Building Evacuation Research Articles

Effect of the Effective Clear Width of Door in a Modular Classroom on Evacuation Time

The purpose of this study was to measure and analyze the change in evacuation time according to the effective clear width of the entrance door of a modular classroom using an evacuation simulation program. In order to measure the evacuation time in this manner, a scenario was constructed to analyze the change in evacuation time owing to the increase in the effective clear width of the entrance. On the one hand, an entrance door width exceeding 140 cm did not affect the evacuation time. On the other hand, the evacuation took the longest when the door width was much narrower (60 cm). As the effective clear width of the entrance to the modular classroom increases, the evacuation time decreases. If the modular classroom is occupied by many students, it is necessary to establish a separate rule for the effective clear width of the entrance in the Rule on the Standard for Evacuation and Fire Structure of Buildings.

Numerical analysis and validation on the phased evacuation time in high-rise buildings

The main aim of this study is to investigate the numerical analysis of phased evacuation and validate the feasibility of high-rise buildings using the control volume model. Based on the same spatial configuration, the number of participants on each floor, and four-phased evacuations of an actual fire drill conducted by a Japanese academic group in 2018, the numerical analysis results for these phased evacuations of this high-rise building have been investigated. The numerical results are in good agreement with the fire drill data in the aspects of the total number of people reaching the ground floor, the space-time feature curve and the first participant on each floor descending to the ground floor. The changes in the number of waiting participants versus time on each floor were obtained and compared in this study with the fire drill data to comprehend the transient situations of the internal participants in this high-rise building during the phased evacuation. Furthermore, the results of the first-order approximation method of NFPA, the Melinek and Booth method and the Route B calculation of the Japanese Building Center Verification Method for the total building evacuation are presented to discuss the differences between the phased evacuation and the total building evacuation.

How individuals sense environments during indoor emergency wayfinding: An eye-tracking investigation

Emergency wayfinding is a critical aspect of indoor evacuations. People typically rely on environmental cues to determine their location and navigate their way. However, there is limited exploration into how individuals perceive their surroundings during emergency wayfinding. Through a virtual reality (VR) controlled experiment integrated with eye-tracking, this study explores how individuals sense the environment during evacuations. Participants were immersed in a virtual scenario simulating a building fire and had to choose between Routes 1 and 2 at an intersection for evacuations. The experimental results show individuals' visual attention is positively related to their wayfinding choices. Specifically, familiarity has a significant influence on individuals' visual attention and route choices. Participants who were familiar with Route 2 before evacuations showed increased fixation frequency but smaller saccade velocity during evacuations, reducing their likelihood of detecting the exit sign at the intersection and using Route 1. Neighbor behavior influenced participants' visual information searching and route choices. When virtual neighbors evacuated via Route 1 at the intersection, participants gazed at Route 1 more and were also more likely to use it. The visibility of the exit door on Route 1 also affected both participants' visual attention and route choices. However, the change in emergency lighting did not significantly influence participants’ route choices or their visual attention to Route 1 and the exit sign. These findings enrich our knowledge of human emergency wayfinding and hold significant implications for enhancing building design and evacuation planning.

Effect of Socioeconomic Characteristics of Residential Building Occupants on Level of Fire Disaster Preparedness

Socioeconomic characteristics are known to influence fire disaster preparedness (FDP). The spate of fire outbreaks in buildings in Nigeria is worrisome with its deleterious effects, however, these can be averted by studying how socioeconomic characteristics influences FDP in buildings. The study assessed the level of FDP in Parakin, Ile-Ife. The objective was to investigate the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on the level of FDP by using fire safety awareness (FSA) and evacuation in residential buildings in Parakin, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Quantitative data was collected via questionnaire survey. Primary data was obtained using purposive sampling method. 80 buildings were purposively selected for this study and the self-administered questionnaire were given to 80 participants from the buildings. Frequency distribution, percentage and chi square were used to analyse the data. Chi square showed a relationship between the sex of respondents and the evacuation attributes, while age, home ownership and level of education of respondents are not associated with evacuation attributes. Chi square also revealed that sex, age, home ownership and level of education of respondents have no relationship with awareness. The study concluded that firefighting equipment and facilities are mostly unavailable in the study area while the level of awareness is fairly moderate, FDP is very low, evacuation attributes of the buildings are fair while training for occupants is very low. Concerted efforts should be made to raise awareness, train building users to combat fire outbreaks and get necessary gadgets needed for firefighting in buildings.

