Vertical transport systems for evacuation from high-rise buildings

Marina Gravit,Kirill Kuzenkov,Alena Shestakova,Ivan Dmitriev,A.D Abramov,V Murgul

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201823901043

Abstract

The article discusses the possibility of using the elevators as the main evacuation path from high-rise buildings. It starts by analysis of the reasons, which make effective evacuation of people from high-rise buildings difficult. The high multi-storey office building was modelled in the Pathfinder software package. There are presented some scenarios of the human flow and their influence on time parameters (the evacuation start and signal delivery delay), on flow composition (ratio of people with different mobility) and base evacuation level of each group. The time of evacuation is compared on the staircase and using elevators. It is effective to use evacuation elevators in 60-storey buildings, but it is not rational to use them in 20-storey building.

Highlights

The number of high-rise buildings increases every year
There are special fire safety requirements in such buildings [1,2,3], but evacuation path remains too long so even healthy people will suffer from fatigue when they move to such distances
A tall multi-storey building was modelled in the Pathfinder program

Summary

Introduction

The number of high-rise buildings increases every year. There are special fire safety requirements in such buildings [1,2,3], but evacuation path remains too long so even healthy people will suffer from fatigue when they move to such distances. The evacuation becomes especially difficult, dangerous and sometimes physically impossible for orderly people and people with reduced mobility (PRM) [4]. It is noted in article [5] that the staircases do not provide sufficient capacity to organize the evacuation of people from a high-rise building. Safety corridors – corridor with wall resistance not less than REI 120 and smoke ventilation system. This is the way to safe people movement to the stair;. Partial evacuation of persons of this category through elevators. 2) Comparison of the evacuation time on the staircases and through elevators

Methods

Results

Conclusions