Plenary Lecture 5

Room: Audimax
Time: Wednesday, 30. September 2026, 9:00 - 9:40
Chair: Costas Papadimitriou

Takeshi Kitahara

Professor
Department of Civil Engineering,
Kanto Gakuin University, Yokohama, Japan

Program-Specific Professor
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Approach for Seismic Pounding Phenomena and Bridging to Design: Progressive Nonlinear Modeling, Lessons from Real Damage, and Global Collaboration via the Full-Scale Test Facility “E-Isolation.”

This talk will explore inter-structure collision phenomena, a key challenge in seismic performance assessment. By integrating, step by step, a large-scale, 3D nonlinear finite element method (FEM) for backfill, abutment, and superstructure systems with a maximum impact load evaluation formula based on shape factors and impact velocity, we will reevaluate bridge collision behavior and design methods. We will also discuss observed rubber-bearing failure damage during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. It has been suggested that superstructure restraints may have amplified bearing deformation in this earthquake. Finally, we will introduce E-Isolation, a full-scale dynamic structural testing facility with a high-precision load-measurement mechanism, which was completed in 2023 in Miki City, Japan, and call for global collaboration in experimental verification to establish realistic, performance-based seismic designs.

Short Bio

Takeshi Kitahara is a Professor at the College of Science and Engineering, a Chairman of the Graduate School of Engineering at Kanto Gakuin University, and a Program-Specific Professor at Kyoto University, Japan. He obtained a master’s degree from Kyoto University in 1991 and a doctorate from Nagoya University in 2001, Japan. Dr. Kitahara’s research is focused on structural reliability, considering hybrid uncertainties in dynamic problems. He is also interested in applying AI and Data Science methods to a broader ﬁeld of science. Dr. Kitahara is a Chairman of the JSCE Structural Safety Liaison Subcommittee. He is also a Conference Chair of the International Symposium on Reliability Engineering and Risk Management 2026 and was Editor in Chief of the Journal of Structural Engineering, JSCE. He is a member of JSCE, ASCE, ESRA, IABSE, IABMAS, IALCCE, and so on.