Tokyo & Istanbul
15 November, 2024
Taiki Saito
Professor, Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan
ASSISi Director and Member of JSSI
1. INTRODUCTION
The Japan Society of Seismic Isolation (JSSI) and the Turkish Association for Seismic Isolation (TASI) established a research cooperation agreement and organized mutual technical visits and workshops in September and November 2024 with the support of the Japanese government Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLITT).
2. VISIT TO JAPAN BY TURKISH ENGINEERS
From September 2 to 6, 2024, eight engineers from Türkiye visited Japan and toured seismically isolated buildings around Tokyo. They also visited the E-Defense and E-Isolation test facilities in Miki City, Hyogo prefecture, near Kobe. At a joint workshop on September 6, four lectures were given by the Japanese team and four by the Turkish delegation.
Technical site visits:
- Shinjuku city office, Tokyo (seismic isolation retrofit)
- TMG Asaka Medical Center, Tokyo (seismically isolated hospital)
- Office building, Tsukiji, Tokyo (seismically isolated building under construction)
- THK Headquarters, Tokyo (seismically isolated office with a showcase of isolation devices)
- Residential building, Harumi, Tokyo (50-story high-rise seismically isolated building)
- E-Defense, Miki (the largest shaking table in the world)
- E-Isolation, Miki (full-scale test facility for seismic isolation devices)
- Bridgestone Menshin-kan, Yokohama (museum of rubber seismic isolation bearings)
3. VISIT TO TÜRKIYE BY JAPANESE ENGINEERS
Eight members of JSSI traveled to Türkiye from November 11 to 15, 2024 to visit seismically isolated buildings in Istanbul and Ankara. As part of the tour, a seminar on earthquake resistance was held at the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) in the Ministry of Interior, Ankara,on November 14, 2024.
Technical site visits:
- Mavera Comfort residential project, Istanbul (LRB)
- Başakşehir Pine & Sakura Hospital, Istanbul (largest seismically isolated hospital in the world, TFP)
- Fenerbahçe Korur residential building, Istanbul (LRB)
- Marmara University, Başıbüyük Hospital, Istanbul (seismic isolation retrofit, LRB)
- Veldo industrial building (seismically isolated factory under construction, DFP)
- ESQUAKE, Eskişehir Technical University (seismic isolator testing facility)
- TIS (Technological Isolator Systems) factory (friction pendulum bearing manufacturer)
- Structural testing laboratory at the Istanbul Technical University
(LRB: Lead Rubber Bearing, TFP: Triple Friction Pendulum, DFP: Double Friction Pendulum)
4. SUMMARY
In Türkiye, the Turkey-Syria earthquakes occurred in February 2023, and in Japan, the Noto Peninsula earthquake occurred in January 2024. In these recent earthquakes seismically isolated hospitals in the affected areas experienced almost no damage and were able to continue their essential service functions. JSSI and TASI, in the leading countries on seismic isolation, hope that these technical exchanges will serve to strengthen collaborations between their organizations and to continue to work together to further promote the use of seismic isolation for the greater benefit of society.
