Efficiency of Furniture Overturning Protection Devices During Earthquakes - A Experimental and Numerical Study

Abstract eng:
To reduce earthquake damage in the future, it is very important that each of us take proper countermeasures on our own initiative. After the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, strengthening houses and attachment of furniture to prevent its overturning were identified as the main issues. Reportedly, these problems have not been properly addressed yet. One of the principal causes for this is that many people do not have disaster prevention consciousness and ability to prepare against earthquakes. In this study, we aim at improving the people’s capacity to imagine disasters so that they implement specific disaster countermeasures. At first, we analyze the effect of furniture overturning prevention devices and evaluate its efficiency through shaking table tests. The effectiveness of the devices is discussed based on the ground motion intensity which they can withstand, their installation easiness, whether their performance depends on external factors such as wall and floor characteristics, and so on. Then, we try to promote people’s danger and risk awareness by showing animations obtained by numerical simulations of furniture’s dynamic behavior when an earthquake occurs, especially focusing on a particular house space, the living room. For this purpose, advanced visualization software is used so that people can feel as if they were at their own rooms during a shake. Finally, we promote people’s recognition of disaster countermeasures by discussing the furniture overturning ratio decline when prevention devices are installed.

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