Volume 7, Number 1, June 2009

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 41st JOINT MEETING OF THE PANEL ON WIND AND SEISMIC
EFFECTS 18-23 MAY 2009
The 41st Joint Meeting of the Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects was conducted during 18-23 May 2009, Japan. The
Panel’s technical meetings were held during 18-20 May at the National Institute for Land and InfrastructureManagement, Tsukuba, Japan followed by technical site visits during 21-23 May in Tokyo, Japan.

Technical Meetings, 18-21 May
 22 technical presentations (9 from US-side and 13 from Japan-side) Seven themes- Next-Generation Building and Infrastructure Systems- Dams- Wind Engineering- Transportation Systems- Storm Surge and Tsunami- Sustainable Design for Buildings and Infrastructure - Focus on Natural Disaster Prevention- Disaster Resilient Buildings and Infrastructure Technical presentations highlighted important work by the US and Japan Panel member organizations:- useful information gained about Japan’s public works projects and civil engineering research and theirapplications of research into practice,- effective work in+ evaluating earthquake damage systems for bridges and shake table testing on bridge columns,+ earthquake disaster management in Japan and disaster recovery processes,+ analytical and experimental research on wind engineering and tornado induced loads andassessing tornado building damages+ real time disaster information systems,- opportunities for systematic modeling of earthquake response of dams and stability evaluation of dams,
dam remediation and dam evaluation performance- new technologies in remote sensing/data fusion for infrastructure hazard mapping, remote sensing
data integration: excellent opportunities for partnering with Panel’s Task Committees and other UJNR
Panels,- research demonstrates basis for major revisions of highway bridge design criteria,- findings influence US and Japan structural engineering research and contribute to revisions andcreation of both country’s codes and standards.
Consideration will be given to create a new Task Committee on Seismic Monitoring of Ground and Built
Environment as a renewed former Task Committee A on Geotechnical Engineering and Ground Motion.

The Panel’s results will be more widely disseminated by greater use of e-mail, the Panel’s eNewsletter,and the Panel’s Web Site.
The Panel encourages partnering opportunities identified by respective Task Committees.
The Panel encourages each Task Committee to develop methods to evaluate progress of theirrespective Task Committee.

Photo 1. Group Photograph of US-Japan Members attending 41st Joint Meeting of
the Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects

Technical Site Visits, 21-23 May 2009
During the 41st Joint Panel Meeting the delegation visited seven sites. Highlights follow:
1.

Tokyo Rinkai Oh-hashi Bridge
The Tokyo Rinkai Oh-hashi Bridge also tentatively named the Tokyo Port Seaside Bridge is 1,618 m longover the water and 2,933 m long in its entirety. It connects reclaimed land outside the central breakwater andthe Wakasu area of Tokyo. When it is opened in 2011, the Tokyo Port Seaside Road will facilitate commercial
highway transportation in and around the Tokyo Port easing traffic congestion in roads serving the Tokyo Bay
area.
The uniqueness of this bridge design is its requirements not to interfere with the flight patterns of Haneda
Airport and yet be high enough over the shipping channel to accommodate cargo ships. If this bridge’s height
was not controlled by the flight limits, a suspension-type design would have been the most economic choice.
The selected design was a high strength steel (70 ksi) truss bridge with structural height of 87.8 m andheadroom (distance below substructure) of 54.6 m. The bridge’s lower foundation is the main pier that
supports the bridge’s 760 m composite box truss (160 m end spans and 440 m center span). Soft clay
covers the bottom of the Tokyo Bay where the pier is located. This continuous and composite bridge poses ahuge challenge of its substantial self weight and high corrosion resistance requirement area. Steel coating
and welding standards are much higher than required. The clay layer is about 30 m thick. A “steel pipe sheet
pile well foundation,” was used in which temporary steel pipe sheet pile cofferdams serve as the foundation.
Truss members are installed by various cranes (land and floating). The truss will be transported by barge
using one of Japan’s three largest floating cranes. When in place the upper deck truss will be installed using a
450 ton crane to lift members to the deck. Sliding bearings are installed for seismic isolation and the piers. The
bridge is orthotropic steel to limit the fatigue with 0.5 m steel expansion finger joints. The bridge is designed for
a 100 year life. The bridge cost is estimated to be 98 B yen ($1 B).

