Messages from Bridge Research and Education Team, Yokohama National University
Messages from the bridge research group, YNU
Purpose of our group is research and education in structures of the bridge, from ordinary bridges in your neighborhood to long-span bridges of cable-stayed bridges and suspension Bridges. Our investigation are to keep safety and relentless service of those bridge under various loadings, including the strong wind and the earthquake, as a part of the infrastructure.
Since our activities are very much specialized, if necessary, contact with us. We will be happy to help you. Contents here are just introduction of our activities, but we will be pleased if those assist your understanding of the bridges and those can be a trigger to start discussions on them.
For revised version of our web page
Hitoshi YAMADA, Professor August 2008
Our research target is design and construction of new bridges and maintenance of existing bridges as a part of our civilization and their maintenance for the sustainable development of our global society.
Topics which are frequently asked and have been materials of our lectured at various occasions are following. Further information will be shown here.
- Meaning of bridges
- History of bridges
- History of suspension bridges
- Type of bridges
- Suspension bridges and strong wind
- Wind-induced oscillation and wind tunnel experiments
- Health monitoring of bridges
- Vibration of bridges, vibration control, base isolation
- Wind engineering and Seismic engineering
- What should be studies to start the bridges engineering
- What should be studies to start the wind engineering
- Why I like to study the bridges.
- etc.
Research topics
Topics of our research activities can be summarized as below. Their details are here
Bridge and wind
- Fundamental knowledge for wind tunnel experiments
- Response analysis systems for bridge behavior under wind action
- Statistical Typhoon track simulation, considering the global warming
- Response analysis systems for bridge behavior under wind action in time domain
- New generation of turbulence simulation
- Aerodynamic PE stay cables for cable-stayed bridge
- Wind induced vibration of inclined cables
- Application of CFD to Wind induced vibration of bridges and cables
Bridge and Vibration
- Limit span length of suspension bridges
- Suppression of low-frequency noise from bridges
- Health monitoring of bridges for their maintenance and recovery from damages due to the earthquake disaster
- Development and installation of Weigh-In-Motion
- Development of new sensors for the monitoring
- New proposals for low-cost suspension bridges
- Development and installation study of base-isolation devices
- Rational criteria for the steel failure
- strength of anti-weathering steels due to their corrosion under various exposures
Research projects
Monitoring of steel bridges
Dr. Nishio is working on Myoko Bridge monitoring project.
Wind engineering discussion of proposed bridges
Every year we have some in Japanese and overseas bridge discussion. But Most of them cannot be opened for public
During long recession, market of domestic long span bridges are eliminated, but in these years some new projects of cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges have started. This is a waiting good news for bridge engineers. On the other hand under the globalization not only bridge projects by Japanese company in Foreign country bu also collaboration with foreign institutes and universities have become shape.