring wells (for spa resorts) havebeen drilled to depths over 1 km.
A three-dimensional geologicalstructure model was constructed forthe 60 km by 70 km modeling area
centered in Tokyo Bay. The surface
topography is represented by 50 m
grid digital elevation model (DEM)
data published by the Geographical
Survey Institute, Japan, and theformation boundaries are defined by
200 m grid DEM data. Discretization
results in approximately 121,100
grid-blocks on each horizontal layerand 84 layers in the vertical direction,
for a total of about 10 million gridblocks and 40 million connections
among them. Figure below lists
the geological units/layers for the
Kazusa Group and the associatedmodel hydrogeologic layers. These
geologic formations have beenorganized into layered hydrogeologic
units, based primarily on the sandy or
muddy properties. For this study, it isassumed that CO2 is injected through10 wells in the bay, at an annual
rate of 1 MtCO2/year for each well

Lithofacies of the Kazusa Group: (a) lithofacies and (b) conceptualhydrogeological model. Arrows indicates storage formation and seal layers.

Page 3
Group. After injection is stopped at
100 years, the plume enters slightly
into the seal layer and moves toa shallower region as a result of
buoyancy forces, but does not
fully penetrate through the seal; itbasically continues to be contained
under the sealing layer. However,this may also indicate that CO2 may
not be safely trapped over much
longer time periods. In reality, theentry pressure of sealing layers
should contribute significantly inkeeping the CO2 out. The seal layer
in the current model has one-orderof-magnitude higher entry pressure
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
than the sand tentatively, but it is not
Results show that the largest based on experimental data fromlateral plume appears in the the seal layer. In order to discuss theinjection layer, with the buoyant containment of the CO2, especially
CO2 accumulating and spreading over much longer time periods, theunder a less-permeable muddy effect of the entry pressure mustlayer. Each plume extends over a also be investigated in detail. The
range of 4–5 km, which is about seal contains alternating beds ofhalf the distance away from the sandstone and mudstone that canneighboring injection sites. The allow for local leakage of CO2
results indicate that the individual through sandy portions. To address
plumes from each injection sites this issue, the development of ahave not merged during 100 years’ precise lithofacies model for the seal
injection. The circular shapes of the would be required, which is outside
plumes during the injection indicate the scope of this article. Initiallya pressure-driven feature of the CO2 injected CO2 is mostly stored as
migration. Numerically, it is well supercritical fluid. However, after
known that the ‘‘diamond’’ shape the termination of the injection,of saturation fronts appears when the contribution of groundwater
five point finite difference methods dissolution gradually increases
with rectangular shaped grids are and finally becomes dominant. The
employed.
reason for this large contribution
In this simulation, by using the of dissolution is attributed to theVoronoi gridding, the circular large surface area of the plumes,
shapes of these plumes suggest which enhance dissolution of CO2that the grid orientation effect is into surrounding groundwater.
comparatively mild. If the injection However, actual groundwater inrate is different for each injection this area dissolves methane andsite, the shape of these CO2 plumes has the salinity of 0.2–0.5 mol/L.
may be distorted, owing to pressure These two factors should bothinterference between the sites. After act to reduce the amount of CO2
the termination of the 100 years’ dissolution in groundwater within
injection, the plumes continue to the storage aquifer, but they are also
move mainly due to the buoyancy not accounted for in this current
forces, and eventually a couple of model.
merged plumes are found in the
Front page figure shows thesouthwest side at 1,000 years. It simulated
spatialdistribution
is found that the directions of the of calculated hydraulic heads at
buoyant movement after 100 years pre-injection and 100 years. Our
are roughly consistent with the simulations of the hypotheticalmaximum gradient directions on CO2 geologic storage suggest thethe bottom surface of the Kazusa following:Group, since the primary seal is(1) CO2 plumes from injection
modeled almost parallel to the can spread over a range of several
bottom elevations of the Kazusa kilometers within 100 years, using

over 100 years, resulting in a total
annual rate of 10 MtCO2/year.
The simulation runs cover a time
period of 1,000 years, including a
post-injection period of 900 years.
Given the variations in elevationand thickness of the model layers,
the behavior of injected CO2 will bein turn affected by the variations inambient temperature, salinity, andpressure, all of which influence thesolubility of CO2 in brine, as wellas the density and viscosity of CO2
and brine.