Can active and passive wayfinding systems support fire evacuation in buildings? Insights from a virtual reality-based experiment

Can active and passive wayfinding systems support fire evacuation in buildings? Insights from a virtual reality-based experiment

PERFORMANCE DESIGN OF A SMOKE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR THE BRIDGE PAVILION

The Bridge Pavilion designed by Zaha Hadid for the International Exposition of Zaragoza in 2008, is a singular construction declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) by the Government of Aragon. It is a 280-metre-long building overlooking the Ebro River. Initially, the central nucleus was an exterior space with no fire load, whose lateral envelopes were open and perforated. The change of activity to be developed, as an exhibition and museum area with vehicles, required the enclosure of this volume. The uniqueness of the building makes it impossible to comply with the fire safety requirements (CTE DB SI), therefore, alternative solutions were used for the design of the new smoke control system for the enclosed volume for the new activity. The system selected includes an airlock-extract combination that improves the conditions of evacuation without affecting the aesthetics of the Pavilion's envelope. SODECA fume extractor model THT-56-4T-1-F400 with a theoretical flow rate of 12,349 m³/h, connected to COLT KAMALEON airlock 1500x1000 mm, with an opening degree of 45º, aerodynamic surface area 0.519 m²/m².. The new measures were implemented in the building with the approval of the competent authority for Civil Protection, Cultural Heritage and a favorable final report from an Administration Control Entity. Keywords: Building Evacuation, Fire Safety Engineering, Alternative Solutions. Performance Based Design, Smoke Control

Design of Vertical Evacuation Building at Painan City Using Results From Tsunami Propagation Modeling

Fault under the Mentawai Islands has high potential to cause a large earthquake and triggering tsunami. Painan City, is located near the fault. With geographical condition on a bay surrounded by hills in the upstream area, a tsunami may cause a flow channeling effect and increase the inundation distance. An alternative of mitigation effort is to build a Vertical Evacuation Building (VEB) to help the community to reach a safe elevation within the evacuation time. Therefore, VEB should be designed to withstand tsunami impacts and to resist large earthquakes. This study conducts the design and analysis of the performance of multi-functional VEB structures at Painan City. The tsunami propagation simulation was carried out, and parameters obtained were used for structural design. Three VEB models were developed, i.e., (i) model with walls under tsunami and earthquake loads, (ii) model without walls under tsunami and earthquake loads, and (iii) model without walls under earthquake load only as the lateral load. Non-linear static pushover analyses were later conducted to evaluate the structural performances. The study revealed that debris force affects the most compared to other tsunami force components. Structural openings also affect the tsunami load received by the structure. Column moment force for models designed with tsunami load is greater than that of earthquake, while the difference is less significant for beam. The internal force differences occur along the tsunami inundated depth, thus influence the component design. From the pushover analysis, all models were found to meet the performance targets for earthquake.

Method for prioritising buildings for seismic reinforcement based on prediction of earthquake-induced building collapse and evacuation routes

ABSTRACT Seismic design and seismic reinforcement of buildings are important for reducing seismic damage. Buildings have been prioritised for seismic reinforcement from various perspectives, but approaches considering the reduction in the effective road width after building collapse and the evacuation demand for each road link have not been developed. In this study, the effective road width was calculated by estimating the width of collapsed building debris, and the evacuation demand for each road link was predicted using mobile phone location data. The results indicated that it is possible to extract buildings that require seismic reinforcement most urgently among the buildings vulnerable to earthquakes for efficient post-earthquake evacuation. The proposed method can be used to develop appropriate prioritisation strategies for optimising the use and allocation of available economic resources to minimise future earthquake losses.

Enhancement of disaster preparedness: Approaches of place attachment and behavior to “build back better” mosque as tsunami evacuation building in Banda Aceh City, Indonesia

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 emphasizes the importance of learning from experiences to strengthen preparedness and “Build Back Better” through risk reduction in the phases of recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. On December 26, 2004, Aceh Province in Indonesia was affected by an earthquake and tsunami that caused infrastructure damage and resulted in the death of 160,000–200,000 people. Mc. Caughey simulation (2017) showed that 50% of respondents in Banda Aceh, preferred mosques as tsunami evacuation sites in the future. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the function of mosques as tsunami evacuation buildings through a community-based approach. The method involved participatory observation and in-depth interviews, guided by the principles of Sense of Place Attachment and Behavior Theory. The results showed that the Baitul Musyahadah Mosque satisfied the criteria for serving as a tsunami evacuation facility. A significant proportion of the community (38%) selected mosques as their preferred evacuation sites, considering factors such as ease of horizontal access (22%), ease of vertical access (22%), the call to prayer (12%), and the available space (4%). The analysis of sociodemographic factors indicated that individuals aged 20–30 expressed attachment towards the physical aesthetics of the mosques, while those aged 31–50 exhibited attachment towards the symbolic significance. This study recommended integrating the design concept of mosques to accommodate worship activities and emergency evacuation, thereby contributing to national and international endeavors aimed at mitigating tsunami risks.

