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Kiyota Lab
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A lab that works to reduce disasters by uncovering how the ground behaves during earthquakes and heavy rain.
AboutAbout the lab
Learning from disaster sites to reduce ground-related disasters
The Kiyota Lab studies how to reduce natural disasters that cause major damage to civil infrastructure, drawing on fields such as geology, geotechnics, topography, and seismology.
The lab visits disaster sites to document damage and case histories, and uses experiments and analysis to investigate the mechanisms behind the unexpected ways the ground behaves during earthquakes and heavy rain.
The lab aims to apply its results to disaster countermeasures and infrastructure development that avoid wasteful investment.
Key terms
- Liquefaction
- A phenomenon in which water-saturated sandy ground behaves like a liquid because of earthquake shaking. Buildings can sink or tilt.
- FEM
- The finite element method. A method that divides an object into small elements and calculates forces and deformation by computer.
- MPM
- The material point method. A computational method that represents material with many points, and can also handle large deformations such as ground collapsing and flowing.
NewsLab news
A graduate received the Outstanding Presentation Award at the Earthquake Engineering Symposium
The lab held demonstration experiments and research presentations at Komaba Research Campus Open House 2025
Assistant Professor Kurima and a graduate received the Outstanding Paper Presenter Award at the 59th Japan National Conference on Geotechnical Engineering
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to mitigate and prevent natural disasters that cause major damage to civil infrastructure, drawing on fields such as geology, geotechnics, topography, and seismology. Built on three pillars (field investigation, elucidation of mechanisms, and application to society), its research covers topics such as liquefaction and long-distance flow of ground.
*Illustrative imageNew Methods for Evaluating Liquefaction
The lab evaluates the effects of soil particle arrangement and soil age, which strongly influence how susceptible soil is to liquefaction. With an eye toward avoiding excessive countermeasures, it aims to advance disaster prevention against liquefaction.
*Illustrative imageMechanisms of Ground Behavior
Using original experiments and analyses, the lab investigates ground behavior and its interaction with structures that is difficult to explain with classical geotechnical engineering, including the effects of weathering, particle crushing, past stress history, and temperature.
*Illustrative imageNumerical Analysis and Image Analysis
The lab advances ground disaster prevention technology through numerical simulation with FEM and MPM, visualization of ground movement through image analysis, damage analysis based on observational data, and machine learning.
*Illustrative imageRisks of Long-Distance Ground Flow
The lab studies the phenomenon, which occasionally occurs around the world, in which ground flows down over long distances. Focusing on ground properties and groundwater conditions, it works to clarify the mechanisms behind it and to assess its risk.
MembersFaculty
The Kiyota Lab's members include faculty, technical staff, secretaries, and students in the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate programs.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakashi KiyotaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorJun KurimaPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Manhole shows subsidence occurred by 2011 Sendai earthquake” On-chan / CC0 (cropped)
- New Methods for Evaluating Liquefaction: “Sand boil Imperial 1979” G. Reagor, USGS / Public domain (cropped)
- Mechanisms of Ground Behavior: “Bodenprofil Postluch Agrarmuseum Wandlitz anagoria” Anagoria / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Numerical Analysis and Image Analysis: “DeltaSPH” Salvatore Marrone / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Risks of Long-Distance Ground Flow: “Vargas landslide scars 1999” Wieczorek, G.F., Larsen, M.C., Eaton, L.S., Morgan, B.A. and Blair, J. L. / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Ohara Lab (Disaster Risk Reduction)): “Arayat33jf” Ramon FVelasquez / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Meguro-Ohara-Numada Lab): “Cypress structure” H.G. Wilshire, U.S. Geological Survey / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (River and Watershed Environment Lab, Kawasaki Group): “Defense.gov photo essay 111016-M-ZN194-151” Cpl. Robert J. Maurer / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Coast and Coastal Environment Lab): “Utoma, Samani, Hokkaido 01” motoGP from Japan. / CC BY 2.1 jp (cropped)
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