the investigated injection schemes.
(2) Buildup of groundwater pressurein shallow confined aquifers on theorder of few bars can occur overextensive regions, including urban
inlands. (3) Groundwater discharge
to the shallow aquifer can increaseon the order of tens of millimeters
per year as a result of injection
activities.
Sensitivity
studies
indicate,
however, that the predictions
obtained in this study could beheavily affected by uncertain
parameters such as porosity,
pore compressibility, and seal
permeability. Findings (2) and (3)mostly concern the case in which
the permeability of the seal layer
is high, so that vertical pressure
propagation occurs effectively, asassumed in this study. If the seals
were not as permeable, the lateralpressure buildup would reachfarther and be higher; then theconcern would be that the actual
storage aquifer might be updipping
to become a shallow groundwater
resource at some distance awayfrom the injection site. In thisstudy, it is demonstrated that, forthe case in which the permeabilityof seals overlying a reservoir isinsufficiently low (higher than 10
microdarcy), the distribution of lowpermeability layers can significantly
affect the prediction of near-surfacepressure buildup, suggesting theimportance of hydrogeologicalcharacterizations even in shallow
depths. In such a case, modelingstudies should fully account forthe multilayer characteristics ofthe storage site when investigatingpressure perturbation due to CO2
geologic storage. The large-scale
simulation technique employedin this study could be a very
powerful tool in performing sitespecific modeling of CO2 storage
candidate sites, with its ability
to comprehensively represent
hydrogeological features. We plan
to refine our preliminary hydrogeological model of Tokyo Bay
using a more accurate geologicalmodel, when such a model becomes
available in the future.
Taisei Corporation Ltd.

1

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Page 4

RC58 Held Public Forum on BCM

Prof. Meguro released the ICUS
report on BCM at the forum.

Europe. Many guidelines to prepare
BCPs have been published in Japan.
To compare these existing reports,
three working groups (WGs)
were created. WG1 discussed thedifferences among the guidelines
in Europe and US and those inJapan. WG2 compared the JapaneseCabinet Office Guidelines withthose of other Japanese government
agencies. WG3 carried its workon a similar line with WG2, but
the comparison was done withprivate sector companies. In
these comparisons, “BusinessContinuity Guidelines 1st edition”(published by Central Disaster
Management Council, Cabinet
Office, Government of Japan,2005) was assumed as a standard.
Outcomes from each of the three
WGs were introduced by Prof.
Meguro. Next, activities carried out
by the committee in the second year
were reported. In the second year,
three WGs carried out extensive
interactive discussion.
Mr. Y. Kato, Sompo Japan Risk
Management and coordinator of
WG1a first presented the researchoutcomes of his group. WG1a
discussed suitable BCM systems forprivate companies. Secondly, Mr. K.
Noda, Asia Air Survey Co. Ltd. and

Dr. Nishikawa from MLIT gave a
special lecture at the forum.

The Research Committee 58
coordinator of WG1b, explained the(RC-58) held a forum to report its
research outcomes of WG1b. WG1b
results to the general public, at IIS
discussed suitable BCM systems
Convention Hall on April 21, 2009.
for local governments. Finally, Dr.
The topic of RC-58 was “Business
M. Soejima, Obayashi Corporation
Continuity Management (BCM)
Technical Research Institute andSystems Suitable for Japanese
coordinator of WG2, introduced
Society”. Businesses are faced withthe research outcome of her group.
many threats to the continuance of
WG2, discussed suitable methods
their trade and planning. To avert
for evaluating BCP. The final report
those threats or to reduce theirof these research outcomes written
effects has been getting increasingin Japanese was published in April,attention. Japan is confronted with2009.
particular situations such as the highAfter the coffee break, a special
likelihood of natural disasters, highlecture was given by Dr. S.
population density, and also its own
Nishikawa, Ministry of Land,
cultural background. BCMs need
Infrastructure,
Transport
andto be designed considering these
Tourism (MLIT). Dr. Nishikawa
conditions.
talked on “BCP-To maintain theStarting in year 2007, 13
employment and economy incompanies from various sectors
Japan through the internationalof Japanese society have joinedcompetition”. The audience listened
the research committee andvery attentively to his lecture.
studied the topic for two
The lecture was followed by
years. There were over 100
a panel discussion. Under
participants in this forum,
chairmanship of Prof. Meguro,
which showed that substantial
Dr. Nishikawa, Mr. Kato,
number of businesses and
Mr. Noda and Dr. Soejima
their departments have a
discussed
about
BCM
great interest in BCM in
Systems Suitable for JapaneseJapanese society. In thisSociety as panelists. A lively
forum, following the opening
discussion was done withaddress, results from the firstsome opinions and questions
year’s activity was reported
from the floor.
by Prof. K. Meguro, Director
Prof. H. Sawada deliveredof ICUS.
the closing speech andActivities in the first year
introduced the newly proconcentrated on reviewing
posed Research Committee
the existing BCM related
67 (RC-67) which focuses onliterature produced in Japanenvironmental CSR in private
and abroad. In recent years,
corporations. RC-67 has been
BCM systems and Businesslaunched in May.
Continuity Plans (BCP) have
(By M. Soejima,
become increasingly popular
Working group heads, Prof. Meguro andObayashi Corporation)
in Japan as well as in US and
Dr. Nishikawa joined a panel discussion.

