The "New Fire-Resistant Laboratory," the Largest and Highest-Performance Facility in Japan Completed at the Takenaka Research & Development Institute
Load capacity of 30MN over eight hours of heating enabling the testing of actual-size superhigh-rise building structural members

August 24, 2009
Takenaka Corporation

As one of the projects commemorating 110 years since the foundation of the company, Takenaka Corporation (President: Toichi Takenaka) has recently completed the construction of the "New Fire-Resistant Laboratory" inside the Takenaka Research & Development Institute (in Inzai City, Chiba Prefecture). This laboratory is the largest and highest-performance facility of its type in Japan, with fire-resistant testing with a load capacity of thirty Mega Newtons (MN)*1 over eight hours of heating. In the future, the new facility will be used for the further promotion of "fire-resistant performance designs," and the development of high-strength materials. The refractory furnace will begin full operation from 2010, after undergoing testing until December.

*1 Mega Newton (MN) is about 100 tons

New Fire-Resistant Laboratory Loading equipment

[Realizing fire-resistant performance designs through the confirmation of higher-precision performance]

Fire-resistant performance design is the design method for selecting columns and beams that have the fire-resistant performance (retention fire-resistant time) to withstand the time it takes for all the combustible materials inside a room to burn (fire duration time). It has been possible to use this method since performance standards were introduced to fire-prevention designs along with revisions to the Building Standards Law in 2000.
Verification testing is required for fire-resistant performance designs. Usually, reduced models of members are used for this verification testing, but the heat is reflected more greatly on the reduced models than on the actual-size members, so in reality it is difficult to reasonably seek the safety performance.
With the completion of the "New Fire-Resistant Laboratory," fire-resistant performance can be evaluated using actual-size members, thereby enabling higher-precision performance confirmation.

[Development of high-strength materials]

In recent years, there has been an increase in the construction of RC superhigh-rise buildings. Takenaka has already completed the construction of the "Park City Musashi -Kosugi" superhigh-rise condominium building using high-strength concrete*2 with a compressive strength of 150 newtons per square millimeter. Further, high-strength concrete with a compressive strength of 200 newtons per square millimeter was successfully used experimentally in the construction of the "New Fire-Resistant Laboratory." The company plans to continue the development of high-strength concrete to meet the requirements of the growing demand for higher buildings.
When high-strength concrete is directly exposed to flames, explosive fractures (the phenomena where heat causes bits of the concrete to peel off and explosively shatter) occur, resulting in a serious decrease in the load bearing capacity. High-precision performance confirmation using actual-size members is also desirable for ensuring safety performance. In the future, in addition to superhigh-rise buildings, use will be expanded to include fire-resistant performance designs of buildings with large spaces and large spans, to ensure the safety performance of diversified buildings.
To make the most of the new facility with the highest load capacity in Japan of 30MN, in addition to fire-resistant strength confirmation of beams and underground columns, it will also be actively used for the research and development of building structures.

*2 A compressive strength of 150 newtons per square millimeter is the compressive strength required to withstand a load of 1500 kilograms per square centimeter.

[Introduction of various eco-friendly technologies]

The new laboratory building uses various cutting-edge ecofriendly technologies, such as solar power generation, wind power generation, wall greening, and a rainwater recycling system. Verification of the environmental load will be carried out as the building is being used.

The company is hoping that the "New Fire-Resistant Laboratory" building will greatly contribute to development of technologies both in the hardware area such as the construction of safe and reliable architectural space, as well as in the software area, such as the evaluation of the environmental load as a building is being used.

[Outline of the building]

Building name New Fire-Resistant Laboratory Location 1-5, 1-chome, Otsuka, Inzai City, Chiba Prefecture (Takenaka Research & Development Institute) Total floor space 1,303.67 m² Number of floors 3 fl. above and 1 fl. below ground Structure Steel (Reinforced concrete for underground structure) Client Takenaka Corporation Design & Construction Takenaka Corporation Work period June 2, 2008 to July 31, 2009

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