Optimising egress location in school buildings using mathematical modelling and Agent-Based simulation

Effective evacuation strategies in school buildings are critical for ensuring the safety of students and staff during emergencies. Finding appropriate egress locations is an important part of the evacuation planning process. Existing approaches for evacuating schools are based on codified standards without requiring the use of optimisation or simulation, resulting in non-optimal solutions. This study develops a framework that combines mathematical modelling, Building Information Modelling (BIM), and agent-based modelling (ABM) to aid decision makers in planning egress locations for safe evacuation in school buildings. A mixed-integer programming model is used to find optimal egress locations that meet design criteria, which is then integrated with BIM and ABM to provide a comprehensive tool for planning effective egress locations. The simulation approach also evaluates the performance of the proposed egress locations in real-life scenarios. Given the scarcity of research on combining egress location and performance in school buildings, this framework offers a useful approach to improve evacuation planning in school buildings. The results indicate that the proposed approach can improve evacuation time by approximately 10% and reduce total egress configuration costs by 31%.

ON A FIRE DETECTION ON STAIRCASE IN MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS

Staircases are very important from the point of view of fire protection. There are several reasons for this standpoint, but two are particularly significant. The first is that stairs are an important means of evacuation in multi-storey buildings, and the second is that the moment of detection of fire is crucial for the beginning of the evacuation. The first fact refers to the stair’s location in buildings and the dimensions of stairs and landings. The importance of the second fact is obvious – the location and numbers of fire detectors directly affect early fire detection, and consequently the beginning of evacuation. The worst-case fire scenario from the aspect of building design - a staircase in the center of the building - was chosen for the simulation described in the paper, because in Serbia, there are many structures like this For the simulation described in the paper, the worst-case fire scenario was selected from the aspect of building design - a staircase in the centre of the building, because there are many, such in our country. On the other hand, recommendations for the location and number of fire detectors on a staircase are different in world-leading standards. For these reasons, in this paper, the simulations were performed in an eight-story building for various dimensions of spaces between stairs. On the basis of a comparison of the regulations outlined in European, British, German, American, and Russian standards, simulation parameters are defined. Parameters for simulations are defined on the basis of a comparative analysis of rules stated in European, British, German, American and Russian standards. Taking into account that some emergency evacuations entail moving through smoke-filled areas, building engineers must understand how the aforementioned factors affect smoke development in the event of a fire, and thus effective evacuation.

Performance-Based Evacuation Optimization for Teaching Building with Heterogeneous Populations: Simulation and Numerical Studies

Building evacuation safety has been one of the focal points of researchers, and there is a wealth of research findings for certain places (e.g., buildings with a high population density) or for particular research subjects (e.g., the physically challenged ethnic group). However, current publications are relatively rare in analyzing the features of physically impaired individuals in crowded places and their impact on the effectiveness of the whole evacuation process, including non-disabled people. Additionally, only such studies tend to concentrate on the behavioral characteristics of disabled people, which lack exploring and comparing evacuation optimization strategies and evaluation of comprehensive evacuation performance. This paper proposed a computer simulation-based method that combined horizontally phased evacuation and vertically phased evacuation, supplemented with the use of handicapped ramps and a reasonable arrangement of class locations, to achieve the optimal evacuation performance of a teaching building with special consideration of the heterogeneous population. And then, a simulated building model was constructed to test and compare the effectiveness and applicability of these approaches through 33 evacuation scenario studies. The results found that (1) component design can improve evacuation effectiveness, with the arrangement of ramps and the location of stair doors successfully reducing evacuation time by 12% and 6.6%, respectively; (2) a combination of two ramps and separate handicap access can decrease evacuation time by 18%; (3) the horizontal-phased evacuation approach drops evacuation time by 7.1%, but the vertical-phased evacuation strategy is not very efficient. When the two are successfully combined, evacuation time is further reduced to 9.2%; and (4) based on the above measures, the evacuation time can be finally shortened by 19% if the veteran teachers are concentrated in the classrooms on the lower floors. These obtained conclusions will provide significant reference and methodological support for the safe evacuation of other similar buildings with heterogeneous populations.