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Page 550 years since the 1959 ISEWAN Typhoon

Flooding during Isewan landing

A Panel discussion moment

The Isewan typhoon landed
on Wakayama Prefecture at
approximately 6 PM on September
26, 1959. It was a super-hugetyphoon with a diameter of 1,500
km and an atmospheric pressureof 929.9 hPa at landing. It was
the third biggest typhoon among
the recorded typhoons in Japan.
About 5,000 lives were lost, whichmakes it the worst natural disasterin Japan during 20th century before
the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The
experience of the Isewan typhoon
led to the establishment of “Disaster
Countermeasure Basic Act” in 1961
that was the first general act for
constructing disaster prevention/
mitigation system in Japan.
Institute of Social Safety Science
held a symposium on June 5-6,
2009 commemorating 50 yearsof the Isewan typhoon. Professor

reduce flood damage, this region
has a traditional style of residence
called “Mizuya” as shown in thephoto below. A Mizuya is built 3m
higher than the main residence andis used as an emergency shelter incase of flood occurrence. We could
see several Mizuyas in this region.
This site visit was a valuable
experience for knowing the typhoon
disaster that changed the disasterprevention system of our country.

Water level from the typhoon
K. Meguro, Director of ICUS,
organized this symposium andparticipated in the panel discussion
as a coordinator. Roles of Disaster
Countermeasure Basic Act in past
50 years, its future directions andcurrent issues were discussed.
After the symposium, theparticipants visited the damaged
area. Although almost all the area
was restored during 50 years,
we could observe several marks
left behind by the typhoon evennow. Photo above shows a pole
illustrating water level from the
Isewan typhoon, average high tidelevel and sea level. Even now, thisregion has a high flood risk as thealtitude of ground level is lower
than the sea level. In order to(By M. Fujiu, Ph.D. Candidate)

A Mizuya house

Special Talk by Prof. John Burland at IIS
A special talk on “Rescuing
the Leaning Tower of Pisa - theinside story” was given by Prof.
John Burland of Imperial College,
London, on the evening of June 17,
at the convention hall in IIS. The
event was hosted jointly by Japan

Chapter of Imperial College Alumni
and IIS, the University of Tokyo,
Japan.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa has
started to tilt even at the very
beginning of its construction in the
11th century. Since then, the tower

Prof. Yashiro, Director General of IIS, presented letter of appreciation
to Prof. Burland (left), Excavation drills were carried out to take out
soil beneath the tower for adjustment of its tilt (right) which prevented
a possible disaster pictured here (middle).

has kept leaning for 800 years.
Professor Burland has notably
been involved in the rescuing of the
Leaning Tower of Pisa for which
he was a member of the ItalianPrime Minister’s Commission forstabilizing the tower. Thanks to theirconsiderable effort, the tower has
regained its stability and now it isopen to general public. Prof Burland
talked about the 10-year struggle ofengineers and researchers to rescue
the tower.
More than 100 audiences intently
listened to the exciting story.
Further discussion was continued
in the dinner party following thelecture.
(By R. Kuwano)

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Page 6Ground Cave-in in Golf Course

