The Eighth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction 5-7 December 2001, Nanyang Technological University,

Singapore

Paper No.: 1396

ON DEVELOPMENT OF ROAD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME SEISMIC DISASTER MITIGATION

Atsushi Mori1 , Ryoichi Fujita 2 , Yoshiharu Mizugami3 and Yoshinori Igase4

ABSTRACT: This paper describes basic concepts and essential ideas to develop a road management
system for seismic disaster mitigation based on real time seismic observation using strong motion network systems. In order to minimize damage caused by seismic attacks, and improve safety and reliability of road structures, a new road management system for highways applying strong motion seismometers has been planed to establish by Japan Highway Public Corporation Expressway Research Institute[1]. The paper mentions present circumstances of the strong motion observation in Japan and necessity of systematic actions to disclose research outcomes including collected seismic observation data among research institutions regardless of either private organization or public organization.

KEYWORDS: road management, strong motion seismometer, seismic observation, monitoring system
1. INTRODUCTION Japan is one of the rare countries in the world where are frequently hit by major earthquakes. The devastating damage caused by the Great Hanshin Earthquake on January 17, 1995 demonstrated, once again, the fear of earthquakes and the importance of seismic design. Analyses on the damage to road structures revealed that the major causes were insufficient shear strength for concrete structures and unexpectedly large seismic forces for steel structures. The analyses however focused on local damage to the structures, and the relationship between such damage and deterioration of the overall strength of structures has not yet been fully verified. When evaluating the overall stability of structures during earthquakes, it is essential to first identify their seismic behavior. Seismic records observed due to the Great Hanshin Earthquake, however, are not sufficient enough to verify the seismic behavior of road structures including bridges. This fact stimulated various organizations to accelerate strong seismic motion monitoring. From the characteristics of recent earthquakes in Japan, seismologists and seismic engineering experts point out that crucial movement, which causes inter-plate earthquakes and earthquakes due to seismic faults, is active in Western Japan and the possibility of inter-plate earthquakes is increasing along the coast facing the Pacific Ocean in Central and Eastern Japan. In addition, active seismic faults exist almost everywhere in the country, and earthquakes (although not strong) frequently occur even in areas where faults are not recognized, which poses unpredictable threats. Since traffic safety is the most important requirement for bridges in highway, road administrators must ensure proper road management during earthquake disasters. The term "road management during earthquakes" here refers to swift and appropriate traffic control immediately after earthquake disasters
1 2 3 4

Japan Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd. Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Dept., Japan, Ph.D. Japan Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd. Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Dept., Japan, M.E. Japan Highway Public Corporation Sendai Engineering Office, Japan Japan Highway Public Corporation Expressway Research Institute, Japan, M.E.

(including judgment of the serviceability of roads), and judgment of the necessity o inspection and f emergency repair (identification of the location and extent of damage). Because of this reason, it has become necessary for Japan Highway Public Corporation[2] (herein after referred to JH, an organization to administrate intercity highways in Japan) to take new actions for highway management during earthquake disasters. This paper explains the concept of a management system for road structures during earthquakes, which has been proposed by the JH Expressway Research Institute and which is based on real-time monitoring of strong seismic motion. 2. PRESENT CIRCUMSTANSE OF STRONG SEISMIC MOTION MONITORING IN JAPAN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ESTABLISHING A MONITORING NETWORK After the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, strong seismic motion monitoring systems by public institutions is being rapidly improved. The K-NET[3], which was developed by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED[4], an independent administrative entity) as one of such systems, has about 1,000 monitoring points (provided on free field) nationwide, and is equipped with the best conceivable strong motion seismometers and operation systems which allow on-line monitoring of seismic movement: the information obtained by the K-NET is disclosed via the Internet. Even though several other organizations such as the Meteorological Agency[5] have been monitoring seismic motion using seismometers and strong motion seismometers, most of them are installed on ground and the number of such seismometers provided to road structures (including bridges) is limited. Although the JH Expressway Research Institute installed many strong seismic motion monitoring devices to road bridges during late 1960s and late 1980s, when the highway networks were considerably improved and extended, their functions (e.g. data recording system and data collection system) are becoming obsolete, so most of the devices do not meet the requirement of present road management during earthquake disasters. In addition, since the current seismic design method treats the whole structure of a bridge as one system and evaluates its seismic performance, the seismic motion monitoring system needs to be capable of identifying the behavior of the whole structure (consisting of the superstructure, substructure, foundation, and the ground which supports them) . The rapid growth of information tools in recent years has made it possible to improve the efficiency of collecting and recording the monitoring data. Figure 1 shows the locations of strong motion seismometers installed by the JH Expressway Research Institute and devices for the K-NET. The methods to verify the characteristics of earthquakes and their effects on structures are as follows; i) Strong seismic motion observation ii) Numerical simulation iii) Tests using such equipment as a vibration table. Since the seismic behavior of a structure must be identified prior to conducting the second and third methods above, it is essential anyway to conduct strong seismic motion observation (the first method) under proper conditions to obtain necessary data. To achieve this objective, establishing a strong seismic motion observation network (which includes appropriate deployment of monitoring points in collaboration with related organizations and interactive use of data obtained) is thought to be effective. On the basis of this concept, the JH Expressway Research Institute is planning to utilize other organizations' monitoring networks and to promote cooperation with other organizations as well as to improve its own monitoring network and techniques to simulate the behavior of structures. The necessity and importance of strong seismic motion observation for road structures are as follows: 1) Importance from the viewpoint of road management
After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, interest in swift rehabilitation after an earthquake as well as that

