Policy Analysis on Building Regulations and the Recovery of Earthquake and Tsunami Affected Areas

The paper examines the situation and causes of recent big earthquake and tsunami disasters especially in the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, and analyzes the damage to extract lessons on safety of buildings and recovery of cities from the view point of building regulations such as the Article 39 of the Building Standard Law. In addition, the Article 8 of the Ordinance of City Planning Law resulted in not so effective against tsunami in March 2011. Control mechanisms of building construction should be integrated into socio-economic, institutional, technical and other policy tools. In order to mitigate earthquake risk, all stages of building construction, from location, planning and construction to maintenance are important. Awareness creation is instrumental for building culture of safety and demands for intervention in disaster mitigation. The demands ultimately help in creating conducive environment for policy intervention, in realizing institutional mechanism of building code enforcement and land use control for the municipal authorities and in creating demand for competent professionals.     

Damage to sewage systems caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake,and governmental policy

The Great East Japan Earthquake and its accompanying liquefaction and tsunami severely damaged many sewage systems including sewage pipes, manholes, pumping stations and sewage treatment plants over a wide area from Tohoku to the Kanto region. We conducted a questionnaire survey, interview survey and on-site confirmation in order to summarize and categorize the damage factors that shut down facilities such as drainage systems and treatment systems. We also studied the effectiveness of countermeasures to prevent liquefaction of the sewage system. The results showed that 90% of sewage pipes and 70% of manholes were damaged by liquefaction and that 54% of wastewater treatment plants and 75% of pumping stations were damaged by tsunami. Nevertheless, no severe damage was found along sewage pipe sections where liquefaction countermeasures had been executed, suggesting that the countermeasures are effective.     

Large-scale Disasters on World Heritage and Cultural Heritage in Japan: Significant Impacts and Sustainable Management Cases

Abstract

On 11 March 2011, the East Japan Great Earthquake occurred off the east coast of Japan. This magnitude 9 earthquake caused a tsunami of 8–9 m in height, which subsequently reached an upstream height of up to 40 m, causing extensive damage over a 500-km span along the east coast of Japan. Damage was caused to 295 National Cultural Properties of Japan, most of which was due to the associated tsunamis rather than the earthquake. Particularly, significant damage was seen in the coastal cultural landscapes. In addition, Japan has extremely large typhoons every year. In recent years, it has not been unusual to see typhoon-caused storms, heavy rains and flooding, causing intensive damage such as landslides to World Heritage properties and their buffer zones. Such damage is seen in the pilgrimage routes of the “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range” and in the natural elements of their associated cultural landscapes. The author presents a report on the damage from the East Japan Great Earthquake and other disasters on World Heritage and cultural heritage, and on their increasing occurrence in Japan. A discussion on remedial measures and the need for sustainable protection and management for World Heritage and other significant heritage is included.     

Crustal stress changes and characteristics of damage to geo-engineering structures induced by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - T he Great 2011 Earthquake of East Japan, with a moment magnitude of 9.0, occurred off the shore of the Tohoku Region of Japan. Although...     

Collapse of concrete-covered levee under composite effect of overflow and seepage

During the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011, enormous coastal levees collapsed as a result of tsunami overflows. Concrete-covered levees, where concrete blocks are used to protect levees made of soil, showed a specific failure mode in which back slope blocks and internal soils were dislodged. Although several hydraulic experiments have been conducted in an attempt to understand the failure mechanism, the complexity of the failure requires that both hydro-dynamical and geotechnical points of view be taken into account for a deeper understanding. This study uses a centrifuge to identify the failure behavior of levees from those points of view. The centrifuge can reproduce the stress, water pressure, and overflow velocity of the prototype-scale ground. Overflowing at sufficient time periods was produced in the centrifuge by generating differences in water height for seaside and landside areas. The test results showed that the levees collapsed due to a combination of the effect of water flow on the back slope and seepage inside the levees. In addition, the effectiveness of several proposed countermeasures for preventing collapse was confirmed.     

Sequencing and combining participation in urban planning: The case of tsunami-ravaged Onagawa Town,Japan

Onagawa, a remote rural town in Japan, is on the verge of crisis: its population is aging and shrinking, and this adversity has been even more pronounced since the town was ravaged by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami. In its struggle to survive and revive, the town has emerged as a gem of participatory governance by instituting a multitude of participatory mechanisms with renewed leadership. This development shows how disasters induced by natural hazards can be a catalyst for progressive democratic change in a rural town like Onagawa, in contrast with earlier findings that disasters adversely affect democratic institutions and values. Onagawa's case also draws scholarly and policy attention to how to sequence and combine different participatory mechanisms in urban planning. Informed by field work, the study modifies an existing theoretical model to systematically highlight Onagawa's participatory mechanisms during the reconstruction planning, including their differences and complementarities. This institutional plurality served multiple purposes, including (i) allowing lay stakeholders to brainstorm a general reconstruction plan, (ii) avoiding the conflation of technical and lay discussions, (iii) reaching out to evacuees who were not able to participate, and (iv) educating citizens on town planning in hopes of nourishing a participatory culture in the long run.     