Opening at the ground (left, courtesy: Hokkaido Shinbun) andlocation of the collapse (right, courtesy: Asahi Shinbun)
A sudden collapse of the groundoccurred in the 8th fairway at the
Le Petaw Golf Club in Hokkaido
on April 2, 2009, when a woman
golfer unfortunately stepped on it.
She fell into a hidden hole formed
underneath the ground and by thetime a rescue team arrived she had
passed away.
The hole had a flask shape witha 1 m wide opening at the groundsurface, and was 5m deep and 7m
wide at the bottom. There was an
about 0.6m deep shallow water poolin the east side of the hole. Although
the golf course was daily checkedby maintenance staff, they could
not get any sign of the hidden holeeven in the morning of the accident.
The ground collapse seemed tohave happened all of sudden, as
the victim’s son who walked justa couple of meters behind her saw
her suddenly disappearing into theground.
The course was originally built
more than 15 years ago, by fillinga valley with local soil. There used
to be a stream along the east-west
direction at the location of thecollapse. Drain pipes were installed
underground to carry away thesubterranean water while preventing
soil from seeping out.
A detailed investigation took placeon May 21 and 22, by Hokkaido
prefectural police, assisted by two
experts of geotechnical engineering,
Prof. Y. Kohata of Muroran Instituteof Technology and Dr. R. Kuwanoof ICUS, IIS, the University ofTokyo. A large scale excavation
was carried out around the hole tounderstand how and why such a huge
underground cavity was created. At
the depth of 8m from the groundsurface, there was the boundary
between original ground and filled
soil, where a lateral ground cavity
of about 2m wide was discoveredin the west side. It seemed to be apath through which soil with water
was transported out of the hole.
In the excavation on the east side,

they found the exact location of
the ground where the water flew
into the hole. Explanation for themechanism of ground collapse wastentatively made; soil appeared to
be internally eroded by the natural
water path at the old stream. The
hidden cavity grew silently andeventually caused ground collapse.
Further investigation is still
underway.
(By R. Kuwano)

Schematic of the opening (top);natural soil pipe from internal
erosion at the location of old
stream (bottom)

Research Committee 62 Activities

RC-62 Annual Activity Report
Research Committee 62 (RC-62)
on “Technologies for Evaluation ofAging Infrastructure Performance

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Degradation,” held its 6th meetingon June 8, 2009. To realize theperformance-based maintenance forcivil infrastructure, it is necessary
to evaluate structural performanceusing various measuring techniques.
However, at present, unfortunately
no established techniques areavailable that can accurately
collect quantitative information.
In particular, a comprehensive
evaluation of an entire structurefrom the ground to the superstructureis rather difficult. ICUS organized
RC-62 in April 2008 to address
the challenge of performance

evaluation of an entire structure.
The first year of our activity focusedon the review of current available
measuring techniques for concreteor earth structures. Also, we started
to seek the future advancementof each technique as well as themerger of several techniques tomake it possible to apply to a
subsurface concrete structure. The
research output of the first year was
published as the ICUS committee
report 2009-01 in May 2009.
(By Y. Kato)

Page 7

ICUS Joined the IIS Open House 2009 andCommemoration of 60th Anniversary of IIS

Moments at ICUS display corner as part of the two-day IIS Open House 2009 event;
About 300 people from all walks of life visited ICUS during the event.
Every year IIS organizes an Open of civil infrastructure” (Yokota
House for two-day period around Lab.), “Long term behaviour of
May-June to disseminate research earth and undrground structures”
activities by all laboratories and (Kuwano Lab.), “Durable andresearch centers. This year IIS sustainable concrete materials
Open House was held on May and technology” (Kato Lab.),29 and 30. People from all walks “Regeneration of modern timberof life including professionals architecture” (Koshihara Lab.),from research organizations, inter- “Improvements of disaster response
national organizations, industry, capacity of hospitals” (Ohara
non-profit
organizationsand Lab.), “Development of safe,
academic organizations from high- healthy and comfortable urban
schools to university level take society”(Huang Lab.) and “Urban
advantage of the unique event to traffic management” (Tanaka Lab.).
know about latest research and Also international activities by theoutreach activities of IIS. ICUS center and activities by its regionalhas been participating in this event network offices, BNUS in Dhaka andsince its inception in 2001.
RNUS in Bangkok, were at display.
Since effectively disseminating its During the event, ICUS Newsletters,
research and information collected Reports and other publications
to society has been one of its core were displayed and presented togoals, ICUS considers IIS Open interested parties. ICUS staff andHouse as a valuable opportunity students from affiliated laboratories
to interact with all members of presented live demonstrations
society to get valuable comments of various systems developed by
and feedbacks on their activities to the center and participated inrealize its vision of a safer urban interactive explanations about theenvironment. All 9 laboratories research activities to the visitors.
affiliated to ICUS prepared panels ICUS Quiz, which asked visitorson their research and outreach to test their general understanding
activities as well as planned activities. of key ICUS research displayed
Themes were “Development of at the event, was popular among
earthquake resilient urban environ- visitors especially among highment” (Meguro Lab.), “Monitoring school students and families sinceof environment and disaster risk successful answers were rewarded
over Asia” (Sawada & Takeuchi with symbolic prizes with the ICUS
Lab.), “Life-cycleRC58
management
logo snapshot
on it. About 300 people visited
regular meeting

