IAC News

Tunnel Engineering Committee

Dr. Naritoshi Fukazawa
(Chair of Tunnel Engineering Committee)

Tunnel Engineering Committee was established in February 1962, and this year marked its 60th anniversary. Tunnel Engineering Committee literally is specialized in tunnel engineering. It is not usual that a committee has a name of a specific structure. In other words, it may be said that there are various issues and challenges associated with tunnel construction.

We conduct various activities such as field surveys, researches, planning, designs, constructions, operation and maintenance in order to examine and solve issues on tunnels and tunneling that change with the times. Following are some of the activities.

・Shield Tunnel Database
We created the Shield Tunnel Database for the transmission of shield tunnel construction technology and for the efficient maintenance and management of tunnels after their operation. It is managed by Shield Tunnel Database Steering Group. In addition, in cooperation with Subcommittee on Standardization of Shield Tunnel Data Association System under the Japan Construction Information Center Foundation, the guideline to associate the database with BIM/CIM model has been made.

・Technical Subcommittee (Tunnel Library)
Technical subcommittee sets up working groups to effectively deal with modern and need-to-be-worked-out issues in the tunnel engineering field. The working groups’ reports are published in the form of “Tunnel Library.” The Tunnel Library widely is referred to by tunnel engineers and researchers, which has been published up to No. 32 so far. Two new volumes of the Tunnel Library will be published this year.

・Tunnel Engineering Research Seminar
Tunnel Engineering Research Seminar, the first of which was held in 1991, is an opportunity for tunnel engineers to discuss their researches and projects and to exchange ideas and current information of tunnel technology with each other. In that seminar, over 200 tunnel experts participate in, and around 70 papers are presented. Also the committee has published “Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Series F1 (Tunnel Engineering) Special Issue”, which is another opportunity to introduce new ideas, projects and technologies, and by doing so, made contribution to the progress of tunneling engineering.

・Standard Specifications for Tunneling
Standard Specifications for Tunneling, which is the first assignment of the Tunnel Engineering Committee, was established in 1964. Since then, that We have updated the standard specifications almost every ten years to keep up to date with the progress of tunneling technology. The latest standard specifications is published in 2016, and has been used as a reference by tunnel engineers and researchers. In addition, an English translation of the 2016 version was published online in 2019. The revision process is currently underway to enact the 2026 version.
 

【Reported by  Naritoshi Fukazawa, Chair of  Tunnel Engineering Committee】

 

“The 9th World Water Forum”
Japanese High School Students Post Informative Content on Interactive Website

Tatsuhiro Komada
(Japan Water Forum,
a Certified NPO)

Held once every three years, the World Water Forum is one of the world’s largest international conferences related to water, where stakeholders of the water community from all over the world meet once a year to discuss and exhibit solutions to water-related challenges on Earth. The 9th World Water Forum was held in Dakar, Senegal for 6 days from March 21 to March 26, 2022. As one of the ways for people to participate in the event from Japan, the Japan Water Forum organized the Youth Water Forum Japan, where Japanese high school students communicated their activities in water-related fields to both a domestic and international audience by building an interactive website that enables the exchange of information with academics in a way that overcomes the language barrier, all the while staying in Japan. It is this interactive website that I would like to introduce you to today.

In the United Nations’ SDGs, the water and sanitation goals are outlined independently, demanding an assured response to international water challenges. The seriousness of water challenges is expected to go on for many years, and solving the challenges requires efforts across different generations. The goal of the Youth Water Forum Japan’s activities is to nurture young individuals who can, mainly in water-related fields, prosper on the global stage in the future. The establishment and activities of this forum were examined in collaboration with academics in Japan.

This interactive website is a place for Japanese high school students to participate free from distance, time, and language barriers by creating and posting videos roughly three minutes long in English on the topic of resolving water challenges across the world and in different regions, as well as for domestic and overseas high school students and academics to share information with each other online. To make it a platform familiar to the current generation of high school students, a Japanese and English website was built that incorporated posting videos with a video library via YouTube as well as posting content on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

For high school students, university faculty staff who supports the Youth Water Forum held a Water Culture Seminar to facilitate learning about water and provide guidance on creating videos to be shown on the interactive website. In addition, high schools from Japan and abroad involved in the initiative to date were encouraged to make videos, and as a result, over 30 videos have been posted on the website, including youngsters making reports on the variety of water in river basins in their local area.

During The 9th World Water Forum initiatives of Youth Space, a youth participation program regularly organized by the World Water Council, and the exhibition pavilion of the Japan Water Forum, the efforts of the Youth Water Forum and videos created by high school students will be shared with attendees as a basis for discussions. The interactive website that has been built will be kept up and running, and comments will be made in sessions and leaflets produced to let people know that anyone can watch the videos or share their thoughts on the website at any time.

Even after the end of the World Water Forum, more video contributions will be permanently encouraged to build on the collection of videos through the Youth Water Forum. The produced content will be shared at regular international conferences such as the World Water Forum and the Asia-Pacific Water Summit.

Through the interactive website, the next generation of high school students will think about how to solve water-related challenges across the world as a whole and in different regions and post information online to foster awareness as individuals with an international mindset. Furthermore, through communication among domestic and overseas high school students and academics, we anticipate a shared awareness of water-related challenges among people of different generations.

The building of the interactive website was carried out with financial assistance from the JSCE International Scientific Exchange Fund.

 

Call for Video Entries for the 9th World Water Forum
 

Facebook Account
 

Newly Built Interactive Website

 

University Faculty Staff Provides Video Production Support to High School Students

【Reported by Tatsuhiro Komada, (Japan Water Forum)】