Urban Infrastructure and Environment
Curriculum
Students study social infrastructure systems from the perspectives of people, nature,” and objects, developing not only construction techniques for social infrastructure, but also the ability to understand nature and society from a bird's eye view and to analyze and propose solutions to complex problems.
1st year: Learn about the role of civil engineering in society in relation to mathematics, information, economics, and the environment.
●Main Courses of Study
Freshman Seminar / Introduction to Environmental Science / Geotechnical Engineering 1 / Civil Engineering and Economics / Data Processing in Civil Engineering / Mathematics for Civil Engineering 1
2nd year: Learn the basics of civil engineering such as cities, transportation, earthquakes, bridges, floods, materials, surveying, etc.
●Main Courses of Study
Introduction to Mechanics in Civil Engineering / Introduction to Hydraulics / Material Design / Geotechnical Engineering 2 / Urban Planning / General Lectures on Civil Engineering / Surveying Practice 1/2 / Hydraulics
3rd year: Learn how to solve social problems from research activities and specialized course lectures and exercises.
●Main Courses of Study
Structural Mechanics / Experiments in Geomaterials / Experiments in Hydraulics / Experiments in Civil Engineering Applications / Career Seminar in Civil Engineering / Exercises on Geotechnical Engineering / Design Exercise of Civil Engineering Structures/ Graduation Thesis 1/2
4th year: Learn about advanced technologies of civil engineering as integrated engineering, transcending the fields of laboratories.
●Main Courses of Study
Graduation Thesis 3/4
Class Introduction
Freshman seminar
This is an introductory class for civil engineering consisting of lectures and group work in which students conduct independent research. Students improve their reading comprehension, communication, expression, and discussion skills necessary for university study.
Surveying practice 1/2
With the goal of creating topographic maps, students spend a year handling various surveying instruments and learning how to handle surveying errors and acquire topographic information. Students develop not only surveying techniques but also teamwork skills.
Structural mechanics, experiments in geomaterials, experiments in hydraulics, experiments in civil engineering applications
Students are divided into groups to conduct experiments on hydraulics, soils, and materials, which are important subjects in civil engineering. By practicing and writing reports on their own, students can learn in relation to the lectures they have received up to the second year.
Examples of Research Topics
Dynamic analysis of tree forests in river channels
River and Watershed Environment Laboratory: Prof. Hitoshi Miyamoto
Some river sandbars are so full of large trees that one might mistakenly think, "is this really a river?" Such tree growth in rivers plays an important role in the everyday river environment, but once a major flood occurs, the vegetation causes resistance against the raising of the water table, increasing the risk of disaster for citizens living near the river. Our laboratory is academically investigating the relationship between in-channel forests and river flood flows.
Identification of seeds that initiate secondary succession of riverine vegetation in a fact-finding study on plant seed contamination of sandbars after flooding
Monitoring land cover changes over time, including topography, flow, and vegetation, by using a drone to take aerial measurements of the Kinugawa River
Example of Activities with Overseas Partners
Learning civil engineering around the world!
Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory +King Mongkut's University of Technology, Thailand
Aiming to nurture globally active civil engineers, we are actively developing global project-based learning (global PBL) related to civil engineering. Through international exchange projects with overseas universities, students in the Civil Engineering Program work as teams with local students and young engineers of different nationalities and fields of expertise, passionately discussing various issues to which civil engineering should contribute and proposing innovative solutions. Through these efforts, students develop a global awareness as civil engineers.
We gather at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Thailand, where our global PBL related to the urban environment will begin!
Examples of Graduation Research
Improving recycled aggregate with CO2 gas
In order to recycle concrete lumps that may be discharged in large quantities into concrete in the future, recycled aggregate is produced. In order to reduce the cost and energy as much as possible and to make good aggregate, we are modifying it using CO2, a global warming substance. We are also researching methods and mechanisms to improve the performance of concrete made with the recycled aggregate even better than before.
We will make effective use of concrete lumps that may be released in large quantities in the future due to structural reconstruction, etc., reducing waste and enabling the production of recycled concrete. Considering the large amount of structures constructed, we are actively considering how recycled materials can be used beneficially.
Development of simulation for predicting chain delays in urban railways
Japan's railroad system is trusted around the world for its accurate operation. Recently, however, urban railroads in the Tokyo area have been experiencing frequent delays due to the enormous number of passengers, which tprevents them from operating according to schedule. We have studied the mechanism of these delays and developed software that reproduces on a computer the behavior of each train and the behavior of passengers when they get on and off the trains. This enables us to predict the effects of various delay countermeasures in advance.
Effective and efficient transportation planning requires mathematical analysis that logically supports planning decisions. Examples include techniques for predicting traffic volumes 20 years into the future, analyzing the impact of traffic on local economies, and simulating various improvement measures, such as the research example above. The traffic phenomena elucidated and technologies developed through graduation research are utilized in research and planning by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, local governments, and transportation operators.