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Waterfront Ground Science Lab
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The lab uses flume experiments to clarify the movement of water and sediment in rivers and the sea.
AboutAbout the lab
Pursuing disaster prevention hydraulics for rivers and the sea
The Waterfront Ground Science Lab studies the movement of water and sediment at the waterfront, where rivers and the sea meet.
Sediment accumulated at a river mouth can block the river, but it also keeps saltwater from intruding and helps maintain sandy beaches.
Based on turbulence hydraulics, the lab treats rivers and coasts as one continuous system and uses experiments to study how sediment and driftwood are transported.
The lab belongs to the Advanced Measurement for Water Disasters Division of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, and is also a cooperating chair (Waterfront Ground Science Division) of the Department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering in the Graduate School of Engineering.
Key terms
- Turbulence hydraulics
- The study of the irregular, complex flow (turbulence) of water in rivers and the sea, based on mechanics
- Blue carbon
- Carbon taken up by marine organisms such as seaweed and seagrass and stored in the sea
- PIV
- A method that illuminates fine particles mixed into water with a laser and photographs them to measure the speed and direction of the flow over an area
NewsLab news
A doctoral student's research on tsunami bores is accepted for publication in Marine Systems & Ocean Technology
A doctoral student receives the Excellent Presentation Award at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute Research Presentation Meeting
A master's student receives the Excellent Academic Presentation Award and other prizes at the Kansai Civil Engineering Exchange Presentation Meeting
ResearchResearch themes
Centered on fundamental hydraulics and fluid mechanics, the lab carries out basic research that clarifies the mechanisms of water and sediment disasters in rivers and on coasts, as well as applied research that puts the results to use in the field. Experiments are conducted at the Ujigawa Open Laboratory and in the turbulence hydraulics laboratory at Katsura Campus.
*Illustrative imageEffects of wind on flows and waves
Wind can speed up or slow down river flow and generates waves at sea. Using a wind-wave flume in which airflow and water flow can be controlled simultaneously, the lab investigates how wind affects the transport of driftwood, suspended sediment, and microplastics.
*Illustrative imageTurbulence and sediment movement in vegetated rivers
Vegetation growing in a river greatly changes the flow and the movement of sediment. In flume experiments, the lab measures fine-scale flow velocities with PIV to clarify the three-dimensional structure of turbulence around vegetation patches and gravel riverbeds, and how sediment particles are transported.
*Illustrative imageDynamics of sandy beaches and seawalls
Japan's coasts are suffering chronic erosion. To protect sandy beaches, the lab investigates, based on turbulence dynamics, how beaches deform and how this affects seawall blocks and similar structures, and also pursues field applications using observation data from the Ogata Wave Observatory.
*Illustrative imageGas transport by breaking waves and blue carbon
When waves break over a coastal submerged breakwater, oxygen and carbon dioxide from the air are thought to be carried into the water. The lab investigates this mechanism through wave flume experiments and field observations, and works with companies to design coastal structures suited to blue carbon.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Waterfront Ground Science Lab are faculty members, administrative secretaries, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorMichio Sanjou
- Assistant ProfessorKazumasa Matsumoto
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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: “Breaking waves - Sicily” Wind&Wuthering / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Effects of wind on flows and waves: “Breaking waves, Sète cf03” Christian Ferrer / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Turbulence and sediment movement in vegetated rivers: “Imperial-Hydrodynamics-Double-Ended-Flume-02” Sintakso / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Dynamics of sandy beaches and seawalls: “Holcombe , Sandy Beach - geograph.org.uk - 5038623” Lewis Clarke / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Gas transport by breaking waves and blue carbon: “Wave Foam WTR-WV-3” Shadowmeld Photography / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (防災水工学): “Flood in River Bagmati” Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (災害リスクマネジメント): “USAID supports community-based disaster drill in Nam Dinh province ( )” USAID Vietnam / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (沿岸都市設計学): “North Shore Trip - Oct 2017 - Waves Crashing Over the Two Harbors Breakwater ( )” Pete Markham from Loretto, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (都市耐水): “Pole 3 building seismic base isolator” Marshelec / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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