No.37
November 2, 2015

No.27

Prof. Norimi Mizutani

Recent Activities of the Committee
on Civil Engineering in the Ocean,Japan Society of Civil Engineers
The Committee on Civil Engineering in the Ocean (CCEO)
was established in 1970 to conduct research and studies
related to ocean development and conservation, and toutilize the outcomes for society. Since its foundation, thecommittee has been emphasizing to work closely withindustry to pursue innovations from scientific, technologicaland on-site perspectives. As part of our activities, we holdthe CCEO Annual Symposium for latest researchpresentations and discussions on ocean development,accompanied by the special sessions focusing on importantsubjects. The two special sessions held in this year aresummarized below.
◆Special Session 1: Offshore Wind Power Utilization
The pilot researches on offshore wind power generation
conducted in coastal areas in Japan were reported in thelast year’s special session. Based on the progress of thisresearch field over the last couple of years, this year’ssession dealt with techniques for the success of offshore
wind farm projects. Presentations were delivered on threethemes:- A case study and proposal for consensus building on anoffshore wind project- Future view of wind power utilization and smart energy
system in ports- Utilization of international certification scheme in Japanese
offshore wind farm
These presentations were made based on pilot tests,
followed by a lively panel discussion. In recent years, there
have been an increasing number of presentations related toocean energy in the CCEO symposiums. The development
and utilization of ocean energy are expected to remain amajor theme for the Committee on Civil Engineering in theOcean.
◆Special Session 2: Storm Surge Disaster
Large-scale coastal disasters have occurred in many parts of(Nagoya University)
Chairman of the Committee on
Civil Engineering in the Ocean

the world in recent years, and there is a great concern thatthese disasters could increase both in frequency andmagnitude as global warming progresses. In this session,
which focused on the prevention and mitigation of coastal
disasters such as storm surges amid global warming, theinformation and technologies accumulated so far werereviewed and the tasks to be addressed were identified andexamined. Presentations were delivered on three themes:- Development of new GPS ocean wave meter anddemonstration experiments for hydrographic phenomenon
in the offshore- Study on the characteristics of future typhoons based on
the climate projection data MRI-AGCM3.2S- Field survey and mechanism of storm surge generation
invoked by the low pressure with rapid development inNemuro, Hokkaido in December 2014
In addition to tsunami-related researches that havesubstantially increased in number since the 2011 Great
East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, we look forward toseeing many such researches on storm surges, which areexpected to be presented in the CCEO Annual Symposiumin the coming years.

2015 CCEO symposium special session（Kobe）

IAC News No.37, Nov 2 2015

Hushan Reservoir Project

Hushan Dam is located in Yunlin County, Taiwan, about
60 km north of Wushantou Dam, which was constructedby the engineer Yoichi Hatta. It is located on a tributary
with a small catchment area, the same as for theWushantou Dam, and is an earthfill dam that stores waterfed from the main stream of the river. The stored watersupplies the Yunlin and Nantou Counties with about
261,000 m3 of water per day, and it is expected to reduce
the ground settlement in these counties due topumping-up of groundwater.
The dam consists of 3 connected units, with a total storageof 15.1 million m3 and a total length of 1,521 m, making it
the largest in Taiwan.
The client for the project was the Central Region Water
Resources Office, Water Resources Agency, Ministry ofEconomic Affairs of the Republic of China, andconstruction of the dam was undertaken by a joint ventureof Taisei Corporation and Continental Engineering

Overall view of building the embankment for Hushan Dam

Airo Asayama,Taisei Corporation
Corporation, Taiwan’s largest general contractor.
The contract period was from June 2007 to September
2014, but the project was completed 2 months ahead ofschedule. At present other contract work such as water
intake construction is in progress.
The dam foundation of Hushan Dam and the strata
beneath the reservoir are alternating strata of theQuaternary sedimentary rocks sandstone and mudstone.
The shell material and core material were obtained within
the dam site, and high viscosity clay for the rock adherent
core material, filter material, and rip rap material, etc.,
were transported from outside the site. Features of thefoundation design are the adoption of a diaphragm wallusing plastic concrete instead of curtain grouting, andomitting blanket grouting. Also, the inspection gallery wasomitted. Note that the top of the diaphragm wall was
designed to be enclosed by the core, to ensure continuity of
the waterproofing.

