Overview

New technology to accurately determine deterioration status of erosion control weirs

There are more than 60,000 erosion control weirs in Japan, many of which are 30-50 years old, or even older. In mass concrete structures such as erosion control weirs, the concrete must be accurately assessed for deterioration as it progresses to take appropriate measures. We at Yachiyo Engineering have improved the prevailing geological surveying technique in seismic exploration and developed a new method for assessing deterioration. First, receivers are placed around the perimeter of the dam, enabling analysis of elastic waves passing vertically and horizontally through the mass concrete in mesh units. Our developed method is to comprehensively visualize the elastic wave velocity structures through this analysis, and using the elastic wave velocities for each mesh square to quantitatively evaluate the state of deterioration.

Winner of the Infrastructure Maintenance Award in Japan This award recognizes outstanding work and technological developments in infrastructure maintenance in Japan, introducing them as best practices. Upon evaluation of experts from various sectors for their outstanding initiatives and technological development, ministerial awards, special awards, and awards of excellence are decided for facilities under the jurisdiction of the Japanese government. In 2021, the 5th award for excellence was awarded to Mass Concrete Health Inspections with Improved Seismic Exploration (Concrete Tomography).