Photo 2. Group Photograph of the Delegation at Tokyo-Rinkai Oh-hashi Bridge

2.

Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) New Runway Design and Construction
Haneda Airport is constructing a fourth runway (off shore) to accommodate the spiraling increase in demand
for air mass transportation. A new Passenger Terminal 2 was conducted in February 2007. This fourth
runway (Runway D) will serve domestic and international flights easing congestion at Narita International
Airport about 60 km northeast of Tokyo. The new 2,500 m runway is a combination of land fill reclamation
and a bridge. The landfill is located in Tokyo Bay and its adjoining bridge is in the Tama River estuary atTokyo Bay. The runway elevation ranges from 14 m to 17 m above sea level. This runway is connected toHaneda Airport by a 260 m bridge section.
The bridge pier jackets are 1.6 m diameter by 80 m long. Bridge deck sections are prefabricated in sets of six
piers each with its superstructure measures 63 m by 45 m with cross bracing to resist the flow of the TamaRiver. These sections are floated to site. When placed, the weight of the sections sinks about 20 m into thesea bed. They are then vibrated to a depth of 70 m. The piers are aluminum with stainless steel jackets
starting 1.5 m below the splash zone and to the deck steel substructure that is covered with titanium plates.
The superstructure runway is super high strength precast fiber concrete. One hundred eighty nine jackets
make up the bridge. The expected life of the bridge is 100 years.
The landfill consists of sand compaction piles in alluvium clay layer, riprap perimeter serves as wave
dissipaters, and 12 m to 20 m deep dredged earth mixed with cement is placed over a sand mat withcompacted sand around the perimeter. The landfill is expected to sink about one meter over its life time. The
runway connection to the bridge is by a roller leaf connection. The cost of the runway is about 600 trillion yen(about $6 trillion at May 2009 conversion).

3.

Disaster Management Center (DMC)
The new national disaster management center at Ariake, Tokyo, is a regionally based, state-of-the-art, multifunction emergency management facility. When a disaster strikes, such as a major earthquake, the DMC
functions as a disaster management center and a medical treatment-shelter facility. The facility includes anevacuation zone, evacuation center, stockpiling base, relief goods collection location, debris yard,
emergency/restoration operation center, emergency headquarters facility, and a “spare” facility. Here,administrative agencies gather information and direct regional operations. The operation room is equippedwith large-screen monitors, terminal devices, and communication equipment. The facilities include a meeting
room, a napping room, and rooms for staff on standby. The design of the DMC site includes a number offeatures such as a water collection and reuse system that uses permeable pavement (green technology),
plantings of large trees strategically positioned in the overflow area of the grounds that will serve as a field
hospital in temporary tents, and decorative fountain that recedes into the ground to provide a level pathway foraccess to and from the field tent hospital and to the new Cancer Hospital located adjacent to the DMC.
The DMC coordinates disaster relief efforts with the Tokyo Metropolitan Area and with the Tokyo Metropolitan
Disaster Relief Center in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The Center uses dedicated communication systems tocommunicate with its officials and staff during emergencies. Pagers worn by staff are triggered with seismic
intensity of 5 or greater on the Japan Meteorological Agency intensity scale. The Center operates with threecontingency plans to assist the disaster relief staff get to their offices -1) through designated roads, 2)
designated metro trains, and 3) helicopters from its rooftop heliport respectively. The DMC serves a dual
function during the non disaster periods as a learning center for general public disaster awareness about
earthquake disaster education and demonstrations on a day-to-day basis that help prepare local residents fordisaster response. The DMC provides outdoor recreation space in the surrounding park (evacuation zone).

4.