Human behaviour and evacuation time for large underground comprehensive buildings during fire risk process

Human factors play an indispensable role in process safety during fire risk process. Fire evacuation of underground comprehensive buildings is a critical consideration for practical importance. Here, evacuation experiments were conducted in the Guangzhou East Railway Station Plaza, a large underground comprehensive building in Guangdong, China, with the plaza occupants as the participants. The evacuation factors, namely evacuation time and evacuee-selected evacuation routes, were evaluated using empirical equations (the Togawa model and the Melinek and Booth model) and evacuation modelling software (EVACNET 4 and composite occupant evacuation model). The experimental data were used to verify the empirical equations and evacuation models and to modify specific empirical parameters. The effect on escape route judgement and selection under emergency situations was analysed. The results demonstrated that direct access to outdoor exits could considerably reduce evacuation time. The experimental N and ts were 1 person/m·s and 28 s, respectively. The total evacuation time was 281 s, and the EVACNET 4 and composite models’ simulations of safe evacuation were 285–290 s, which was consistent with the experimental data—validating the high accuracy and applicability of the models.

The influence of context effects on exit choice behavior during building evacuation combining virtual reality and discrete choice modeling

Exit choice is critical to saving lives during a building evacuation. Numerous studies have examined how environmental factors, social interactions, and individuals’ internal factors affect exit choice behavior. However, due to their limited ability to perceive and combine these multi-attributes, people do not always make strategic and rational decisions but instead rely on preferences. The choice context can facilitate or hinder the evaluation of attributes, and thus preference reversals may occur in the same choice set but in different contexts. Researchers have long known that the context effect – i.e. preference reversals depending on the availability of other options – plays an important role in decision-making behavior. However, no research on decision-making behavior has been conducted that considers the context effect on exit choice during building evacuation. To fill this gap, we conducted a series of virtual reality (VR) experiments to examine the influence of context effect on exit choice. Before conducting the experiments, the validity of exit choice behavior in the VR-based method was analysed by comparing controlled experiments in both the real world and virtual environment. The results from our VR experiments provide novel and clear empirical evidence that contextual preference reversals involving three major effects, the compromise effect, the similarity effect, and the attraction effect, play an important role in exit choice during evacuation. Additionally, we compared three models for estimating discrete choice – expected utility theory (EUT), cumulative prospect theory (CPT), and accentuation of differences (AOD) – which primarily focus on the option attributes, the risk attitude of decision-makers, and the context of options, respectively. The outstanding performance of AOD, which is based on a psychophysical law and takes into account the impact of the context of options, highlights the psychological perspective of evacuees towards various option attributes and the importance of context effects in exit choice.

Integrasi Jalur Evakuasi pada Bangunan Publik Bertingkat Menggunakan Pendekatan Space Syntax

Title: Integration of Multi-stories Public Buildings Evacuation Routes with Space Syntax Approach Case Study: The Design of Kanisius Junior High School, Kalasan Fires and earthquakes are the two major disasters that threaten buildings. Public buildings require a design that can mitigate the adverse effects of the disaster, which requires excellent attention to the evacuation aspect when a disaster occurs. This study will evaluate the design of one of the public buildings that became the study material, Kanisius Junior High School (SMP), located in Kalasan, D.I. Yogyakarta. The building consists of 3 floors with an area per floor of 755 m2. It has a vertical emergency evacuation route through stairs at both ends. Using the Space Syntax method, the path design integration evaluation uses the Integrity tools in the Axial Map series. In contrast, the Visibility Graph tools are used to determine the level of visibility of the path and the ideal need for placing emergency exit signage. The result is that the level of integration of the evacuation route in the Kanisius Kalasan Junior High School building will be known, and the ideal signage placement will be recommended. This research is expected to contribute knowledge in the field of architecture related to the optimization method of emergency evacuation route design in multi-story buildings, as well as provide input for relevant stakeholders.