Performance analysis of Tohoku-Shinkansen viaducts affected by the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake

Tohoku-Shinkansen viaducts in eastern Japan were designed in accordance with specifications published in the 1970s. They have less shear reinforcement than required by current design specifications. Consequently, the No. 5 Inohana viaducts of Tohoku-Shinkansen failed in shear during the 2003 Sanriku-Minami earthquake. The viaducts were retrofitted by means of steel jacketing so that they had sufficient shear capacity. The retrofitted columns of the viaducts performed well during the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. However, there is a lack of understanding of the impact of these retrofitting interventions on the vulnerability of the viaduct. It is important to recognise the relationship between the damage to the Shinkansen viaduct with retrofitted reinforced concrete columns and the ground motion intensity. After a brief review of the history of the performance of Shinkansen viaducts to several earthquakes prior to the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake, this paper presents fragility curves of the retrofitted and non-retrofitted Tohoku-Shinkansen viaducts based on nonlinear dynamic analyses and Monte Carlo simulation. It was found that the median of the fragility curve associated with the ultimate limit state for retrofitted viaduct is at least five times larger than that for as-built viaduct.     

东日本大地震灾害考察报告

日本的东日本大地震是近年来最大震级的地震,地震本身及造成的震害均具有很多特点。中日联合考察团将现场的考察及对有关问题研讨的主要内容写成本报告。对东日本大地震基本情况及主要特点,尤其是海啸的发生及范围、特征与严重程度作了重点介绍。地震灾害中由地震直接导致的建筑受害不严重,除介绍了震害总体状况,着重介绍了海啸造成的破坏状况及严重程度。除一般震况、震害外,报告中特别针对本次地震特点及国内关心的问题,重点说明了以下内容:长周期地震动的影响是本次地震的一个特点,介绍了其特性及造成的影响与有待研究的问题;日本减、隔震技术的发展现状以及在本次地震中的表现,同时对减、隔震建筑的发展中的问题作了说明;抗震加固工程在地震中的状况、经验与导向;对普遍关心的日本核电站的抗震设计,结合福岛核电站的事故作了介绍;经过本次地震之后,日本建设主管部门对建筑结构抗震初步考虑的对策。     

Deterioration of Concrete by the Oxidation of Sulphide Minerals in the Aggregate

Cases of degradation of concrete associated to iron sulphides in aggregates were recently recognized in the Trois-Rivi6res area, Canada. The aggregate used to produce concrete was an anorthositic gabbro containing various proportions of pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pentlandite. Quantitative microanalysis on sulphide minerals show that pyrrhotite contains small amount of Ni, Co, Cu and As substituting for Fe in the mineral structure. Considering element substitution, x value in the chemical formula （Fe~.xS） was calculated to 0.099 in the pyrrhotite studied. Petrographic examination of damaged concretes showed the presence of oxidized pyrrhotite. The observation of polished samples shows, in several cases, that the pyrite is intact while the pyrrhotite presents evident signs of oxidation. In the presence of water and oxygen, pyrrhotite oxidizes to form iron oxyhydroxides and sulphuric acid. The acid then reacts with the phases of the cement paste and provokes the formation of gypsum and ettringite. These minerals were observed by SEM-EDS （scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer） and their precipitation causes a volume increase that creates expansion and cracking of the concrete.     

Organizational Trouble Shooting through Integration between the Theory of the Restrictions Thinking Process and Lean Tools

The theory of constraints thinking process, created by Israeli physicist Eliyahu M. Goldratt, has emerged as a tool for achieving competitive advantage. Many researches also focused on the application of lean thinking developed by Toyota and proposed by Ohno. This philosophy has been proven to be effective in several production processes. This paper aims to propose a method of problem solving through the integration of theory of constraints thinking process and the principles of lean production. As a tool for problem identification, the method defends the use of current reality tree and, to solve problems, the lean thinking tools, proposed by Picchi. The developed method was implemented in a contractor. The research methodology was research-action. Among the results, there was a realistic diagnosis about the core problems in company. According to this, the core problem of the contractor is “the lack of commitment of manpower” that results in the main problem “the financial loss”. The principle of perfection was verbalized as a proposal to solve the problems and the tools to be implemented for solving problems were “commitment of senior management to employees” and “simplicity in communication”.     