Takenaka Corporation Tokyo Main Office, Tokyo
Takenaka Corporation's Tokyo seven story main office building opened in 2004 as a sustainable officebuilding. Wall mounted monitors display the building's energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Thisbuilding uses natural light and wind for ventilation. Its HVAC ducts are made of used and recycled cardboard
materials with an added aluminum coating. Its rooftop is designed with greenery, a large rain tank is locatedin the basement as a water source for toilet flushing and as emergency water supply, and an IT-basedenergy use management system records CO2 emissions that are 25 percent lower than an average officebuilding today. The building is designed to allow north-south winds to bring air into the building with greeneryaround the base of the building. Their "Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental
Efficiency (CASBEE)", akin to the US LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
environmental efficiency rating scheme, awarded this building an environmental efficiency rating of 4.9 (5.0 isthe highest rating). The office spaces on the 2nd story and above have open layout and its three center cores
allows sunlight into the building’s interior through its cathedral glass ceiling. The building incorporates solar
collectors on the building exterior for heating and ventilation and features a hybrid air conditioner using
conditioned air with natural ventilation that flows through louvers in the outer walls and through a porous floor.
The conditioned air is cooled during the day using ice produced during evenings in its roof top thermal
storage units. The cafeteria accommodates 350 persons and can be used as a general purpose room forlarge meetings and conferences. Building temperatures are maintained near 24 degrees Celsius. The
building is designed to be operational for a one week period following a major disaster and serves as adisaster relief center for its staff.
The structural framing system consists of an outer braced structure and a universal floor beam with buckling
resistant braces. The steel beams are coated with fire resistant calcium silicate sheets. Building equipment istightly fixed to the building’s structural system permitting the building to be operational after an earthquake.
The structure uses a uniform span measuring 10.8 m by 10.8 m made up of CFT columns with a diameterof 500 mm, an "external bracing structure" with buckling-restrained braces laid out, and "universal floor
beams" made up girders and beams of a uniform beam depth of 450 mm. With a disperse layout of air
conditioners in the exterior brace sections, outside air is directly drawn in from the exterior wall louvers,
exhausting through the light wells, the building uses a four-mode hybrid air-conditioning system using naturalventilation. With the universal floor beams, the air-conditioning ducts do not penetrate the beams, but arehung under the beams, so with a standard office building floor height of 4.1 m, a minimum 3 m ceiling height
has been maintained. The direct ceiling "new ceiling system" consists of punching metal underneath covers
and lighting fixtures.
5.

Shimizu Institute, Shimizu Corporation
The Shimizu Corporation’s Research Institute Headquarters was built in 2003 using Green Building
Concepts that demonstrated a 43% savings in energy costs and a 35% reduction in CO2 emission during
the building’s first 5 years of operation. The research institute is designed in a campus like setting with various
testing facilities. For example, its structural testing laboratory is equipped with a 6 MN testing machine, areaction floor, and vibration testing systems. The wind tunnel testing laboratory is a return boundary-layer
wind tunnel 3.5 m wide, 2.5 m high, and 20.3 m long that generate wind up to 35 m/s. Included are a multipoint wind velocity and direction measuring system, a 512-point simultaneous pressure measuring system,
and various simulation systems. Also the tunnel is equipped to simulate snow drift on the roofs and aroundbuildings. A 1,940 m biotope (pond with fish and birds) is located in the foundation space of the original
building that was demolished for construction of the campus of individual research laboratories.
The main office building adjacent to its labs was designed for energy savings technologies. Air is supplied
through the floor carpets reducing the need for ducts. The office work space incorporates “personal air
diffusers” under desks to help cool the workers legs. Room air temperatures average 24 degree celsius.
Task and ambient lighting and information systems optimizes energy use and electricity. The ice storage
system cools water in the evening for use during warm summer days for cooling. Gradation blinds help
reflect the sunlight away from the building. The building’s CASBEE "Comprehensive Assessment System
for Building Environmental Efficiency rating is 3.2. Paper waste and biomass are used to generate electricity
through an energy conversion system. The building is installed on seismic isolators installed in anunderground reservoir that isolates the building through buoyancy. The six main columns are installed withrubber bearing base isolators. The core suspended system on one of its buildings employs isolators on theroof with the building suspended around a central core. This technique is similar to those used for pagodas.
Of particular interest is Shimizu’s research into a Green Float Botanical Future City. This concept involves22erecting a series of 1000 m towers (inverted cones) where residents live in about 150 m - 200 m units
starting at the 700 m level and research and plant factories are located below the residential level. The
towers are constructed on 3 km diameter floating artificial islands located in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. A
waterside resort is at the oceanfront. A cluster of islands could accommodate 1 million persons. Thisbotanical city design concept is aimed at the 2025 time frame having the intent to: provide living spaces forthe increasing population; reduce CO2; conserve energy; reduce waste products; and preserve theenvironment. Ocean thermals and solar energy is expected to be the primary energy source. Cooling will befrom several thousand meter high pipes in the atmosphere and also in deep ocean water. CO2 will be
dumped into the ocean using a 1 km to 1.5 km deep pipe. The inverted cone tower is proposed to beconstructed of honeycomb materials using magnesium from the sea. Shimizu philosophy in developing
their proposed living base addresses Albert Einstein’s quote, “We can not solve problems using the samekind of thinking we used when we created them”.

