Youhei Kawamura

Using GIS to develop a mobile communications network for disaster-damaged areas

Communications network damage resulting from a large disaster causes difficulties in the ability to rapidly understand the current situation and thus make appropriate decisions towards mitigating problems, such as where to send and dispense emergency supplies. The research outlined in this paper focuses on the rapid construction of a network after a disaster occurs. This study suggests ZigBee and geographic information systems (GIS) technologies to resolve these problems and provide an effective communication system. The experimental results of the ZigBee network system are presented, examples are provided of the mapping and analysis undertaken using GIS for the disaster-stricken area of Tsukuba City, Japan, and the communications node arrangements are determined for this region. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of establishing such a communications system for supporting efforts to relieve disaster-damaged areas.

Underground Imaging Method Using Magnified Cross-Correlation Analysis

When underground piping for a water supply or gas supply is buried, some obstacles such as unknown pipes or stones can be encountered. To avoid such situations, an examination of the underground condition from the ground surface is needed. For such an examination, the ultrashallow reflection method is used. We use a giant-magnetostriction vibrator as a seismic source and a magnified cross-correlation analysis as an analysis method. This analysis is performed to obtain the arrival time of waves reflected from underground objects. In this study, an underground imaging method is proposed using the magnified cross-correlation analysis and a simulation is conducted. Then the experiment of detecting a buried concrete block is conducted. Finally, the imaging method is applied to the experimental result, and then the underground image is obtained. With this imaging method, the position of the buried concrete block can be estimated.

Detection of underground concrete block using giant-magnetostriction vibrator applying magnified cross-correlation analysis

When underground piping for a water supply or gas supply is buried, some obstacles such as unknown pipes or stones can be encountered. To avoid such situations, an examination of the underground condition from the ground surface is needed. For such an examination, the ultra-shallow reflection method is used. We use a giant-magnetostriction vibrator as the seismic source. In this study, first, the P-wave directivity of the giant-magnetostriction vibrator is clarified. Second, the experiment of detecting a buried concrete block is conducted. In this experiment, the cross-correlation analysis is applied. However, the arrival time of the wave reflected from the concrete block is not confirmed. On the basis of the P-wave directivity of the giant-magnetostriction vibrator, the causes are assumed. To obtain good results, the magnified cross-correlation analysis is proposed. By this analysis, the depth at which the concrete block is buried can be estimated with high accuracy.

Effects of Different Ultrasound Irradiation Frequencies and Water Temperatures on Extraction Rate of Bitumen from Oil Sand

Low (28 kHz) and high (200 kHz) frequency sonication combined with hot water treatments at 45 and 75 °C were investigated to assess the effects of different ultrasound frequencies and water temperatures on the extraction of bitumen from oil sand. A mechanical stirrer was also used to compare the efficiency of separation. Bitumen extraction tests were performed under argon, air, and nitrogen atmospheres. Sonication at 200 kHz was shown to extract bitumen effectively from oil sand at 75 °C. The bitumen extraction rate for sonication at 200 kHz was slightly higher than that at 28 kHz. For low temperature (45 °C) solutions, only sonication at 28 kHz could extract bitumen from oil sand, demonstrating that sonication at 28 kHz can effectively breakdown the oil sand aggregates into a suspension.

Study on Estimation of the Finite-Length Unknown Input Waveform from a Given Input Waveform Response

The information obtained by measuring a system can be regarded as a response given by the Black Box when there is an input. In this study, estimation of the finite-length unknown input waveform from a given input waveform response in a second order damped oscillation system is conducted. The theory is shown and verified with the simulation on MATLAB. While the effectiveness of this theory in the real system is shown by carrying out an experiment. The unknown input waveform form is estimated as followed. The impulse response is estimated from the response waveform of the system. Then, Fourier transformation for the response waveform and the estimation waveform of the impulse response was conducted, and the spectrum of the response wave was decided by the spectrum of the estimated impulse response. Lastly, inverse Fourier transform was conducted to this result. This end result obtained is the estimated waveform of the unknown input waveform. In this experiment, the output waveform of the system was measured with an laser displacement sensor. The result was influenced by the noise, however the input waveform was able to be estimated