ICUS during the event out of which
about 40 were from industry.
This year’s event was significant
in view of the 60th anniversary of
the foundation of IIS. Special events
including forums were organizedon May 31 at IIS to celebrate theoccasion where all laboratories
and research institutes displayed
their summarized research at a
specially designated place. All ICUS
laboratories also participated in thisspecial display. On May 28, Prof. J.
Hamada, President, the Universityof Tokyo welcomed all to lecturesand celebrations to commemorate
the anniversary where several
university vice presidents, alumni of
the IIS attended. Professor Emeritus
Hiroshi Hara, Professor Emeritus
Hiroyuki Sakaki, and Executive
Vice President Masafumi Maeda
made a series of very interesting
lectures on the campus, researchand organization of the IIS. The
anniversary celebrations coincidedwith the groundbreaking ceremony
for the start of the renovationof Building 60 on the Komaba
Research Campus, the publicationof a book detailing the last ten yearsof activities at the IIS and a “60year commemorative special issue”
publication.
(By P. J. Baruah)

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Page 816th ICUS Open Lecture was held at IIS

Prof. Ikuo Towhata(the University of Tokyo)

Dr. Hiroshi Dobashi(Metropolitan Expressway Co. Ltd.)Dr. Satoshi Imamura(Taisei Co. Ltd.)The 16th ICUS Open Lecture
was held at IIS on April 3, withapproximately 90 participants.
Three presentations were givenon the broad theme of the lecture,“Contribution of geotechnical engineering to the urban infrastructure
environment”.
Following the welcome speech
by Dr. Kuwano, Prof. Tohata of the
University of Tokyo discussed on

the factors of prosperity and decayof urban cities. Then he presented
how the land constructed by thereclamation of waste materials canbe utilized effectively in Tokyo.
Dr. Dobashi of Metropolitan
Expressway Co. Ltd. Talked on
the project of Central Ring Road
of
Metropolitan
Expressway
currently constructed between
Shinjuku and Shibuya. Various

techniques adopted for the safety
and environmental consideration
were introduced. Dr. Imamura of
Taisei Co. Ltd. presented on thetechnology of Carbon Dioxide
Capture and Storage (CCS). The
closing remarks were given by Prof.
K. Meguro, followed by a small
party where further interactive
discussions were continued.
(By R. Kuwano)

46th Annual RSSJ Conference Hosts ICUS Special Sessions on“Disaster Prevention and Environment”

The special session was appreciated by participants (left) due its interdisciplinary nature;
Dr. Miyazaki (middle) and Prof. Sawada (right) chaired the two sessions.
The annual conference of Remote
Sensing Society of Japan (RSSJ)
was held on May 21-22, 2009 at
Institute of Industrial Science, The
University of Tokyo. RSSJ is one of
two largest remote sensing societies
in Japan and its research fields coverwide range of topics ranging fromsensor technologies to terrestrial,
oceanic and atmospheric issues.
This year’s hot topic in RSSJ was
early damage detection of disasters
by remote sensing technologies
such as satellite borne SAR(Synthetic Aperature Radar) andvisible sensors and air-borne Laser
measurement, because of the recent
Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

that occurred at the northern partof Honshu Island in 2008.
Two ICUS special sessions weresuccessfully organized at theconference: one focused on “Disasterprevention”, the other focused on“Environment”, respectively. Dr.
S. Miyazaki chaired the session
on Disaster prevention and four
speakers presented on utilizationof remote sensing technology forlarge-scale disasters. The session
on Environment was chaired by
Prof. H. Sawada and four speakers
presented on utilization of remotesensing in forest monitoring andland cover change detection. Prof.
K. Meguro, Director of ICUS,

gave an invited lecture on disaster
information
managementfor
improvement of overall disasterprevention.
This was the first time when a
ICUS special session was held in a
conference of an academic society.
After the session, many participants
said ICUS activities interested them,and also remarked that informationexchange from other research area
was useful for them. ICUS expects
to hold special sessions like thiswith relevant academic societies infuture.
(By T. Endo)Page 9Visit to Maintenance Demonstrationof Metropolitan Expressway Co. Ltd.

