We have been engaged in planning and designing of numbers of water facilities in Japan and overseas. In structural design of these facilities, we should consider not only hydraulic functions but also prevention of leakage, drinking water quality and human safety, soil conditions, structural planning and temporary facilities along with its influence to downstream areas. Many of public works projects in the past have been based on specifications, but in the future there will be more focus on performance-based approach, ensuring flexibly and reflection of the needs of the society. We carefully investigate and propose optimal design to meet diverse needs by utilizing sound experience of similar works and sophisticated design technology such as FEM analysis.
"FEM" is an abbreviation for Finite Element Method which manipulates numerical analysis for solving differential equations in an approximate manner. In this method, a structure is modelled as if it were composed of thousands of minor elements. The advantage of such model is that it can be applied for various types of structures with complex boundary conditions. This method can reproduce the actual behavior of structures better than traditional other methods.
FEM can be applied to various scenes;
・Prediction of deformation of the surrounding ground and groundwater level by temporal facilities construction
・Integrated seismic analysis for soil and structure
・Prediction of cracks of RC structures caused by hydration heat
Another advantage of FEM is, once created a model, various simulation can be performed under different conditions, which helps our client examine the available alternatives from different perspectives.
