The Fourth U.S.-Japan Workshop on Wind Engineering
The goal of this project is to participate in the fourth joint workshop of Task Committee D (Wind Engineering) of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). This workshop is an ongoing effort of the UJNR Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects to bring together U.S. and Japanese researchers from academic institutions, government laboratories and industry to discuss the state-of-the-art of wind effects on civil engineering structures and to develop strategies and collaborative efforts that will benefit both countries. The first three U.S.-Japan Workshops were held in Hawaii, U.S. in October 1997, Tsukuba, Japan in May 1999 and Seattle, U.S. in October 2002. The theme of this fourth U.S.-Japan Workshop is New Challenges for Reduction of High-Wind Disaster and will be held in Tsukuba, Japan on March 14-16, 2006.
Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this project comes primarily out of the objectives of this fourth workshop. These objectives are to (a) discuss previous collaborative research efforts, (b) continue mutual exchange of information on ongoing research and practice, (c) identify new challenges for reduction of high-wind disasters which both countries have experienced in recent years, and develop and implement strategic planning that will benefit both the countries, (d) identify new projects for collaborative research, (e) visit selected sites in Japan related to wind and its effects on structures. Bringing together the leaders in wind engineering from the U.S. and Japan helps to bring a highly diverse range of expertise to the meeting and increases the likelihood that the above objectives are achieved successfully.
Broader Impacts: Engineering and scientific practices can be improved through international exchanges of technical data/information, researchers and research equipment. To enable such exchanges, the UJNR was formed in 1964. This project will enable researchers from the U.S. to attend the Tsukuba meeting in March, 2006. This type of direct communication between organizations from the two countries is vital to the operation of the cooperative program and leads directly to the type of knowledge dissemination and exchange that benefits the design and construction practices of both countries.