Fracture of the weld
caused by stress concentration

Portable hammer to detect
the sound level with microphone

Magnetic Particle Testingfor detection of surface defects

A total of 7 members from ICUS,
namely Prof. Sawada, Dr. Endo,
Dr. Baruah, Dr. Numada and three
students, visited the maintenancedemonstration of Metropolitan
Expressway Co. Ltd. on Tuesday,June 9, 2009.
They joined several other groups
from severeal other universities
and organizations in the visit.
After an introductory session at
the headquarter of Metropolitan
Expressway Co. Ltd. all participants
were taken to a maintenance sitenear Kasai junction of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Expressway Coastal
Line. This junction connects thecoastal line of Tokyo Metropolitan
Expressway in Edogawa Ward,
Tokyo.
Duringthedemonstration,
maintenance problems in expressways were introduced. There are
two maintenance problems in steel

structures of expressways. There
are invasion such as rust and thefatigue fracture by cyclic loadingfrom passing vehicles. Check of thefatigue fracture is especially foundto be important in case of Tokyo
Metropolitan expressway becauseof the high frequency of the largesize vehicle traffic. The fracture isoften seen at the point of the weld
caused by stress concentration.
The maintenance check method
is divided into three steps: the carrounding check, the walking check,and the approach check. The visit
was focused on the technologies
used in the approach check.
Several kinds of checking
technologies were demonstrated,
e.g. radar technology for searchingsteel placing inside concrete,thermographing
methodfordetecting air hole inside concrete,magnetic particle testing fordetection of defects on the surfaceof structures and ultrasonic testingfor detection of defects inside
structures.
Also other methods to detect
defects where a human hand cannot
reach were shown. These included
a portable camera with light pole
which can be extended like a fishingrod and portable hummer to detect
the sound level with microphones.
The expressway network in
Tokyo is important for the efficient
functioning of the urban activities.
The
usual
maintenanceby
Metropolitan Expressway Co. Ltd.
can provide us with a continuously
functioning expressway that is safe
and comfortable.
The visit provided an excellent
opportunity to study the real
maintenanceprocesses
andmethodologies.
(By M. Numada)

Research Committee 67 Activities
The first official meeting of the“Research Committee on Evaluationof CSR activities in Environment
Conscious Society (RC-67)” washeld on 2 July, 2009 following the
introductory meeting on May 29.
Recently, the Cooperate Social
Responsibility (CSR) is considered
important and many activities arepropagated as CSR activity. However,
we found that the effects of theactivities were seldom examined byorganizations themselves. Therefore,

ICUS established this study
group (headed by Prof.
H. Sawada) to develop an
appropriate methodology
to evaluate the CSR
activities from the point ofenvironmental soundness.
At first, the group focuseson the activities related
to forestry which more
2nd meeting of RC-67 at IIS on 2 Julythan half of Japanesecompanies introduced as an CSR continue for two years.
(By H. Sawada)
activity. The RC-67 is planned to

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Page 10

BNUS Activities
BNUS compiled a survey
report on cyclone Aila
On the May 25th, 2009, cyclone
Aila passed through 14 districtsin the coastal area of Bangladesh.
According to official sources,
about 190 lives were lost andmore than 50,000 people became
homeless. Other total or partial
destructions included about
6.12 million thatched houses,
3.20 million hector harvestablepaddies, large number of shrimp
ghers and 1.47 million livestocks
as well as poultries. At least 7,000
people were injured by the storm
and about 48 million people wereaffected. In Nizum dwip, 20,000
people are homeless, 58,950
animals are killed and 50,000
deer have been missed.
Constructed in 1960s, coastal
polders breached by tidal surge
during the Cyclone increased
the damage. Relief works were
hampered due to breachedembankments. Storm surgeof about 3m height impacted
western region of Bangladesh,
submerging numerous villages,
severely affecting agriculturallands due to intrusion of saline
water and isolating more than
400,000 people by severe
flooding in coastal regions. In
Patuakhali district, a dam brokeand submerged five villages.
In Satkhira district the cyclone
damaged about 130 km ofembankments with an estimatedreconstruction and maintenancecost of about $3.80 million.
In Khulna district, such costs
for 211.24 km of damaged
embankment would be about$7.75 million. Other relevantcosts, such as repairing andreconstruction of sluice gate/
regulator,otherhydraulicstructures etc. would require
about $6.96 million.