6.

Japan Meteorological Agency
The visit was divided into three topics: seismic, tsunami, and volcano warnings.
Seismic Warnings. Japan experiences about 100,000 earthquakes per year – most of them small.
Earthquakes which can be felt by the population average about 2,000 per year. There are in excess of 4,248
seismic intensity observing stations in Japan operated by JMA, local governments (the majority of stations),
and NIED. Seismic warnings are sent out through multiple communication channels within 2 minutes after
the event for earthquakes estimated to be equal to or greater than 3 on the Japanese intensity scale. The
levels of response are scaled with the intensity of the earthquakes. A simple shake map of the predicted
timing and intensity of the earthquake is used for the forecasts and seismic stations are used for verification.
Currently, there is a project called the Tokai Earthquake Prediction Project designed to provide early
prediction of a possible 8 or greater magnitude earthquake in a region west of Tokai that would severely
impact the Tokyo region. The project is attempting to simulate pre-seismic strain rates 1 or 2 days prior to amajor event using a large array of strain gages in the region. If the strain indicates that an earthquake isimminent, this information is given to high level government authorities.
Tsunami Warnings. If the estimated height of the tsunami exceeds 3 m, a warning is given within 2 or 3
minutes of the seismic event. For estimated heights below 3 m, a tsunami advisory is given. JMA also
provides tsunami information for the Northwest Pacific region and to most Asian countries.
Volcano Information Service. There are currently 108 active volcanoes in Japan. They are monitored by
combinations of seismic sensors, TV cameras, and GPS monitoring (for large ground motion). Warnings
are provided if necessary. There are 5 levels of warning, with level 5 being the highest, meaning a large
eruption is imminent or underway and evacuation is necessary. JMA also provides volcanic ash advisories
to civil aviation for aircraft safety. JMA is one of only nine stations in the world offering such advisories.

7.

Nippon Life Insurance Company, Marunouchi BuildingThis headquarters building of Nippon Life Insurance recently received an award for its energy andenvironmental savings. Its façade (the base of the building’s front) corresponds to Tokyo’s historic 31 mheight line with the main building office tower body set back. Seismic vibration control is by “w-pairMullions” installed in the exterior walls. These paired precast columns (w-paired mullions) are hinged attheir connections to the top and bottom structural beams with vibration control panels installed between
the granite precast columns. The building’s seismic damping system is located in the top floor. The
building is not designed against terrorist attacks or for fire loads. During disasters occupants either
descend to street or ascent to the roof for evacuation by helicopters. Sunshine heat gain is reduced byauto blinds and mullions and eves in the façade. Energy savings are through greater use of naturallighting and light control sensors. The building achieved a 34 percent energy savings during 2006-2007
over the standard value calculated for a typical office building. The building’s CASBEE rating is 3.2. The
building was designed for a 100 year life.