Design of eco blocks for protection of submerged pipeline
In order to protect coastal facilities mainly from wave and current actions, the self-locking eco blocks constituting elements of protecting shore structures against scouring were designed. These blocks are adapted to the sloping bottom, coastal dunes, and submerged coastal pipelines, counteracting the destructive and erosive impulse action. A series of laboratory experiments has been conducted to investigate the reflection of water waves over and against a train of protruded or submerged shore structures and compare the reflecting capabilities of incident waves including wave forces. In this study the hydraulic model experiment was conducted to identify the performance of newly designed water affinity eco blocks to keep the coast slope and bottom mound from scouring by reduction of the wave reflection and to convince stability of the block placement. Revised design of each block element was also tested for field conditions. From the result of experiments, the field applicability of the developed blocks and placement was discussed afterward.
CONTROL OF CROSS-SHORE SEDIMENT TRANSPORT BY A DISTORTED RIPPLE MAT
A method to control cross-shore sediment transport by a distorted ripple mat which is the artificial ripples of distorted cross section has been studied through hydraulic experiments and numerical simulation. First of all,the relative importance of factors affecting cross-shore sediment transport on fixed bed ripples and the condition on which sediment is definitely transported onshoreward are obtained. Based on this condition,experiments with movable bed are carried out to see how efficiently the distorted ripple mat can be utilized in stabilizing natural/artificial beaches. Furthermore,a. numerical model of beach profile change in which effects of ripple distortion are considered has been developed and beach stabilizing effects of the mat are also reproduced numerically.
Archaeological Survey of Dangoyama Kofun by 3DGPR
We presented a three-dimensional ground penetrating radar (3DGPR) system for the archeological investigation in a harsh site, where we have to deal with many trees and/or great topographic variations. This system consists of a commercial GPR system with a laser positioning system. With this system, we can move the GPR antenna freely, on which a positioning detector can record accurate position for each GPR data trace. We applied our 3DGPR system at Dangoyama Kofun, a burial mound, in Fukushima prefecture, Japan. A lot of trees and bushes covered the survey area and cannot be cut. We acquired six datasets in two days in this area. We successfully imaged the boundary between the original surface of the burial mound and the covering soil clearly at about 0.3 m depth around the mound. Furthermore, we found some strong reflections appeared at 0.8 m depth in the top area of the mound, which can be from the artificial parts of the burial mound. The results would greatly aid the following archaeological excavation. In addition, we compared the non-interpolated depth slice with interpolated depth slice at same position and demonstrated that the interpolation process on threedimensional GPR data may introduce some artifacts which might mislead our interpretation.