Absorbing the Rapid Growth of Shopping Centres in Poland after the Political Change

The aim of this paper is to present the development of shopping centres in Poland after its political transition. From that time, all types of shopping centres were built, starting from the very basic first generation and developing into the most current formats. In the article, types of shopping centres are compared to their western origins. Planning laws and procedures that apply to the processes are also described, with an example of a law that was introduced to specifically control growth of shopping centres. Apart from that current trends and growth possibilities in the present market situation are discussed. As a result, a very rapid development process was observed, with little hampering from the planning policies. This may be used as a point of reference for other countries that have not yet encountered that process.     

Simplified Analysis of the Effect of Soil Liquefaction on the Earthquake Pile Response

The time-history response of a structure-pile system during soil liquefaction is highly complicated and several analytical methods have been proposed through the accuracy verification based on the comparison with the experimental works. However, the analytical methods with higher accuracy often require large computational loads and are not necessarily preferred in the actual design practice. On the other hand, while the response spectrum method is not accurate compared to the aforementioned methods, it can provide useful design guidelines in the preliminary stage for structure-pile systems under soil liquefaction with acceptable accuracy. In this paper, the previously proposed response spectrum method for a structure-pile-soil system is used where the effect of soil liquefaction is taken into account by introducing the so-called p-multiplier method. It is shown that, while in the case of inner partial liquefaction with a non-liquefied layer at the top, the demand on the pile moment is large due to the inertial effect of that non-liquefied layer at the top, in the case of overall liquefaction near the ground surface, the demand is smaller than the case of inner partial liquefaction.     

Effect of the Chord-Brace Angle on the Strength of Rectangular Hollow Sections K- and N-Joints in Galvanized Structures

An important consideration when using hot-dip galvanized tubular structures is the uncertainty of the joint behaviour due to the possible reduction in the global joint resistance produced by the vent holes required for the galvanizing process. This paper assesses the effect on the joint strength of the angle between the brace members and the chord in a K- or N-joints made with rectangular hollow sections. The study is focused on the case when those brace members include characteristic holes required for the hot-dip galvanizing process. To accomplish the objective of the proposed work, some tests on full-scale K- and N-joints, including angles of 35°, 45°, 55° and 90°, were carried out. The experimental work was complemented by a validated numerical simulation in order to give some design recommendations and to extend the research to other joint configurations.     

Behaviour of Concrete Elements under the Shear Forces and Strengthening with the Fibre Reinforcement Polymers

The paper presents the behaviour of concrete elements, in this case the beams under the different loadings result with the capacity of section. In analyzing process, results are followed with the deflections of beams and the cracks. In this paper, we analyse the type, form and dimensions of cracks under the third point load method of applied loads in simple concrete beam. To improve the capacity, the authors use the different types of FRP （fibre reinforcement polymers）, including the glass fibre reinforcement polymers and carbon fibre reinforcement polymers, comparing the deflections and cracks. The focused parameters are in using the different methods for transversal force, including the primary forms with steel stirrups and the new proposal for using the outside stirrups from FRP. The all analyses presented in this paper are based on the analytical model and experimental results. The behaviour of beams under the mixed form with ordinary steel stirrups and proposal stirrups from FRP, successfully increase the energetic capacity of sections.     

Application of the Principles of Lean Thinking in the Post Construction Department

The increase on the competitiveness, the search on the customer satisfaction, the search by reducing waste in the civil construction were facts which helped entrepreneurs and companies to seek new ways of working, being lean construction one of the ways to get that. Studies report that the application of the lean tools in construction was carried out in an isolated way. This type of application was pointed as a major factor limiting the extent of achievement in implementing lean principles. The aim of this studies is to identify opportunities to implement the principles of lean production in the service department of a construction company in Goi~is, proposing routines that try to implement the continuous improvement of its processes, eliminating waste, reducing the lead time, allow it to perform the mapping processes, applying the just-in-time and among others, providing services that add value to the customer satisfaction. It was possible to establish the average time for each step, allowing to identify possible improvements in the department, from the perspective of lean principles. The research paper concludes by pointing out the activities for the Department of Post Construction work from building companies, from lean concepts.     