Expressway JH

K-NET (NIED)

Figure 1 Locations of strong-motion seismometers

in improvement of urban functions and the seismic performance of structures are growing. With respect to roads, one of the important infrastructures, their availability immediately after a disaster is greatly important for social rehabilitation, and the duration of closure of highways should be minimized. It is also necessary without delay to judge whether highways are in serviceable condition[6].

2) Significance of the evaluation of seismic safety It is almost impossible for the currently available techniques to precisely predict the seismic behavior of bridges. The main reason for this is that since there are not sufficient data in order to predict seismic response of structures, the behavior of structures in presumably linear response range hit by even small earthquakes cannot be fully verified. If the relationship between the measurement data (e.g. acceleration waves) and damage to structures is identified, it will facilitate decision on the serviceability of highways which is mentioned in the above clause 1). 3) Significance of improvement of seismic technologies which enable transition to performance-based design Since transition to seismic design specifications which emphasize structural performance is now a worldwide trend, it is necessary in the future to further improve the quality of design. In order to make seismic design reliable, it is essential during the design stage that the seismic behavior of the structure be identified and that the safety as well as functionality and cost-effectiveness be taken into consideration. It is expected that the accuracy and reliability of predicting the seismic behavior of structures will be improved by establishing the monitoring of strong seismic motion.

3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PLANS FOR A SYSTEM TO ALLOW ROAD MANAGEMENT DURING EARTHQUAKE DISASTERS Prior to establishing a system to allow road management during earthquake disasters, the status (present circumstance), problems (objective), and solutions (scheme) were classified as shown in Figure 2. In addition, the relationship among the factors which are needed to be taken into consideration when developing technologies for road management during earthquake disasters is given in Figure 3. The desired road management during earthquake disasters is impossible, unless the technologies for factors in Figure 3 are improved to some extent. Particularly, even if enough data on strong seismic motion are collected, desired objectives cannot be achieved unless the seismic behavior of road structures (damage-collapse mechanism) is identified and numerically simulated with reasonable accuracy. It is therefore necessary to combine the results of strong seismic motion monitoring and the results obtained by related organizations through projects to improve seismic technologies, and to improve technologies to evaluate the seismic safety of structures. As part of activities to achieve these objectives, a "Study on the Improvement of Earthquake Disaster Prevention Measures for Infrastructures with Consideration Given to the Collapse Process of Structures[7][8]" has been started since 1999 for five years as a national research project. The study includes the verification of the collapse mechanism of bridges, soil structures, and underground structures; the development of technologies to improve seismic performance; and the sophistication, refinement, and accuracy improvement of seismic design methods. It is also essential to establish an administrative structure that can utilize information on seismic behavior of structures (which are obtained from the strong seismic motion monitoring network by the JH Expressway Research Institute) and the outcomes of future studies. 4. CLOSING REMARKS

1) Anticipated conditions: status i Some damage is inevitable when an earthquake occurs. ii Lag in the improvement of seismic resistivity of existing structures iii Considerable economic loss due to the deterioration of the functions of roads caused by earthquakes

2) Necessary actions: problems i Improvement of anti-earthquake technologies and clarification of measures to be taken before and after earthquakes to minimize the time for road rehabilitation (economic loss) (risk management for road operation) ii Identification of seismic behavior of various road structures (structures below the ground level, tunnels, bridges, etc.) and verification of the relationship between the extent of damage and structural stability

3) Specific Actions: solutions i Long-term continuation (with a broader perspective) of data collection and data analysis by promoting monitoring of strong seismic motion ii Taking necessary measures in collaboration with related organizations (Problems cannot be solved by JH alone.) iii Establishment of an administrative system which enables sharing and exchanging information (information disclosure)

