Simulation Modeling Practice on Occupant Evacuation in a Medium-sized Supermarket

Abstract

The research mainly focused on the effect of staff density and exit conditions on total evacuation time. The results showed that with the increase of staff density, evacuation time often increases non-linearly. The function equation of evacuation time and number of occupants in case A was obtained through computer simulation. The augment of exit number or total export width can reduce the total evacuation time to improve evacuation efficiency. While, if the number of evacuees reaches to a certain value, evacuation time may increase non-linearly after being affected by the internal structure and the random distribution of occupant. Export position also has impact on total evacuation time. The results of the simulation have guiding significance on the design of building structures and personnel evacuation in emergency.