Building Systems Laboratory●Outline
In our country, there has been a serious problem of decrease of building workers andtechnicians owing to the aging or the poor working environment representing so-called
three hazards such as danger, dirtiness and severe work in construction site.
For this reason, in the building production system, it is a key problem to develop areasonable technique of building production which has high-productivity and achievessavings of workers and power.
Building Systems Laboratory is aimed to contribute to solve some problems, such as
global environmental issues and waste material problems, and to conduct adevelopment research of the economic, highly reliable and rational building production
technique.
In this laboratory, the researches as below are mainly conducted.
■Development of high-quality building materials
In order to establish a rational technique for building production, it is necessary to
use the appropriate building materials.
For achieving more rational design and construction, the study has been conducted forthe purpose of developing new building materials excellent for strength, durability andworkability.
In terms of building and construction (building systems) as well as material
development, additionally based on status of usage, the experiments and studies oncomposition or combination with other materials are conducted.

Building Systems Laboratory

05 Building Systems Lab.

Durability Test Apparatus

Universal Tester

Automatically Construction Robot■Performance assessment of building materials
Developed building materials have to be assessed from the various standpoints.
Required performances are different depending on the elements used or the kinds ofmaterials. In this laboratory, the experiments on mechanical performance anddurability are mainly conducted.
In particular, for the durability, the testing apparatus, which can extensively andfreely set air environment such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, insolation andcarbon dioxide, enables the experiments on weatherability of a huge floor or wall
members of 2 meters squared. In order to extend building life, these experiments areessential.
■Development of construction automation technique
Automation and robotics for construction will gain an important position in futurebuilding construction system as well as other production areas. In current situation, forthe processes with dangerous and painful works, it is an urgent task that constructing
robots will work as alternatives for construction workers.
As the first step for that, an apparatus for automating formwork construction isarranged for studies on construction automation in this laboratory. It is possible toclarify the required performances, such as flow lines or powers of the apparatus.
Further, it can be positioned as a basic study for development of construction
automation technique.
■RM constitution
RM stands for Reinforced Masonry, or “reinforced concrete masonry construction”.
RM buildings are constructed with units for masonry called RM units so as to be unified
by arranging matrix-like reinforcing bars across the hollow portions of the unit andfilling with concrete or the like.
The features of RM are as follows: high-strength, high-accuracy and high-quality of

05 Building Systems Lab.

RM units; achieving RM with the same thickness of wall girder as the bearing wall;
improving the construction reliability by using stable factory-production materials; andhaving the skippable processes, such as demolding formworks, wet curing of concreteand exterior packaging works.
■Process of RM development
Since 1979, under the auspices of UJNR (U.S. – Japan Conference on Developmentand Utilization of Natural Resources), Building Research Institute from Japan side andNational Science Foundation from US side dominated the collaborative study between
US and Japan with assistance provided by industry and academia.
Masonry construction was selected as the third phase. For five years (1984 – 1988),
keeping the merits of masonry construction, the study had been proceeded for thepurpose of providing seismic capacity as high as box frame type reinforced concrete
construction such that the medium-rise (up to five-story) RM buildings were developed.
Then, in comprehensive technology development project named as “Development ofnew constructing technologies in building business” conducted by Ministry ofConstruction from 1991 to 1995, the casting joint method not using joint mortars has
been developed for RM with self-stabilizing joint portions.

Extrusion Apparatus

Shearing Test Apparatus

The Construction site of RM building

05 Building Systems Lab.

（Building Systems Laboratory）