Volume 8, Issue 3

September 2023

Reports

IPA Board Meeting 2023 and related events
IPA Secretariat

On July 3rd, 2023, the 13th IPA Board Meeting was held at the GIKEN’s newly established facility "RED HILL 1967" inAkaoka, Konan City, Kochi Prefecture, which was opened in April this year. Last year in July, Chairman Leung visited thesame facility and was deeply impressed by its development as a new base for press-in technology dissemination. With
the intention of having other board members experience the facility as well, this gathering was realized. A total of 23directors and auditors, consisting of 13 members from overseas and 10 members from Japan, gathered in Kochi.
On July 3rd, before the Board Meeting, there was a facility tour of "RED HILL 1967" and after the meeting, there wasanother facility tour of the GIKEN LTD.’s Kochi Head Office, followed by a social gathering with the company’s executives
and their employees. On the following day, July 4th, the participating directors and auditors split into four groups andengaged in various activities aimed at contributing to the local community from an academic perspective, increasing therecognition of IPA, and advancing press-in engineering.

Board of Directors Meeting 2023
The IPA Board Meeting on July 3rd was held in a hybrid format, with a
total of 25 directors participating, exceeding the quorum (Photo 1).
Out of the 25, 21 directors and 2 auditors attended the meeting inperson, 1 director joined online, and 3 directors submitted proxies.
The meeting began with a greeting from Chairman Leung, whointroduced the successful IPA Seminar on Press-in Technology held in
Taipei in June of this year, which attracted nearly 100 participants andlocal sponsors. It was also mentioned that there are plans to holdsimilar seminars in the future in Europe, including the Netherlands, aswell as in Asia, including Thailand, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.

Photo 1 Board meeting

At the Board Meeting, important matters related to the operation of the IPA were proposed, confirmed and approved,
such as the appointment of Vice Presidents for FY2023-2024, the appointment of Chairperson and Vice Chairperson ofeach Standing Committee, the confirmation of members, and the establishment of the Steering Committee and theNomination Committee. In addition, as a report item, Chairperson of each standing committee explained the activity planfor this year, and the information on the preparation status of ICPE2024 was shared with the members by President Leung.
Finally, there was a discussion regarding the revision of the articles to add some provisions in order to translate theoriginal text of the Constitution, By-Laws, and Regulations into English. This proposal received unanimous approval fromall attending directors. The revision proposal is scheduled to be presented at the general meeting next year.
Following the Board Meeting, each Standing Committee Meeting was held to discuss this year's activity plan and specificmeasures. At the joint committee meeting of the Administration Committee, Development Committee, and Awards
Committee, there was a lively discussion on measures to promote the active participation of young researchers andengineers, including students.

Tour of "RED HILL 1967"
Prior to the Board Meeting, a tour of GIKEN LTD.’s new facility “RED HILL 1967” was held (Photo 2). At the beginning ofthe tour, Mr. Kitamura, Honorary President of IPA and Executive Chairman of GIKEN LTD., explained the history andbackground of the development of this facility in Akaoka, his birthplace, and the concept of the facility development,“seeing is believing”. During his speech, Mr. Kitamura referred to the challenges faced by the outdated constructionindustry and the mission of press-in technology. He highlighted the need for the construction industry to embrace thelatest technologies in order to realize something unprecedented, and emphasized that press-in incorporates many ofthese cutting-edge technologies. He encouraged the experts and professionals present to investigate how press-in differsfrom conventional methods based not on precedents but on fundamental principles. Mr. Kitamura expressed his desire
to receive various opinions to further refine and enhance press-in technology.
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September 2023

During the facility tour, Honorary Chairman Kitamura took the lead in giving an explanation, and the directors and auditors
asked many technical questions about GIKEN's unique facility structure and construction principles of the machines on
display.

"RED HILL 1967" will be introduced in detail in another issue, but it is a facility named after the place name "Akaoka",
and 1967, the year when GIKEN LTD. was founded. The facility has a total area of 36,000 square meters and consistsof the following four main parts:
The first is the Museum of Piling Machines, which includes the first Silent Piler and piling machines for other methods.
The second is a demonstration area showing the press-in system and the pile structures built with the system, the third
is a research building built with a structure in which the pressed-in steel sheet piles serve as both foundation and frameof the building, and the last one is GIKEN’s largest plant Kochi No. 3 plant.

Photo 2 Group photo at “RED HILL 1967”

Tour of Facility of GIKEN
After the IPA Board Meeting at RED HILL 1967, we moved to the Kochi
Head Office of GIKEN LTD., where we had a facility tour (Photo 3).
During the facility tour, GIKEN presented some examples of the use ofstructures using pile materials constructed with press-in machines
promoted by GIKEN and the test equipment that demonstrates theirsuperiority as structures, such as a mechanical underground parking lot
built by pressing piles into the ground in a cylindrical shape, a tsunami
simulator using a pile-type breakwater model that is firmly supported
by being pushed into the ground, and a caisson-type breakwater modelthat can withstand the external force by its own weight. The IPA
directors and auditors, although some of them were visiting thecompany’s facilities for the first time, were very interested in the GIKEN
Group's technology, which promotes practical solutions to various
social problems and issues related to construction through researchand development.