Figure 2. Present circumstance and problems of and solutions for road management during earthquakes

This paper described the purposes and roles of a system to monitor damage to road structures after earthquakes and the concept for creating the system. Deployment of a network for monitoring strong seismic motion and utilization of the data obtained from the network cannot be done by single organization alone. JH is therefore planning to establish a cooperation system in which necessary data are provided to engineers and research organizations, both domestic and overseas, and feedback information is received, so that the monitoring system is further improved (Figure 4). Although the purposes and objectives of seismic motion monitoring and research vary from organization and organization, it is though that they have many in common, so there are considerable advantages in the interactive use of monitoring data and technologies. In addition, in order to make strong seismic motion monitoring more effective, it is essential to feedback the research outcomes to the monitoring system and dynamically modify the monitoring system in accordance with the technical problems of

Strong seismic motion monitoring sites and those provided by other organizations than JH

EARTHQUAKE OCCURRENCE

MONITORING SYSTEM OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAN JH

Interactive use of strong seismic motion data Transfer of strong seismic motion data to JH Expressway Research Institute JH Expressway Research Institute Disclosure of monitoring data on strong seismic motion IN-HOUSE SYSTEM OF JH EXPRESSWAY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Sharing of study.

Identification of behavior of road structures during earthquakes

Processing of monitoring data on strong seismic motion Processing and reproduction of acceleration waves and deformation waves Calculation of spectra (Fourier spectrum and power spectrum) Calculation of wave propagation characteristics

Improvement of seismic design methods using numerical analyses Numerical analyses for road structures based on monitoring data on strong seismic motion

Identification of the status of damage to road structures

Survey on damage to each part of road structures caused by earthquakes whose strong seismic motion data were obtained, and detailed analysis on the extent of the damage

Establishment of technologies for operating road structures during earthquakes Management of road structures including bridges during earthquakes Improvement of aseismic technologies, creation of proper road management criteria in accordance with the technologies, and improvement of the reliability

Identification of seismic behavior Evaluation of transfer characteristics of input ground motion Evaluation of response characteristic of road structures Creation of a database

Use of analysis methods based on comparison with monitoring data, and calibration of analysis conditions

Damage to road structures revealed by tests identification of the collapse mechanism

Improvement of technologies for evaluating the seismic safety of road structures.

Provision of safe and reliable road-related services

Figure 3 Relationships among factors to be considered for developing the system

the time. This requires that the monitoring system be flexible and that the purposes and principles of the monitoring be reviewed on a regular basis. In the future, it will be necessary to closely link strong seismic motion monitoring and development of its technologies, and to regularly assess their effectiveness so that a proper monitoring system can be established and operated. JH Expressway Research Institute has been started actions to realize the above-mentioned framework and road management system.

iSeismic motion monitoring by JH iTechnologies specially used for JH's business activities

Utilization of monitoring seismic record by disclosure Identification of seismic behavior of bridges Improvement of seismic technologies using numerical analysis methods Establishment of criteria for evaluating the damage extent of bridges Development of technologies for evaluating the performance of structures damaged by earthquakes Development of technologies for early rehabilitation of structures damaged by earthquakes

iSeismic motion monitoring by various organizations iTechnologies for the standardization of seismic design

INTERACTIVE USE

Research institutions and engineers in other organizations than JH

Figure 4 Interactive use of information among engineers and various organizations

5. REFERENCES
[1] Japan Highway Public corporation Expressway Research Institute http://www.jhri.japan-highway.go.jp/index-e.shtml [2] Japan Highway Public Corporation http://www.japan-highway.go.jp/english_new/index.html [3] National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention http://www.bosai.go.jp/index.html [4] Kyoshin-Net http://www.k-net.bosai.go.jp/index_e.html [5] Japan Meteorological Agency http://www.kishou.go.jp/english/index.html [6] Fumio YAMAZAKI, Hitoshi MOTOMURA and Tatsuya HAMADA, Damage Assessment of Expressway Networks in Japan Based on Seismic Monitoring, 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering 2000 [7] Proceedings of the First Symposium on the Improvement of Earthquake Disaster Prevention Measures for Infrastructures with Consideration Given to the Collapse Process of structures, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, March, 2000 (in Japanese) [8] Proceedings of the Second Symposium on the Improvement of Earthquake Disaster Prevention Measures for Infrastructures with Consideration Given to the Collapse Process of Structures, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, March, 2001 (in Japanese)