Construction of the continuous diaphragm wall on the leftbank of a subsidiary dam

The diaphragm wall extended continuously over the 3dams with a total length of about 2.3 km, a width of 1 m,and a maximum depth of 55 m. Construction of thediaphragm wall through the dam abutment slope was verydifficult, but was achieved by constructing a temporary
platform on which the heavy equipment for the diaphragmwall could operate. The earthwork was on a scale rarely
seen in Taiwan, so a construction system was composedwith large-sized heavy equipment procured from outside
Taiwan.

IAC News No.37, Nov 2 2015

Construction was completed with zero major accidents,and high evaluation was obtained from the client for not
only schedule and safety, but also quality andenvironmental initiatives. As a result the project wasawarded the highest award for public works in Taiwan,
the “Public Construction Golden Quality Award.”
As a result of the efforts of our predecessors a “Japanese”
brand has been established in Taiwan, and we can takepride that this brand name has not been tarnished by thiswork.

Construction of the continuous diaphragm wall on theAerial photograph after completion of Hushan Damleft bank of the main dam◆International Roundtable Meeting (September 16,Brief Summary on 2015 JSCE
Annual Meeting - InternationalProgram

13:30-17:00)
International Roundtable Meeting was held under thetheme“LeveragingBigDataforInfrastructureManagement and Sustainable Development” proposed by2015 JSCE Annual Meeting was held at Okayama

Mr. Noriaki Hirose, the JSCE President. Prof. Toshio

University Tsushima Campus from September 16th to 18th,

Koike (Director, ICHARM) served as a moderator and Prof.

2015. During which, the international program hosted byMasaru

IAC was held for the first two days. Its details are will be

Institute of Informatics) delivered a keynote speech titledreported on another issue of IAC News“How IT（Big Data) can transform our society?” Following

Kitsuregawa(DirectorGeneral,National

the speech, participants from JSCE International Sections◆IAC Special Discussion (September 16, 10:20-12:20)

and JSCE’s Agreement of Cooperation (AOC) societies

Prof. Masahiro Ouchi, Kochi University of Technology

discussed the current status of Big Data utilization andorganized and moderated the discussion. Ten participants

future challenges.

from young to senior who have studied in Japan discussed
their experiences and made frank and straightforward
requests for the civil engineering industry in Japan. Theyemphasized that Japanese young engineers, who should
be aware of their responsibilities as professional engineers,need to go overseas more actively.

International Roundtable Meeting

Participants at the discussion

IAC News No.37, Nov 2 2015

◆The Seventeenth International Summer Symposium(September 16, 17, 9:00-12:00)◆Technical Tour (September 17, 11:00-16:30)
We hosted a technical tour as one of the welcome events

56 papers were presented by young engineers andfor the international guests. The tour visited the Seto

internationalby theOhashi Bridge for a ride back and forth across the bridge,

participants on a Study Tour Grant, which was carried out

the Seto Ohashi Bridge Commemorative Hall, and theby the support from International Scientific Exchange

Kurashiki Bikan Area with a chartered bus. At the SetoFund. There were many international students in the hall.

Ohashi Bridge Commemorative Hall, the participants

We hope more Japanese students will participate in thelearnd about the construction project of the Seto Ohashi

future.

Bridge directly from the engineer who was involved in it.

◆Workshop

students,

forincluding 5YoungEngineers

papers(September16,13:30-17:00)
Workshop for Young Engineers, which has started as oneofthecommemorativeeventsfor

JSCE’s100thAnniversary, was held this year, too. On the theme of“Why did you come to Japan? –expectation, reality andfuture.” 24 current international students in Japan madea group discussion and delivered presentations.

