2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Study on Application of Spreading Fire Simulation in Kanazawa's Built-up Areas
| Project/Area Number |
16560557
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Town planning/Architectural planning
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| Research Institution | Kanazawa Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
MASUTA Tatsuo Kanazawa Institute of Technology, College of Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Professor, 環境・建築学部, 教授 (70125095)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TANI Akihiko Kanazawa Institute of Technology, College of Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Professor, 環境・建築学部, 教授 (80308577)
NAGANO Shinichiro Kanazawa Institute of Technology, College of Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Professor, 環境・建築学部, 教授 (40329371)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2006
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| Keywords | extensive fire / spreading fire / fire control / built-up area / fire simulation model / Kanazawa / castle town / Edo era |
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| Research Abstract |
In the Edo feudal era, most of Kanazawa's buildings were made by wood and covered by wooden roof tiles. Once an extensive fire occurred, merchant houses (Machiya) were prone to the spreading fire with their wall touching one another, and yet Samurai residences (Bukeyashiki) acted as the fire retardant factor with their residences surrounded by trees and gardens.
In the Edo period, there were 68 recorded extensive fires and 56.2% of them were fires with 50 to 300 buildings burnt down. This indicates that there was no effective fire retardant system once the fire became out of control. During the period of 162 years between 1706 and 1867 when Kanazawa was built-up to its full scale, close to 1000 buildings were burnt down annually excluding the largest fire with 10,000 houses burnt down. Major fires occurred mainly in spring with 44.8% of all fires and 61.6% of burnt houses concentrated in April and May. The direction of wind also has strong tendency with north, northeast and east wind oc
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cupied 79.9% of all fires. The city made extraordinary efforts to make the city fire resistant by means of fire towers at 82 locations, fire watch activities by both professional and volunteer firemen, and houses equipped with water pails for fires. The spread of fire was more damaging to Machiya areas as 65.1% of burnt areas was in Machiya areas, while Bukeyashiki areas were relatively safe.
To reproduce the process of fires spreading in the Edo era, we built a simulation model which covers a major part of Kanazawa at that time. The model successfully simulated the process and extent of fire as it actually occurred in the Edo period. It reproduced the process of fires as they tend to spread along the streets in Machiya lines and to spread in a concentric pattern in Machiya areas. The model also showed that temples and Bukeyashiki avoided the spread of fire as their large estates and trees acted as fire retardant factors. The model also indicated that the pace of fire spread in the modern period is about a half of that in Edo era because buildings are more fire resistant with an exception of Bukeyashiki areas as the areas tend to be more crowded now.
Our research has proved that the fire simulation model can reproduce the process and extent of fires that occurred in Edo era and compare fires in Edo era and those in the modern period. Less
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Research Products
(24 results)
