Cross-Ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)
Civil
engineering structures constructed around the rapid economic
growth days of Japan are beginning to deteriorate. Many will
have been in service for over 50 years and the number of such
structures is expected surge in the coming years. Under such
circumstances, discussions on how to maintain the infrastructure
have been going on for a long time. The Infrastructure
Maintenance Engineering Joint-sub-committee, a joint working
group of various committees belonging to the Japan Society of
Civil Engineers (JSCE), has published, in 2004, a book titled
Social Infrastructure
Maintenance Engineering, in which maintenance engineering is
systematically organized. Since then, cross-sectional research
and technological development for maintenance have been
underway, though less technology
for innovation have presently been introduced yet in the field.
Thus, for the moment, maintenance of infrastructures is carried
out following judgements made based on the experience of skilled
engineers and results of on-site surveys.
But in other engineering fields, technological innovation
applying information and communication technology (ICT) has
progressed remarkably just in these past 20 years. We are
enjoying the conveniences provided by the Internet that were
unimaginable in the past. At the Japan Society of Civil
Engineers, Tamiharu Tashiro, former president of the JSCE, has
put up the development of next-generation construction
technology, using ICT, robots, and other technologies, as one of
major themes for his special task force to tackle. In the
future, we expect that cooperation not just between the various
fields of civil engineering but with other engineering fields
will lead to major technological advancements in maintenance
technology.
Development
of Infrastructure Maintenance, Renovation, and Management
technology, is a project (hereinafter, SIP Infrastructure
Project) in the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program(SIP), led
by the Cabinet of Japan, that focuses on cooperation between
various fields of study.
Research and development in the SIP Infrastructure Project is
carried out with a focus on joining hands with a broad range of
cutting-edge technologies -- combining civil engineering with
ICT, robotics, and other innovative technologies – and not be
confined by the boundaries of existing technologies. This
Special Edition of Newsletter to translate Feature Article of
JSCE magazine (Vol. 102, No. 10) on the SIP Infrastructure
Project was planned in the hopes of offering our readers
knowledge not only on cutting-edge technologies but that which
crosses over various fields.
A major portion of infrastructures are managed by local public
organizations. So maintaining infrastructures appropriately
within a limited budget is a major issue. In 2014, visual
inspection from a close distance once every 5 years became
compulsory for tunnels and for road bridges which are 2 meters
or more long. But evaluation of bridges in visual inspections
depends on the skill of the inspector and skillful inspectors
are indispensable. Nevertheless, in regional areas, especially,
there are not enough such inspectors and funds are limited;
Japan, that is a serious issue that needs to be resolved. In the
future, it will be effective to evaluate civil engineering
structures efficiently and objectively through observations
using ultrasound and radio waves with UAV (Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle), robots, and other devices, and not rely on visual
inspections from a close distance by inspectors.
Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of SIP Infrastructure Project
（http://www.jst.go.jp/sip/k07_en.html）
In the SIP Infrastructure Project there are 60 research and
development themes under five development topics (Fig. 1.) that
were adopted in fiscal 2014. In fiscal 2016, 11 research and
development themes were added for the purpose of implementing
the developed technologies. The list of 60 research and
development themes are introduced in the article on the
conversation between Dr. Kazuo Kyuma, the chair of the SIP
governing board, and Dr. Yozo Fujino, SIP Infrastructure Program
Director (PD).
In
this Special Edition No.52, Dr. Kazuo Kyuma and Dr. Yozo Fujino
discuss the outline of SIP, the process of how the SIP
Infrastructure Project was selected as a national project, and
on how the project is progressing and its prospects.
Then, Mr. Yoshioka introduces what the Japanese Ministry of
Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism is doing to promote
technological development through the SIP Infrastructure
Project, to speed up the evaluation of newly developed
technologies to implement them in the field, and the direction
of future maintenance technology development the ministry is
considering.
The
SIP Infrastructure Project has a wide range of research and
development themes, so JSCE asked each SIP Infrastructure
project members to give an outline of each development topic,
shown in Fig. 1, including the special features of the
technologies. They also discussed how the SIP Infrastructure
Project’s asset management technologies are employed in other
Asian countries, the international standardization of
technologies, and about training engineers in road and bridge
maintenance technology, in cooperation with Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA). These articles will be available in
the No.53 Special Edition to be released this April 2018.
New
technologies developed through the SIP Infrastructure Project
are expected to bring major innovations in infrastructure
maintenance. But there are many issues that need to be overcome
for the technologies to be implemented. For that reason, as seen
in this special edition, JSCE have asked Mr. Tazaki, the SIP
Infrastructure Sub-Program Director, to give a summary of the
measures to expand the range of applications in civil
engineering for the new technologies. JSCE also held a
round-table meeting of the research and development members of
the regional implementation support team and asked them to
discuss problems facing each area in the implementation and
application of SIP infrastructure technologies, and what they
are doing to tackle those problems.
The
SIP is a national program created to materialize scientific and
technological innovations. It is indispensable for society and
deals with vital issues to overcome to strengthen Japan’s
economy and industrial competitiveness. It is honored in civil
engineering circles that infrastructure maintenance, an area of
civil engineering, is taken up in one of the SIP projects, but
it is not so widely known except for researchers in the field.
As described in the article on the conversation between Dr.
Kyuma and Dr. Fujino, innovative technologies for construction
and infrastructure maintenance and disaster prevention and
mitigation, which are also civil engineering field, are
indicated in the Public/Private R&D Investment Strategic
Expansion Program (PRISM), the new SIP, as one of target areas
for development. It is our hope that this Special Edition to
translate Feature Article of JSCE magazine to introduce SIP
infrastructure project will be of assistance to civil engineers
who tackle to resolve the issues facing the nation.
This
article is translated from JSCE Magazine vol.102 No.10 October
2017 and partially changed for this Special Edition.