Research Support
SPIRITS

Engineering for non-engineered systems

Project Gist

Global disaster mitigation by bottom-up of non-engineered house performances

Keywords

disaster mitigation, engineering, traditional architecture, conventional construction, quantitative assessment

Background, Purpose, and Project Achievements

Most of natural hazard damages around the world occur at non-engineered constructions, which are constructed without relying on engineering knowledge. The ultimate objective of the research is to mitigate global natural hazard damages by assessing the performances of non-engineered constructions employing state-of-the-art knowledge and technology and on this basis identifying effective improvement measures. Within this project an approach for this and a network among researchers and practitioners were developed taking as example wind-resistant performance of houses in Myanmar, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

Future Prospects

Our research aims to contribute global natural disaster mitigation by improving structural performance of local non-engineered houses with appreciation to their architectural characteristics. Thereby, our research intends to maintain and diversify uniqueness of local architectural styles around the world.

Figures

Feedback of state-of-the-art technology to the development of engineering knowledge on non-engineered systems
A non-engineered house in east coast of the Leyte Island, the Philippines
Wind tunnel experiments clarify wind loading on non-engineered houses.
Material tests clarify structural performance of construction materials in non-engineered houses.

Principal Investigator

NISHIJIMA Kazuyoshi

・NISHIJIMA Kazuyoshi
・Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI)
・Having lived in Europe for 10 years I came back to Japan in summer 2013. For now I try to get (re)use to the Japanese customs. I like the phase “why not do it today?” My research interests are natural hazard risk assessment and engineering decision making under uncertainties.
http://www.taifu.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/