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

the existing socio-economic
condition of the locality.

Cyclone Aila damaged
embankments at Kapatakha
river in Satkhira district.

BNUS conducted asocio-economic survey ofhouseholds in old Dhaka
To make an effective plan indisaster risk reduction, one of the
major goals is to raise awarenesslevel of the local community. In
order to assess social vulnerabilityof individuals due to earthquake
within households, BNUS has
conducted a socio-economic
survey of 200 households in
Ward No. 68 in the older partof Dhaka City. The social
vulnerability indicators havebeen selected from the literatureand the relevant data needed forthe analysis is collected throughhouse to house socio-economic
questionnaire survey. Information
regarding the level of publicawareness about earthquake riskof the community was foundthrough this survey. The sample
size is chosen at random basis at
95% confidence level which is
2% of total projected householdof 10,942 in the study area in2009 (according to Bangladesh
Bureau of Statistics). Finally thevulnerability of the community
has been studied considering

BNUS carried out seismic
microzonation studyof Cox’s Bazar Municipality
Cox’s Bazar lies in thesouth-eastern coastal regionof Bangladesh. Being a prime
tourist spot, the area has been
experiencing rapid urbanizationin the last few decades. However,constructionofsignificant
number of buildings and otherstructures has occurred in an
unregulated manner and without
seismic design considerations.
Landslide and related casualties
have
also
becomevery
common in the hilly areas ofthe locality. In order to assess
seismic vulnerability based on
ground susceptibility and adopt
mitigation strategies for urban
areas, seismic microzonationis considered to be the firststep. BNUS is carrying out astudy on microzonation of the
Cox’s Bazar Municipality area
using geographic information
system where reflection ofground shaking and the site
attributes of soil amplification,liquefaction and landslide are
the salient features. Probable
earthquake hazard and expected
ground motion calculation, subsoil investigation, liquefaction
potential determination and slope
stability analyses were carried out
to develop microzonation maps.
The study shows that 87% of thestudy area is highly susceptible
to liquefaction. Approximately
8% of the municipality consistsof hilly region, 97% of which isfound to be very unsafe in viewof natural slope stability.
(By M. A. Ansary, BNUS)

Page 11

RNUS is actively participating in a
project with colleagues in School of
Civil Engineering at AIT and Panya
Consultants Co. Ltd., Thailand todevelop a Seismic Hazard Map ofThailand and developing Seismic

RNUS Activities

Microzonation Map as well as
GIS database of buildings andlifeline systems in 3 major cities inThailand. Also, a project on Seismic
vulnerability and risk assessmentof Dhaka, Chitagong and Sylhet

city of Bangladesh is ongoing. This
project is part of the Comprehensive
Disaster Management Program of
Bangladesh. RNUS along with AIT
is supervising field survey of morethan 20,000 buildings in the region.

ICUS Welcomes Visiting Prof. Y. Ichihashi & Dr. M. Numada
ICUS welcomes Mr. Yasuyoshi
Ichihashi who joined ICUS on May
1 as Visiting Professor. Mr. Ichihashi
has been working in the Ministryof Foreign Affairs, Govt. of Japan,
and still currently is a diplomat. He
served in Bulgaria and Mongolia as
Ambassador to Japanese Embassy,
and spent long time in China(Shanghai as Consul-General,
Beijing as Minister/ Counselor, Hong
Kong as Consul). His other postings
include Genève and Bangladesh,and he also served as Deputy
Representative of the Government at
the World Expo 2005 in Aichi. It is
certainly quite exceptional for ICUS
to have such an incumbent diplomat
as its member. ICUS expects tobenefit from his rich diplomaticbackground in international arena
with contributions in the area ofVisiting Professor Y. Ichihashi(left) and Dr. M. Numada (right)
ICUS’s international activities/
strategies, as well as their linkages to
the Government’s external policies
related to science and technology.
This is a unique challenge for both
the Center and the Ambassador
himself. Yet his appointment thistime shows the ICUS’s eagerness
to develop broader international
strategies and activities.
ICUS would also like to warmly

