Sendai Water Pipeline Response to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Damage caused by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake （Mw 9.0） to transmission and distribution pipelines in Sendai City is summarized. The locations of the pipeline repairs are discussed relative to earthquake intensity, geomorphologic conditions and landform change in the developed areas of hilly land. Repair rate （repairs/km） is summarized according to pipe material and presence or absence of artificial landform change. The following findings were obtained： （1） More than 80% of the repairs took place in pipelines installed in higher lands such as hill and terrace areas consisting of hard soils; （2） Nearly all the pipe repairlocations in hill areas are where landform change was made through land development tor residential purposes over me past several decades; （3） The aforementioned repair rate was more than 3.6 times than that of other lowland areas where no landform change occurred. The heaviest concentrations of pipe repairs of vinyl chloride pipes and ductile iron pipes were observed within the boundary area between cutting and filling, having a thickness between -2.5 m and 2.5 m. Approximately 78% of the all pipe repairs occurred outside of areas where severe ground failures took place. A mechanism of pipe damage in the areas free of severe ground failure was discussed.

The Seismic Characteristics of Surface Ground of Zushi-Site during the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake

In Tokyo Metropolitan University, the horizontal and vertical array earthquake observations has begun in June 1994 at the five stations （kl-k5） on the ground surface and bedrock （k6：-30 m depth） at Zushi-site. More than 200 medium and small earthquakes with the magnitude 5.0-7.3 were recorded between 1994 and 2012. At the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake （EQ.3.11 M = 9.0）, the largest surface ground acceleration （kl = 124.5 gal, k6 = 45.5 gal） of the horizontal component was recorded. Main results were obtained as follows： （1） the surface ground motion characteristics of Zushi-site were examined using the observed data （kl ＆ k6） of EQ.3.11, the past-observed smaller earthquakes （EQ.1 ＆ EQ.10.08） and aftershock （EQ.12.3）, respectively. The non-liner seismic response characteristics of the surface ground at Zushi-site were verified during EQ.3.11. （2） The ground structure models were examined and identified by the modal analyses and the FEM （finite element method） identification analyses using the observed acceleration data of EQ.3.11 and the past observed smaller earthquakes. （3） Moreover, the three dimensional seismic response analyses were performed by TDAPUl （time domain 3-dimensional dynamic analysis program）, using k6 for input motions and identified ground structure model, and evaluated the dynamic behaviours of the surface ground. The calculated results agreed well with the observed ones.

Slotted Hole Effect on Damage Mechanism of Gymnasium Building with RC Frame and Steel Roof

On the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, gymnasium buildings exhibited the unexpected structural damages, which prevented a use as evacuation shelters in during- and post-disaster periods. The major failure occurring on the connection between the RC column top and steel roof as well as the cracks in the RC column base was observed during the emergent inspection. According to the earlier studies, it was implied that the presence of the slotted hole possibly deteriorates the seismic capacity;however, the length of slotted hole was fixed at a certain value. Facing this concern, this research attempts to clarify the influence of the slotted hole length through a comprehensive parametric study by pushover and seismic response analyses. In conclusion, it has been discovered that the slotted hole deteriorates the seismic capacity for the connection failure up to almost 50% of that without slotted hole. Moreover, the discrepancy of characteristics obtained by the static and dynamic analyses is originated by means of the presence of slotted hole. This slotted hole effect should be noted by structural engineers and researchers to provide the adequate seismic diagnosis and strengthening.