2017. 12. 1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.62“Bridging Communities, Stakeholders and Global Partners for
Sustainable Development in Bangladesh”
Prof. Dr. A.F.M. Saiful Amin, Bangladesh,
JSCE International Outstanding Collaboration Awardee
Bangladesh is well known to the world as a deltaic country crisscrossed byhundreds of rivers. Several are wide enough to hold some of the largest waterflows in the world, gathered from the snowmelt waters of the great
Himalayan range and monsoon rains. Having enough bridges to achieve anuninterrupted surface communication network in Bangladesh is necessary not
only to meet the growing needs of an underdeveloped country, which has
been steadily developing over the past decade, but also to meet the emerging
demands of joining a regional surface connectivity network.
On the ground, it was felt that, first, it was necessary to bridge local
stakeholders and global partners to effectively connect bridge professionals
Prof. Dr. A.F.M. Saiful Amin,with the world knowledge hubs and construction industry. An alumnus from Bangladesh University ofJapan felt this vital need to bridge communities. Signing a Memorandum of Engineering and Technology

Understanding with the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh was an important event, but the JSCE’s Committeeof Steel Structures was the forerunner from Japan that launched JSCE activities on the ground in Bangladesh. It
organized the first ever conference on bridge engineering in 2005 in Bangladesh. The effort was well thought inintroducing steel as a bridge-building material, which furthered the development of Bangladesh. Cooperation
was expedited in 2010 and culminated recently in 2015 with the centennial celebration of the Hardinge Bridge(www.iabse-bd.org), a landmark and one of the oldest steel bridges in the region.
The fundamental knowledge gained in Japan in translating experimental phenomena into analytical expressions
and deriving numerical solutions from boundary value problems to meet a practical need was found to be
applicable here, quite metamorphically! The concerted efforts of like minds from Bangladesh, Japan andelsewhere in the world were eventually gathered under the same umbrella. This has allowed for the evolution ofsteel bridge construction once again on this land over the three mighty rivers of the world—the Padma, theMeghna and the Jamuna—more than a century after the erection of the Hardinge Bridge!
Bangladeshi engineers now have opportunities to develop their capacities by working hand in hand withinternational partners to design and execute some of the most difficult constructions in the world, using deep
piling techniques and erecting large-span bridges over the mighty rivers. It is now also necessary to focus on1

learning state-of-the-art technologies to maintain this large-scale infrastructure to reap the most benefit over its
anticipated service life. Application of the best know-how for repairing and rehabilitating the old bridges ofBangladesh is the next issue to address.
Furthermore, it is also important for stakeholders to understand material performance under different climatesin Bangladesh, the current condition of existing bridges, and practical situations for them accurately to predict
the service life of such infrastructures besides, being inspired by bridge mechanics. As of now, Bangladeshi
engineers have very little information relating to determining the service life of such infrastructure.

Team “Civil Engineering Omotenashi” - Recruiting Now!
The Young Civil Engineers Power Up Sub-Committee aims to energize the civilengineering industry through the activities of young people. It’s a committee that gives
young people the opportunity to try out their own ideas, whatever they may be. It has
a wide range of activities, from sharing technical issues among young people toreforming their working styles.
One recent topic deserving attention in the field of civil engineering is the Tokyo
Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will open in less than three years from now.
Even young people such as ourselves must wonder if they’ll see the Olympic andParalympic Games come to Japan twice in their lifetimes. So this is a unique chancefor the committee, together with the civil engineering community, to celebrate aspects

Yuka Ito
Secretary General of theYoung Civil Engineers
Power Up Sub-Committee(East Japan Railway Co.)of civil engineering. With this in mind, and wanting visitors to Japan to experience theappeal of Japanese civil engineering, we have begun activities with Team “CivilEngineering Omotenashi.”
Recently, many civil engineering-related events aimed at the general public, such as “Infrastructure Tourism”,
have been planned, and Team “Civil Engineering Omotenashi” is building a system with which citizens
themselves can help with showcasing Japanese civil engineering. We particularly want students of elementary
school or higher to make use of the civil engineering knowledge they have acquired at school through theexperience of presenting wonderful aspects of Japanese civil engineering to foreign visitors. And in meeting us
as civil engineers, we’d hope they’d choose becoming a civil engineer as their dream for the future. It’s also achance for us to “catch people young.”
In addition, we hope to spread the activities of Team “Civil Engineering Omotenashi” throughout the country.
The activities of the committee and, of course, its members and its events are centered principally around Tokyo.
But with civil engineering, there are many times when it can’t be truly experienced without actually going onlocation. The boom in viewing scenery, and the way in which civil engineering has its roots in the land,
embracing its formation and history, provide reasons enough for overseas visitors to come to Japan. Most of all,through our activities as Team “Civil Engineering Omotenashi,” we want to remind all young civil engineers,
wherever they may be, about just how great their work can be.
2Currently, Team “Civil Engineering Omotenashi” has begun its work for the 2018 JSCE Annual Meeting to beheld in Hokkaido, the 8th Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region (CECAR8) to be held in Tokyo in2019, along with its technical tour for young people, with Niigata being considered as a possible destination.
Then in 2020, we’re looking to plan our projects for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We’d be glad to haveyou as a member of Team “Civil Engineering Omotenashi.” We look forward to you joining us.