welcome Dr. Muneyoshi Numada
to ICUS from April 1, 2009. Hereceived his B.Engg. at Meguro
laboratory at Chuo University,
Japan in 2000 and carried out his
research towards his M.Engg.
degree at Konagai Laboratory at the
University of Tokyo. He received
his Ph.D. from the University ofTokyo for his research on numericalsimulation of landslide disaster.
Before joining ICUS, he was amanagement consultant in a private
firm solving various importantbusiness problems for clients inindustry from 2006 to 2009.
ICUS expects him to contribute to
new leadership, use global networks
to carry out its activities and to givenew insight to ICUS.
(By K. Meguro)

Farewell to Dr. K. WorakanchanaDr. Kawin Worakanchana retired
from ICUS on March 31st, 2009.
Dr. Worakanchana joined ICUS
as a Project Researcher in April
2007. During his stay, he continued

his research on 3-D Applied Element
Method for modeling un-reinforced
and retrofitted masonry structuresand participated in joint activities
between ICUS and RNUS in Thailand.

ICUS would like to thank him for all
his great contributions during his stay
and wish him all the best. Also, ICUS
expects to continue professional
relationship with him in future.

ICUS Activities• Prof. K. Meguro visited Incheon,
South Korea to attend a meeting on
the management of USMCA2009
from April 10 to 12. Prior to that, hevisited Chengdu, China from April
7 to 9 to give an invited lecture in aseminar held by Sichuan Provincial

Government.
• Dr. M. Koshihara joined other
ICUS members to oversee thearrangement of USMCA2009 in
Incheon, South Korea from April 10
to 12. From June 24 to 29, he visited
Istanbul, Turkey to participate

and present at the International
Symposium on Timber Structures.
• Dr. K. Worakanchana stayed at
RNUS to continue his research andteaching duties till the end of his
term at ICUS.

AwardsDr. P.J. Baruah and Dr. T. Endoreceived best paper award fromJapan Technical Association of Pulp
and Paper Industry (TAPPI) for theirpaper titled “Estimation of Timber
Volume in Eucalyptus Plantations

using Satellite Images” (in Japanese)
published in February 2008 issueof Journal of Japan TAPPI. The
research was a result of UniversityIndustry collaboration between IIS
and Mitsubishi Paper Mills (MPM)

Co. Ltd. Other authors of the paper
are Dr. T. Katsura of MPM and Prof.
Y. Yasuoka of National Institute ofEnvironmental Studies.

ICUS Newsletter Vol.9, No.1

Page 12
Editor’s Note
Last July ten unexpected visitors
had come to my laboratory. They
were 10 spotbill ducks, called
Karugamo in Japanese. This year
spring, for the comfort of ourlaboratory, we made a garden
in the veranda of our laboratory
using timber from forest-thinning.
Eventually, a mother duck ﬂew to
our garden and laid eggs from which
9 ducklings were born. The problem
was, our laboratory is located on the
4th ﬂoor of IIS and there was no foodand water for them. We preparedsome food and also made a small
water pool for them in our veranda.
Till now, 3 ducklings have grown
up, although 6 had been lost fromstealing by crows or other reasons.
Recently, the mother duck somehow
took these grown-up ducklings andﬂew away. We yet don’t know whenexactly this happened.
Our laboratory and ICUS arelocated in a huge reinforced concretebuilding. One of my research
themes is how to create comfortableoffice using and incorporating
timber within a reinforced concretebuilding. We think visiting of the
ducks is one of the evidences ofsuccessful results of our research.
We believe that urban safety shouldtake into account comfort of life at
the same time.
(By M. Koshihara )Roof-garden at the veranda (top);
Mother duck andthe ducklings (bottom)

If you would like to contribute an article to ICUS newsletter or have any comments or suggestions,please contact the editorial committee at icus@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Any article within the scope of urban safety engineering and management will be considered
for publication after internal peer review by the editorial committee. To know the scope of ICUS
activities, please visit ICUS homepage at http://icus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering, ICUS
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo
4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Tel: (+81-3)5452-6472, Fax: (+81-3)5452-6476
http://icus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

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