Driving Simulator Experiment on Vehicular Evacuation During Tsunami

Abstract eng:
The 2011 Tohoku earthquake that occurred off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan, on 11 March, 2011, triggered an extremely large tsunami. The tsunami inflicted enormous damage on an extensive coastal area of Tohoku and Kanto regions. A number of vehicles traveling in the coastal areas were swept away by the tsunami. The government of Japan had generally recommended evacuation on foot in the case of a tsunami because of the possible traffic congestion, accidents, and entrapment of vehicles by fallen objects and collapsed houses during evacuation by vehicle. In the case of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, however, 57% of the evacuees used automobiles. Since the population is rapidly aging in Japan, vehicular evacuation must be enhanced in any future event. Based on this background, the aim of this study was to develop a driving simulator with a tsunami inundation scenario. The selected target area was Kamakura City, in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, located about 50 km south-south-west of Tokyo. To achieve the objective, a numerical simulation of tsunami propagation was performed assuming an earthquake and tsunami of the scale of the 1498 Meio earthquake. The tsunami was visualized from the driver’s point of view using 3D computer graphics. Further, a series of driving simulator experiments were performed to verify the safety of vehicular evacuation in the case of a tsunami.

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