Discuss the appeal of Japanese civil engineering with
Taiwanese civil engineers at the JSCE-CICHE JointWorkshop

Site visit for Hokkaido Technical Tour for students
organized by students at Hokkaido Univ.

【Alumni of DOBOKU Series】“Study and Research Experiences in Japan and Works After
Returning from Japan”
POR Sopheap
Lecturer and Researcher at Geo-resources and Geotechnical Engineering
Department, Institute of Technology of Cambodia
General Manager, Laboratory for Construction, MATLAB CO., LTD.
Living and studying in Japan for 8 months has helped me to achieve many to develop
myself in numerous ways – the first and most important thing being the experiences inacademics and laboratory facilities. Hokkaido University is one of the top ranked
universities in the world not only in the fields of technology and engineering, but also
in the education and research standards, as in the most of the Japanese higher
educational institutions with the best of guidance around which are at the world-classlevel. In Cambodia, we have the image of Japan as an island country which has cometo acquire a world superpower status because of hard-working people, theiruncompromising pursuit of high-standard practice and technological development.

POR Sopheap

Besides studying and doing researches, I have had the good fortunes of meeting the Japanese families who
invited foreign students like me to festivals and gatherings organized by them that helped them to gain first-handexperience of the Japanese culture.

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During my stay and studies in Japan, I could devote someof my time to volunteer and extra-curricular activities. I
have involved in an event called “Global Village 2014”
organized by Japanese young students.
Experiences in Hokkaido University
In the geotechnical laboratory in Hokkaido University, I
was lucky to meet outstanding academic staff and research
students who had very unique characters and avidly
pursued new knowledge and I enjoyed living studying, andresearching there. Also, my adviser was very kind to

Global Village 2014 in Hokkaido

support me not only academically, but also personally: he offered valuable advice and helped personal matters.
During my time in Hokkaido University, besides conducting an experiment on confined swelling test ofexpansive clay, I had special lectures and hot discussions in various meetings and seminars relating toconstitutive model research, effective stress principle and total stress method, and stress strain behaviors of soil
all of which were fundamental researches useful for practicing geotechnical engineering. As a result of thoseexperiences, I could understand the reasons why civil engineering, especially geotechnical field in Japan washighly advanced.

Confined Swelling Oedometer Test on
Expansive Clay (Geotechnical laboratory,Hokkaido University, 2014)

A Tunnel Construction Site in Hokkaido in2014

Activities in my home country
After completing my doctoral degree sandwich program in 2015, I became a lecturer and researcher at Instituteof Technology of Cambodia (ITC). One thing I came up in my mind during the time I spent studying andresearching in Japan is that technology should develop in the way of communications and collaboration beyond
regions and countries. Recently, Cambodia and Japan have developed a lot of communications and collaborations
between them, e.g. The 10th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Geological and Geo-Resources
Engineering (2nd–3rd August, 2017), The 2nd International Symposium on Conservation and Management ofTropical Lakes (24th–26th August, 2017), and many other symposiums and workshops which were joined by4

Japanese universities and private sectors. Recently,
there have been many slope failures along Mekong riverbanks that is major concern and is a hot topic inCambodia because every year people living along theMekong Riverbank lose their lives and properties suchas lands and homes. Hence, it is a very interesting topic
for me to find out the main causes of the failures andsolutions for them. On 3rd August 2017, I went to theLerkdek district in Kandal province, Cambodia toconduct a site investigation of a riverbank failure withsome lecturers from ITC including 3 Japanese engineers

Slope Failure of Mekong Riverbank at Lerkdek District,Kandal Province, Cambodia (3rd August 2017)from Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. I hope that problem, incooperation with Japanese institutions, will be successfully solved in the future soon.
Besides working as academic staff, in March 2017, I became a general manager of a laboratory of theconstruction company MATLAB CO., LTD, which provides all kinds of testing materials including geotechnicalinvestigations for the development of infrastructures, e.g. airport, houses and buildings, roads, bridges, dams,
irrigation systems, following international standards and Cambodian culture.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to give my sincere thanks particularly to both of my advisors during
my doctoral degree Sandwich Program, Professor Suched Likitlersuang from Chulalongkorn University andAssociate Professor Satoshi Nishimura from Hokkaido University. Without them, I could not have attained thoseachievements. I also want to thank all the people I met during my study and work in Thailand as well as Japan
who were very helpful and supportive without reservation.

Profile: Born in Cambodia in 1988. He got a bachelor’s degree in Geotechnical Engineering at Institute of Technology of Cambodia,
and a master’s degree at Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia). During his doctoral study at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
from 2012 to 2015, he studied at Hokkaido University on AUN/SEED-Net Doctoral Sandwich Program.

