Second-year UGAS student Takashi Momiyama won the technology development award at the 60th anniversary ceremony of the Shikoku Branch of the Japanese Geotechnical Society, held in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, on October 2, 2019. The award is given to those who contribute to both the branch and geotechnical engineering. Takashi shared the prize with his supervisor, Professor Tadashi Hara from Kochi University, Shin Oikawa of Nippon Steel Corporation, and Namihiko Tanaya of Eight-Japan Engineering Consultants Inc. The award was for their work on ‘the development of seismic reinforcement of pond banks using sheet piles’.
Comment from Takashi Momiyama
In recent years, many agricultural ponds have been breached because of earthquakes and heavy rain, resulting in people suffering loss and injury.
I am working on research and development of a method that inhibits the bursting and subsidence of pond banks by driving steel building materials called “sheet piles” into the bank and building a wall body inside the pond. There were two notable aspects of the research: 1) after compiling research such as through model experiments, this construction method was linked to an actual application; 2) this method is effective for pond breaches caused by not only earthquakes but also heavy rain.
In the future, we intend to develop this method in the form of a design manual and promote it all over Japan.
Takashi Momiyama (far left) and collaborators