Research Themes

Theme (1):

The change to damage-control structuring principles for the development of new seismic upgrading and reinforcement methods in civil engineering and building structures

This topic concerns the development of high-performance damage-control damping devices which need no replacement over the life span of a structure. In addition to verifying the seismic safety of existing structures (bridges, large-space structures, etc.) through a complex nonlinear seismic response analysis considering extensive interactive effects among soils, foundations, structures and damping systems, attention will be given to effective ways of positioning the damage control devices. Advantage will be taken of computer network connections with laboratories in other universities to carry out collaborative hybrid seismic response experiments into methods of obtaining seismic responses through the combined use of experiments and computations, with a view to verifying the validity of results obtained from numerical analysis and proposing methods for the design of damage-controlled structures.
The research topics to be investigated are summarized as follows:
(1) Development of high-performance damage-control damping devices.
(2) Development of methods for the elucidation and inspection of destruction phenomena in steel structures due to low-cycle fatigue.
(3) Development of a system for inspecting the seismic safety of steel bridges using large-scale seismic response analysis.
(4) Development of seismic safety upgrading measures and inspection methods in large-space structures.
(5) Development of an objective quantitative evaluation system for the seismic upgrading effect of reinforcing concrete components with a combination of expansive concrete and reinforcement sheets.
(6) Use of network connections with other universities to carry out collaborative hybrid seismic response experiments to verify the validity of numerical analysis results and propose methods for the design of damage-controlled structures.

Theme (2):

Development of a seismic design and reinforcement method for large-capacity liquid storage tanks, taking account of the dynamic interaction between the liquid and the floating roof

This topic concerns a seismic response analysis of the dynamic interaction between the liquid and the floating roof in a tank, and also involves a shaking table test using a reduced-scale validation model. In addition to clarifying the dynamic process of the failure and submersion of the floating roof, the final goal is to propose an effective method of seismic design and reinforcement for this kind of structure.

Theme (3):

Development of a seismic design and reinforcement method for a soil structure, assuming a soil behavior under very large subduction-zone earthquake conditions

This topic makes use of laboratory tests, shaking table tests and numerical analysis to clarify the dynamic behavior of naturally deposited sensitive clay foundations under very large-scale subduction-zone earthquake conditions, with a view to the development of seismic design and reinforcement methods for soil structures. The results from this research will be used as input for the seismic response analysis in Topic area (1).