《Column》Satoshi Nishimura, Associate Professor, Hokkaido University
Dr. POR Sopheap visited my research group at Graduate School of Engineering ofHokkaido University twice, for 8 months in total. His task in Japan was to conduct
laboratory experiments on expansive soils, which are notoriously problematic in arid
regions. It must have been the first time for him to devise/plan/implement/interpret a
series of non-routine geotechnical tests, and it surely was a challenging period for him,
given the totally different environment he was in. He demonstrated exceptional
perseverance in seeing the tasks through – even after going back to Thailand(Chulalongkorn University, where he was based), we exchanged a draft more than 10times before putting it published in indexed journals. His career is a clear proof of what exposure to achallenging and diverse environment, particularly in overseas countries, in one’s youth will bring to his/herlife.
※Alumni of DOBOKU Series is in collaboration with Editorial Committee of JSCE Magazine.

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- Overseas Projects HANOI - HO CHI MINH CITY RAILWAY LINE BRIDGES SAFETY
IMPROVEMENT PROJECTHANOI - HO CHI MINH CITY RAILWAY LINE BRIDGES SAFETY
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT, which was a loan cooperation project from theGovernment of Japan, included reconstruction work on 44 bridges with serious issuesof aging located along the North–South Railway connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh,the accompanying track improvements and the elimination of level crossings, allperformed with the aim of achieving safe operation, reduced travel times and increasedtransportation volumes. The Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh Line is a total length of L = 1,730
km, with a single track, no electrification, a track gauge of 1,000 mm, and it takes
around 29 hours to the entire line by even the fastest train.
The construction of the 44 bridges was to be implemented across nine construction

Yoshitaka Komuro
General Manager ofHanoi Representative
Office, International
Division, Tekken Corp.

zones, and Tekken Corp. conducted the construction of 23 bridges across the three construction zones CP1D,
CP2 and CP3A. Here we report the construction undertaken over six years, from May 2010 to May 2016.
Bridge replacements were planned at the same locations
in which were the bridges on the existing line. The bridge
replacements were carried out using the lateral transfer
method except the one for the Nam O Bridge in the CP2
construction zone, where a temporary line construction
method was used. Firstly, while keeping regular train
operation, new bridge abutments and piers wereconstructed in the positions not disrupting with theexisting structure. Then, a parallel jetty was installed
alongside the existing line, and a new bridge wasassembled. After its completion, in a 4-5 hour timeinterval between trains, the existing bridge was removed

CP1D construction zone - Tien An Bridge (Quang Tri)
Tekken Corp., Yokogawa Bridge Corp., Thang Long
Construction Corp. JV

to the side, and the new bridge was installed by being slid
into place laterally. As a new construction methods, wedeveloped collective lateral transfer installation ofmultiple spans of a bridge. Initially, split construction
using temporary girders was planned, but taking into
account increasing disruptions to the train services,safety and minimization of train services using temporary
girders, all bridge sections were linked and integrated,
and the collective lateral transfer installation wasadopted. Vietnam’s first five-span collective lateraltransfer installation was carried out for the longest bridgein the construction zones - the Tra Bong Bridge (L =6CP2 construction zone - Nam O Bridge (Da Nang)
Tekken Corp., Yokogawa Bridge Corp., Thang LongConstruction Corp., Marubeni Corp. JV

242.2 m = 49.8 m x 4 + 43 m) - located in the CP3A zone,
by suspending train services for over five hours train.
We collaborated with the employer, consultants andvarious local authorities, in the three construction zones,
and completed the replacements on schedule without
accidents and incidents. We believe that the main factor
in the success was that, by continuously constructing
across the three construction zones, technology transfer
was achieved smoothly to the local staff responsible forconstruction. At the completion ceremony, the company’s CP3A construction zone - Tra Bong Bridge (Quang Ngai)
construction management methods were highly praised Tekken Corp., Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, ThangLong Construction Corp. JVby Mr. Le Manh Hung, Deputy Minister of theDepartment of Transportation of Vietnam (representing the body responsible for the commission).
By winning an order of the “Second Central Region Bridge Improvement Plan” (road bridges in four locations)with grant aid from the Japanese Government in November 2012, the company not only conducted thedevelopment of not only railways, but also the maintenance of road infrastructure. It is our hope that wecontribute to the development of Vietnam by constructing high-quality infrastructure while promoting furthertechnology transfer to the local staff who have been trained through these construction projects.

Complete project map

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Updates◆Summary of feature articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 102, No. 12, December 2017 is available on the JSCEwebsite.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Journal of JSCE
The Journal of JSCE is the collection of research papers which can be viewed on the JSCE website.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce◆CECAR8 Call for Abstract: August 1, 2017 – February 28, 2018
http://www.cecar8.jp/◆Concrete Committee International Newsletter
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/Newsletter.htm◆Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) International Newsletter archives
http://www.acecc-world.org/newsletter.html◆Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.11 “The Construction of Osman Gazi Bridge

in Turkey – a suspension bridge with one of the world’s longest center span” will be held on January 24, 2018.
http://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/116 (in Japanese)◆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 information and 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.
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