Seismic Techniques for Surveying the Underground of Shallow Foundations

For civil structures founded on shallow foundations, the ground underneath the foundation often holds the greatest risks of the total structure. This can be due to of a very soft soil layer, an inhomogeneous subsurface or a hidden dangerous object. It would be most favorable when a cheap and quick kind of seismic ＂tap-and-listen＂ technique can be used to detect those risks. The problem is however that an applied pulse or blast always creates a combination of compression-, shear- and surface-waves. These types of waves have different wave velocities and will return therefore at different time intervals. For a shallow subsurface technique, all these waves will overlap, which makes the interpretation very hard. Both the single pulse technique and the single-frequency, multiple wave technique （constant vibration） have been studied, but both techniques have their limitations. It can be concluded from finite element calculations that it will be difficult or even impossible to design good seismic techniques for surveying the underground of shallow foundations for hidden shallow potholes, etc.. The main reason is that the relative amount still present original wave. objects like water pipelines, undetonated bombs, dead bodies, coffins, of reflected energy is simply too low in comparison to the energy of the     

Validation of a Value Management Approach Developed for the Saudi Public Sector

A VM （value management） approach was developed that better suits the culture and the context of the SPS （Saudi Public Sector）. This approach provided a comprehensive assessment of VM at institutional, organizational and project levels. This paper illustrates the procedures that were used to validate the developed VM approach. For the institutional and organizational levels, the VM approach was validated by conducting telephone interviews with three experts from three organizations that use VM and with two senior managers from the MOF （Ministry of Finance）. Mainly, it was found that the MOF should be supported by experts to set up a centre of excellence that can set VM policy, guidelines and standards for the promotion of VM in the SPS, in order to ensure achieving value for money spent in SPS projects. The developed VM approach, as it would be applied at the project level, was presented to 11 experts, all of whom completed a validation questionnaire and presented their comments. Subsequently, the questionnaires were analyzed and the VM approach was amended to reflect the inputs provided by these experts. It was concluded that VM should be applied at least twice on SPS projects. Firstly, it is to review and structure strategic and project briefs to sort out soft issues, and secondly, it is to optimize project designs and sort out hard issues.     

Mechanical Properties of Graphene within the Framework of Gradient Theory of Adhesion

The gradient model of two-dimensional defectless medium is formulated. A graphene sheet is examined as an example of such two-dimensional medium. The problem statement of a graphene sheet deforming in its plane and the bending problem are examined. It is ascertained that the statement of the first problem is equivalent to the flat problem statement of Toupin gradient theory. The statement of the bending problem is equivalent to the plate bending theory of Timoshenko with certain reserves. The characteristic feature of both statements is the fact that the mechanical properties of the sheet of graphene are not defined by “volumetric” moduli but by adhesive ones which have different physical dimension that coincides with the dimension of the corresponding stiffness of classical and nonclassical plates.     

Correlation between the Bearing Capacity of Crude Oil Contaminated Soil of Mgbede and the Percentage Contamination

This study was conducted in Mgbede, River State, Nigeria, hosting up to, or even more than 100 oil wells. It examined the relationship between the bearing capacity of crude oil contaminated soil and the percentage contamination. Four uncontaminated soil samples were randomly collected at 1.5 m depth within the oil field with hand auger and analyzed for the load bearing properties limited to cohesion, angle of internal friction and bulk density. With these parameters, the bearing capacity was determined for each sample. Crude oil, collected from one of the oil wells with viscosity 0.02611 poises at 40~C and specific gravity 0.8227 g/cm3, was used as the contaminant. This was mixed with the soil sample at 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% concentrations. The mean values of the bearing capacity were 582.458 KN/m2, 495.35 KN/m2 for square and strip footings respectively at 0% contamination, 240.735 KN/m2 and 204.753 KN/m2 at 5%, 321.683 KN/m2 and 274.593 KN/m2 at 10%, 127.003 KN/m2 and 109.12 KN/m2 at 15%, 105.28 KN/m2 and 90.758 KN/m2 at 20% for square and strip footings, respectively. The results showed a consistent decrease in the load bearing values as the crude oil content increased. The result of the null hypothesis established a strong and significant relationship between the bearing capacity of crude oil contaminated soil and the percentage contamination.     

A Comparative Study on the Flexural Behaviour of Waffle and Solid Slab Models When Subjected to Point Load

The determinations of flexural behavior of some engineering structures are based on different theories and equations, but it has been observed that some of these equations may not give true representation. This work has looked into the difference that may occur between theoretical and experimental results. An experimental test carried out on models of waffle and solid slabs structures were described and results from twenty test samples are presented. Each specimen was subjected to an incremental axial loading of 1 kN interval after 28 days of casting. The flexural moments, deflections and crack width at failure were obtained. The experimental flexural crack and theoretical flexural cracks for both types of slabs were compared. The result for flexural moments for waffle was 5.526 kNm, while solid slab was 3.684 kNm. The deflections showed that waffle slabs has 3.64 mm while solid has 9.28 mm, hence waffle has a higher structural stiffness than solid slabs, but the flexural cracks did not give the same results especially for the estimated crack width. It was concluded that estimated results based on developed equations may not be accurate because it is based on ideal situation.