Experimental and numerical evacuation study in tall office building

The duration of the evacuation process in case of emergencies in tall buildings is a crucial issue. Various factors have significant impact on the evacuation time, e.g. stairwell geometry, speed, density, pre-evacuation delay, number of occupants and their familiarity with the building, behavior, age, gender, physical abilities, relationships between people, etc. Although there are many studies on the subject, research results from Bulgaria and comparison with those from other places in the world are not yet available. Also, studies performed by researchers who have professional operational firefighting experience are very limited. In this study, two evacuation experiments in a new 107 m tall office building in Bulgaria were designed under the supervision of professional firefighting personnel. The first experiment was conducted to estimate the free movement characteristics under “normal” conditions for determining the average duration of the evacuation and the range of the vertical speed. Thirteen participants were instructed to move down from 17F to outside the building, following their normal habits. Their evacuation times differed in the range from 192 s–328 s, while the vertical speed is highest at the upper floors 0.35 m/s and reduce to 0.20 m/s just before the exits. The second experiment was an evacuation drill of 177 people from the floors they work in the building. The evacuation duration of this experiment for all these people from the building was in the range of 2–6 min. The study is also enriched through Pathfinder software simulations for verification of the results, where a good match was observed (6:26 min total evacuation time). Another simulation at the maximum occupants’ capacity of the building with 2195 people was also run (24:48 min for the total evacuation time). We believe that the benefits achieved on the differences in the real experimental data from different parts of the world can be valuable for validation of tall building evacuation models. In addition, the link between the evacuation drill findings and the professional firefighting considerations, problems and decision-making operations in case of fire is discussed.

戦時期日本における建物疎開の展開に関する制度史的研究（その１）：事業対象都市の変遷と事業施行の実態

Early building evacuations focused on cities critical to air defense, but the target cities were officially expanded in June 1945, and in reality, they were expanded around the end of 1944 to include small and medium-sized regional cities. The largest number of evacuated buildings was recorded around March 1945, when nighttime air raids on major cities were common. Although the project was implemented in many cities throughout Japan, the majority of evacuated buildings were concentrated in the industrial areas of Keihin, Keihanshin, Nagoya, and northern Kyushu.

Agent-Based Model of Mass Campus Shooting: Comparing Hiding and Moving of Civilians

The follow-up impact of the campus shooting incident is enormous. Due to a large number of minors (vulnerable groups) and complex building environments, the school is one of the main targets of terrorists. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 poses a challenge to social and public security. Considering the dichotomous characteristics of the people shot and the impact of the refuge area on the crowd movement in the shooting incident, we use an agent-based model to restore the real target case. Based on the optimal solution, we explore the effects of the number and location of building exits, the scale of the shooter's attack, and the time to find shelter on the shooting results. For building exits, we found that for the environment in the case, the exit location has little impact on the number of casualties, but the increase in the number of exits provides more evacuation routes for the crowd and reduces the number of casualties. Panic will increase the probability of collision and injury. Hiding in a refuge area away from the shooter is effective to avoid shooting injury. At the same time, we propose the critical point of hiding probability. When it is greater than 40%, the faster the escape speed is, the higher the safety is; escape is more likely to replace avoidance in hiding probability less than 40% of environments. These findings are helpful to guide the building evacuation channel construction and emergency evacuation training.

Simulation and optimization of hybrid evacuation model for high-rise building under emergency condition

With the characteristics of high-speed transportation, the elevator has an overwhelmingly crucial meaning footnote in an auxiliary evacuation high-rise building with more than 30 floors causing the time to be the deciding factor under the emergency condition. The study shows that using the stairway or elevator separately cannot achieve the best effect. The elevator’s evacuation time depends on the number of occupants on each floor and the elevator’s carrying capacity. This paper discusses how to use the stair and elevator to optimize the hybrid evacuation in high-rise buildings and proposes two goals for the evacuation model of high-rise buildings under emergency conditions. One is that both the last occupant to use the stairway and the last occupant to use the elevator reach the safe place simultaneously. The other is that we fine-tune the evacuation destinations of the occupants to balance the utilization of each evacuation path as much as possible. We present the optimization method with three steps, and the evacuation time shrunk by up to 57% according to the baseline. Finally, we compare the optimized hybrid evacuation and the single evacuation method to the previous work and give the results of the experiments.

A new integrated agent-based framework for designing building emergency evacuation: A BIM approach

Today, safety control is considered one of the most important pillars of building construction processes due to maintaining security in major incidents such as fire, earthquake, and flood, and placing a basis of mutual trust between builders and residents for building design and construction. The evacuation process is a key aspect of safety control in case of an emergency such as a fire. This study develops a new integrated agent-based framework for designing building emergency evacuation by using Building Information Model (BIM). Three main steps of the framework include data collection, building model development, and evacuation simulation with a combination of Revit-MassMotion. The methodology is demonstrated through its application to a real case of a multi-story commercial building located in Iran. The building model is simulated through three scenarios with a different number of floors (i.e., one, two, and three floors). In each scenario, the safety of evacuation is evaluated for three designs of stairs in the building. The results show the best performance of the building evacuation in all scenarios can be achieved when two individual stairs are designed for each floor. Other influential factors including the maximum density, vision time, and agent count are more acceptable compared to other design factors. These parameters can also be used to design a control system by using smart conceptual models based on both decision tree and auto-work break structure methods.