International guests listening to explanations at the Seto
Ohashi Bridge Commemorative Hall

In addition, the IAC had International Section Meetingwith International Sections and exchanged opinions.
Separately from the banquet offered by the JSCE Annual
Meeting steering committee, we held the welcome
reception for international guests and international
students at the tower of Okayama Castle with theParticipants at the workshop

cooperationofOkayama

VisitorsandConvention

Association, and participants deepened their friendshipwith each other.
【Written by International Activities Center】

JSCE-UK SectionVisit Report
Yumio Ishii,
Former President of JSCE
On 28 August 2015 I visited Prof. Kenichi Soga
(University of Cambridge), President of the UK Section,and exchanged information. At present the UK Section has
about 10 Japanese members.
1) Report on the Status of Japan Society of Civil Engineers
I reported on the success of the JSCE 100th anniversary
project, and on recent matters using relevant
documents. The society has 35,000 members, and 5,000
student members. Membership is stable and financialadministration has improved, but income frompublications has declined. With the establishment ofthe JSCE International Activities Center, International
Sections are being strengthened, overseas students are

IAC News No.37, Nov 2 2015

being organized, and efforts have been made to activate
the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council(ACECC).
The next policies of JSCE will have an emphasis on thenational stock of infrastructure, and will also focus on
maintenance and sustainability.
2) Status of the UK Construction Industry (by Prof. Soga,President of the Section)
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has
stated that the domestic construction industry has
shrunk by 33%, and has established a policy that halfof its turnover should come from overseas.
Also, the trend for young people in the UK to beuninterested in engineering continues. In contrast theUK, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has initiatedefforts towards a new target.
The Department of Civil Engineering of University ofCambridge has founded the “Cambridge Centre forSmart Infrastructure and Construction” (CSIC),
dealing with information technology in infrastructure,and improving productivity by cooperation among eachfield, and integration.
Here “smart” is a concept with a broad meaning, andthe UK has a culture of setting abstract targets such as
this and working towards them. Note that Professor
Yozo Fujino of Yokohama National University, Japan
has been appointed as a member of CSIC’s
International Advisory Group.
3) Author’s Comments
The turnover of the Japanese construction industry isalso about half that during the peak of 1998, andalthough it has recovered somewhat due toreconstruction of the 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami, recurring profit margins are
only 5% or less. The Government’s “Basic Policy on
National Budget” calls for improvement in productivityof industry, but does not touch on enhancement ofinfrastructure which is its basis.

Information on Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure
and Construction

What’s Happening

IAC Facebook・2015/11/20-21
CICHE 2015 Annual Conference(National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan)

Recent activity of International Activity Centre is
introduced on this Facebook. By all means, please see thishome page. https://www.facebook.com/JSCE.en

・2015/12/2-4
PICE 41st National Convention(SMX Convention Center, Bacolod City, Philippines)

Updates・The summary of feature articles in the JSCE Magazine is available on
the JSCE website.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine
・Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 42
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/Newsletter.htm

・Journal of JSCE
The Journal of JSCE is the collection of research papers which canbe viewed on the JSCE website.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce
・Disaster Fact Sheet
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/disaster/・IAC Students and Alumni Network
http://www.jsce-int.org/IAC_network

IAC News Subscription
The IAC News is one of the communication tools to share informationand ideas with the members. We would like to invite you, your friends
and colleagues to join the communication and to subscribe the IAC
News. Please register online: (http://www.jsce-int.org/node/150).
We look forward to meeting you.

IAC News No.37, Nov 2 2015

Editor’s postscript
ISO 14001, which is an international standard related toenvironmental management, was revised radically and issued asa new standard on September 16, 2015. The new standard
incorporates new key words such as "biodiversity" and"ecosystem." The standard also includes the keyword "life cycle
assessment" with the purpose of assessing environmental
impact throughout the life cycle of product and businessactivities. Companies’ qualities and values are assessed by not
only their efforts to deal with climate change, but also the ones
to build comprehensive environmental management systems
including life cycle assessment and biodiversity. I would like tofollow how each company deals with these challenges in thefuture. (H.I)[Comments and Questions] JSCE IAC: iac-news@jsce.or.jp
Please send us your feedback and comments to help us improve theIAC news. We look forward to hearing from you.