Performance-based evaluation on egress safety of disabled welfare facilities

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ABSTRACT With the increasing number of fire incidents, efforts are being made to quantitatively evaluate the egress safety of buildings. In particular, studies that reflect the behavioural characteristics of occupants when evaluating egress safety are being conducted. However, the research on the performance design and safety evaluation of facilities where individuals vulnerable to disasters (i.e. those who have difficulty evacuating in the event of a fire) reside remains insufficient. In this study, fire evacuating simulations were performed on welfare facilities for disabled individuals with mobility issues, and the egress safety was evaluated. The fire simulations were performed using the capacity of the smoke exhaust system as a variable. Meanwhile, the variations in temperature and toxic gases according to fire duration were analyzed to calculate the available safe egress time (ASET). The egress simulations were performed using the egress delay time and the number of egress guides as variables. Then, the required safe egress time (REST) was calculated. The results show that increasing smoke exhaust system delays the attainment of tenability limits, improving ASET. Egress simulations revealed an optimal number of egress guides. Based on these findings, general criteria have been developed to assess egress safety, considering the building floor area, smoke exhaust capacity, and occupant numbers. These criteria can be applied to ensure efficient and economical safety designs for typical welfare facilities for the disabled. HIGHLIGHTS Egress safety of disabled welfare facilities was evaluated by FDS. ASET was derived based on smoke exhaust capacity and fire duration. RSET was derived by considering evacuation delays and instructions. Findings support efficient, cost-effective safety design for disabled care facilities.