Photo 3 Facility tour in GIKEN office

Afterwards, 15 executives and employees from GIKEN participated in the social gathering sponsored by GIKEN, wherelocal cuisine and local sake from Kochi were served. We were able to feel that the interaction and exchange of opinionswith IPA Honorary Chairman Kitamura and other GIKEN Group officers and employees has become a very valuable andimportant opportunity for the IPA directors and auditors as well.
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September 2023

Lecture Tour in Kochi
Acquisition of young members including students and promotion of their activities is one of the important issues for thedevelopment of the society and the progress of press-in engineering. Taking advantage of this opportunity whereprominent directors in the field of geotechnical engineering were gathering from all over the world, IPA held some
lectures by IPA directors on July 4th, for students majoring in geotechnical engineering at local academic institutions,
Kochi University of Technology, and National Institute of Technology, Kochi College. Nearly 80 students attended eachsession, and the students listened intently to the insightful lectures given by each director.
Academic Lecture at Kochi University of Technology
Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Learning Soil Mechanics in 45 Minutes
Executive Director, IPADr. Osamu Kusakabe
Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Relationship between "Soil Mechanics" and "Social Infrastructure Facilities"
Director, IPA
Dr. Kenichi Horikoshi
President & Representative Director, Seiwa Consultants Co., Ltd.

Academic Lecture at National Institute of Technology, Kochi College
Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Lecture 3

Singapore - Garden City and Sustainability
President, IPA
Prof. Chun Fai Leung
Emeritus Professor, National University of Singapore
HIPER™ Piles for Sustainability
Vice President, IPA
Dr. Andrew McNamara
City, University of London and Chief Engineer, Skanska UK Building
The Role of the Geotechnical Engineers in Solving Global Challenges
Vice President, IPA
Prof. Kenneth Gavin
Professor, Delft University of Technology

Photo 4 Group photo at Kochi University of Technology

Photo 5 Group photo at National Institute of Technology,
Kochi CollegeResearch Interaction with GIKEN Science Department
Following the previous day, we held an opinion exchange meeting among IPA directors and auditors and the members ofthe Scientific Research Section of GIKEN LTD. on July 4th at RED HILL 1967, for the purpose of connecting researchers andpractical engineers and promoting the progress of press-in engineering in theory and practiceSome presentations were made for the 12 directors and auditors regarding the joint research with the University ofCambridge, utilization of press-in construction data, some research outcomes regarding the performance of riverembankments with double sheet pile wall structures, and some others. There was a lively question and answer session
on the content of the presentations, and it was a meaningful time for both parties.

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September 2023

Seminar for the public on geotechnical engineering
On July 4th, 2023, the ``Seminar on Geotechnical Engineering - From the Laboratory to the Field -'' was held in Kochi City.
Approximately 60 people participated, including policy makers, researchers, engineers, contractors, and students. It washeld locally, and five IPA directors, and each director introduced the contents of research in their specialized fields andthe latest topics. The program was as follows.
Presentation 1

Presentation 2

Presentation 3

Presentation 4

Presentation 5

Development of Rapid Loading Test of Piles
Vice President, IPA
Prof. Tatsunori Matsumoto
Emeritus Professor, Kanazawa University
Pixel-free image analysis technology and model experiments
Director, IPADr. Katsutoshi Ueno
Associate Professor, Tokushima University
Scouring damage of river bridge foundations and its restoration technology
Director, IPAProf. Hidetoshi Nishioka
Professor, Chuo University
Topics related to piles used in harbors and oceans
Director, IPAProf. Yoshiaki Kikuchi
Professor, Tokyo University of Science
Deformation and failure behavior simulation of foundations and retaining wall structures using
centrifugal models
Director, IPA
Dr. Jiro Takemura
Associate Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology

After each lecture, questions were accepted, and there were scenes where researchers asked questions to each other.
Furthermore, several directors commented that new challenges from both research and practical perspectives could leadto societal innovation and change. During the break time, lively discussions were also observed, and the event ended
successfully.
The video recordings of the lectures of this seminar (in Japanese) are now available on the IPA members' website. If you
wish to watch them, please visit the following URL.
IPA members’ site: https://member.press-in.org/en/login
To watch the videos, membership registration with the International Press-in Association is required. You can proceedwith the registration process by visiting the following URL.
URL: https://www.press-in.org/en/page/join

Photo 7 Q&A Session at the seminar

Photo 6 Group photo at the seminar

Finally, we are firmly convinced that this series of events has marked a significant step forward for the International
Press-in Association (IPA) in its pursuit of "integrating theory and practice" to visualize the invisible undergroundand create and provide the true value that society truly needs.

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