Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2018

Presentation information

[JJ] Oral

O (Public) » Public

[O-05] Kitchen Earth Science: brain stimulation by hands-on experiments

Sun. May 20, 2018 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM Convention Hall A (CH-A) (2F International Conference Hall, Makuhari Messe)

convener:Ichiro Kumagai(School of Science and Engineering, Meisei University), Miwa Kuri(International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University), Kei Kurita, Chairperson:Kumagai Ichiro(Meisei University), Kuri Miwa(東北大学災害科学国際研究所)

9:20 AM - 9:35 AM

[O05-02] Fire whirls experiments for disaster education

*Ichiro Kumagai1, Miyuki Yamada2 (1.Meisei University, 2.Nihon University)

Keywords:Experiment, disaster education, Fire whirls

On September 1st in 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo metropolitan area and about 90 % of victims were killed by urban mass fires. It is well known that fire whirls appeared after the Earthquake, which resulted in the death of 38,000 evacuated people in Hifukusho-ato area. Prof. Torahiko Terada reported the occurrence of the fire whirls and considered their behaviors. In this presentation, as disaster education, we will demonstrate a desktop experiment on fire whirls using transparent halfpipes. We also show a simple experiment of moisture whirl (its buoyancy is opposite to the fire whirl). Because the moisture is generated by dry ice in humid air, it is much safer than the fire whirl experiment in a class room. The 3D flow structure in the whirl is visualized by a commercial projector, which provides better understanding on the flow in the whirl.