Abstract
In the field of civil engineering in Japan particular attention has hitherto been paid to rock mechanics mainly in relation to the problems on dam foundation.
In 1960, the first study group on rock mechanics was organized, and its 1st symposium was held in 1962 at which the engineers concerned, including tunnel and soil engineers attended. The 2nd symposium was held in 1963 under the auspices of the above mentioned study group and was reorganized into a“Committee for Rock Mechanics of the Japan Society of Civil Engineering, ”with about 50 members concerned. This committee is currently divided into five divisions where valuable and zealous discussions and presentation of study achievements are made once a month.
This paper explains briefly the methods actually used and the recent representative studies concerning rock mechanics in the field of civil engineering in Japan, which covers extremely diversified problems such as on combination of applied geology with rock mechanics, on various observations in situ and their interpretation, on analytical and model studies, on foundation treatment of real structures, on water movement in fissured rocks, and so on.
