Corroborative research on the use of mega-float as airport

The Technological Research Association of MegaFloat (hereinafter referred to as "TRAM") was established in April 1995 and has carried out "Research and Development of an Ultra Large Floating Structure" (hereinafter referred to as "phase 1") under a three-year program. This research was successfully completed with results anticipated in March 1998. In this research, a large floating model was built by assembling modules at sea as a corroborative experiments, and then the verification and the corroborative experiments solved many problems using the model that had been constructed. An object of this project was to research and develop the elemental technologies to be used for various purposes to realize The Ultra Large Floating Structure, so-called "Mega-Float", in the near future. Detailed contents of phase 1 research have been already presented in various publications. The large floating model of the experiment used in the phase is figured. The research on the Mega-Float was scheduled to finalize in fiscal year 1997; and, it was decided to continue with a second stage. This article introduces circumstances of the decision and the contents of the new research.