Abstract

The analysis of the flow field in the elderly care facility showed that a vertical flow occurred due to vortex and buoyancy near the airflow entrance and fire source on the floor plan. The velocity in the corridor was high due to the location of the smoke window on the floor plan, and the carbon monoxide mass fraction in the fire room was 0.5 or more within 1 minute. In addition, smoke detectors work much faster than heat detectors, but not many places voluntarily install smoke detectors for economic reasons. Therefore, fire safety standards should be revised to the following to reduce damage in elderly nursing facilities: “Smoke detectors must be installed in living rooms and other rooms (treatment rooms or office rooms) used for purposes such as sleeping, lodging, hospitalization for the elderly.”BR The study of evacuation behavior of occupants of elderly care facilities in unit area showed that evacuation was completed in 4 minutes and 43 seconds in small and medium-sized buildings and in 5 minutes and 5 seconds in large buildings. Considering that the initial evacuation started after about 100 seconds, this results in a difference of about 20 seconds for horizontal evacuation, not considering evacuation over several floors. In addition, a comparison with normal populations in large buildings confirmed that the risk exposure time increased sharply with increasing building size, with the elderly taking 1.7 times longer.

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