Research

Creation of social infrastructures that continue to function and support society during and after disasters

Roads that support usual people's mobility and logistics not only function as evacuation routes and emergency routes in the event of earthquakes and other disasters, but also serve as social infrastructure for recovery and reconstruction as transportation routes for materials and equipments. In other words, it is precisely in times of disaster that the transportation function of road networks must continue to function. On the other hand, looking back on past disasters, there have been many cases of long-term and significant socioeconomic losses caused by damage to bridges, which require a long period of time for restoration once severely damaged.

Based on multiple hazards such as sudden earthquakes, floods, and aging deterioration of structures, our laboratory is conducting research on the following issues: 1) performance improvement of members that are prone to damage, 2) damage induction to the most easily restorable members in a structure, and 3) Securing and improving traffic functions as a road network consisting of heterogeneous structures such as bridges, embankments and slopes. Our research aims to contribute to the creation of social infrastructure facilities that can continue to function and support society even during and after disasters by organically linking and spiraling up the three levels of components, structures, and networks.