The Sterilization of Suspensions Contaminated with Microorganisms Using Ultrasound Irradiation

We investigated the influence of suspended particles on the sterilization efficiency of ultrasound wave applied to microbial suspensions. A microbial solution containing 2.0×102 cfu/ml of Bacillus bacteria but no suspended particles was sterilized more efficiently by 28 kHz irradiation inducing a strong impact-like physical action compared to 200 kHz irradiation inducing a strong chemical reaction through the generation of radicals and heat. This sterilization effect was enhanced by the suspension of silicon dioxide or green tuff when irradiated at 28 kHz. However, the irradiation of green tuff microbial suspension at 200 kHz resulted in a remarkable decrease in the sterilization efficiency. This reduction was caused by divalent iron in green tuff reacting with radicals generated by 200 kHz irradiation, thus reducing the amount of radicals used for sterilization. Our results suggest that 28 kHz ultrasound irradiation is optimal for the sterilization of microbial suspensions.

Ultrasonic Measurement System for Detecting Penetration of Boulders by Autocorrelation Analysis

An elastic impact wave method is used as a typical nondestructive test method to investigate the depth of boulder penetration. However, in the elastic impact wave method using, for example, a hammer, the discrimination of the reflection wave produced by minute cracks is difficult. Theoretically, if it becomes possible to input the vibration of an ultrasonic domain into artificial structures, such as a concrete and a boulder, with a strong amplitude, deeper investigation depth compared to the conventional way with a high precision will be attained. In this study, a concrete block, with a known size, which was, unlike boulders, not buried under ground, was used as a test piece in a basic experiment. As analysis methods, a wavelet analysis for checking the reflection wave and an autocorrelation analysis for identifying the time lag of the reflection wave were used. As a result, the reflection wave was detected in a down chirp signal from 50 kHz to 40 kHz.

A magnetic climbing robot for steel bridge inspection

Corrosion can cause section loss or cracks in the steel members which is one of the most important causes of deterioration of steel bridges. For some critical components of a steel bridge, it is fatal and could even cause the collapse of the whole bridge. Nowadays the most common approach to steel bridge inspection is visual inspection by inspectors with inspection trucks. This paper mainly presents a climbing robot with magnetic wheels which can move on the surface of steel bridge. Experiment results shows that the climbing robot can move on the steel bridge freely without disrupting traffic to reduce the risks to the inspectors.

A Method for Estimating the Location of the Drill-Bit During Horizontal Directional Drilling Using a Giant-Magnetostrictive Vibrator

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is a commonly used method for laying pipelines that avoids the need to make an open cut. However, the location of the drill-bit underground must be known at all times when using this method. As conventional electromagnetic wave-based methods are known to have several problems, for example buildings in the line of construction, the moisture content of the ground and the presence of steel towers near the construction site. Herein we suggest a new method based on the propagation of elastic waves in the ground. Thus, measurement of the elastic waves generated by a giant-magnetostrictive vibrator by sensors set on the ground allows us to obtain the differences in arrival time of this wave at each sensor by applying a cross-correlation analysis to the waveforms detected. Finally, an approximate three-dimensional (3D) location method based on these differences was designed.

Fundamental Study on Inspection of Steel Pipe Covered with Insulator in Oil Complex

In a steel pipe composed of a three layer structure, an insulator material is rolled around the initial pipe and another pipe is rolled around the whole pipe used in an oil complex. The insulator material becomes an obstacle for inspecting initial pipe. Thus, in this study, a new inspection method is proposed. An ultrasonic waveform is inputted into the transport pipe that is used for transferring fluid such as oil using a transducer. Its propagation path was inspected and it was found that the wave behaves as a cylindrical wave known as the Lamb wave. Two fundamental experiments for a steel plate and a steel pipe were carried out for its verification. Cross-correlation analysis was used to obtain propagation time, then propagation velocity was calculated. Whether both can be regarded as an equivalent of the theory was confirmed by experiments for propagation velocity in each frequency when there was no welding on the pipe structure.