High-rise Building Evacuation Research Articles

Optimizing safe evacuation using pathfinder: emergency strategies in high-rise and super high-rise complex buildings in the new administrative capital

ABSTRACT Recently, the Egyptian government has sought to create new urban spots. The New Administrative Capital was one of those new urban extensions. Architects and urban designers tended to vertical expansion in planning this city as a result of the high cost of the land. Accordingly, high-rise and super-high-rise buildings have been relied upon in the architectural design of the buildings. This study aims to evaluate the achievement of safe occupants’ evacuation in case of fire for two high-rise and one super high-rise complex buildings based on a set of variables. Staircase design, the use of elevators, and the provision of refuge areas were evaluated, through simulating seven scenarios using Pathfinder software. The simulation results comprised an assessment of average stairs traffic jams, the occupant load density on emergency stairs, and the required safe evacuation time (RSET) for each scenario. It was concluded from the study that staircase design has a significant impact on (RSET) time. As well as, evacuation using elevators or relaying on refuge areas as auxiliary means with the emergency stairs may be safer for these types of buildings. Finally, the study provided technical requirements for using refuge areas and elevators in emergency evacuation in high-rise and super high-rise buildings.

A novel data-driven triangular-type staircase layout design in personnel safety evacuation in high-rise buildings

When an accident or crisis occurs in a high-rise building, evacuation by stairs is the most recognized safe evacuation method, where the design of stair layouts greatly impacts the economy and safety of high-rise buildings. Therefore, an economical and reasonable staircase layout design is especially important. Most previous studies tend to reduce the number of evacuation routes due to economic considerations alone, which is an unreasonable unilateral consideration. In this sense, a reasonable staircase layout should consider economic and evacuation efficiency. To address this issue, this study proposes a new evacuation time calculation model, which is then combined with an economic model to develop a bi-objective optimization model. After that, a set of solutions that achieve different trade-offs between economy and safety are obtained, allowing for a staircase arrangement that meets safety requirements while minimizing economic investment. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed model is verified by a real case study, where the Pareto front surface is obtained to facilitate decision-making for stakeholders with different risk preferences. The numerical results also allow decision-makers to make informed decisions considering both economics and safety in stairway settings.

Modeling of emergency evacuation in high rise buildings considering congestion at stairs based on Markov chains

High-rise buildings are vulnerable to encountering fires or other emergencies at any time, requiring an immediate evacuation of occupants. In the context of building evacuations, various engineering parameters are often utilized to evaluate the time required for people to reach a safe place when descending a staircase. A discrete-time Markov chain model is proposed to evaluate the evacuation time of the occupants in such circumstances by taking into consideration factors like merging at the stairs and congestion on the floor. Based on the congestion probabilities with respect to the number of evacuees in the building and other human behavior factors that slow down the rate of evacuation, non-congested and congested scenarios are evaluated. The effect of the critical parameters that influenced the evacuation process in the high-rise building, such as walking speed, number of evacuees, and effective stair width, is evaluated in both scenarios. The findings indicate an optimal evacuation speed of 0.7–1.4 m/s. The effective width of the stair is suggested to be between 1.6 and 2.4 m using the model. The simulation results are in good accordance with the SFPE method, the NIST egress simulator, and the agent-based model results.

Simulation study on fire and evacuation of super high-rise commercial building

The construction of high-rise and multi-functional commercial buildings has emerged as a global trend, but it also introduces significant fire hazards. Consequently, there is a pressing need to examine the fire development trends in super high-rise commercial buildings and establish logical evacuation strategies. This study utilizes the Pyrosim program to simulate a typical fire scenario at the Yangtze River International Conference Center, allowing for the acquisition of essential fire parameters and available evacuation time. Subsequently, based on the complex functional zones and personnel distribution within the building, appropriate evacuation plans are devised and simulated using the Pathfinder software. The results reveal that by effectively utilizing stairs, elevators, and refuge floors in accordance with personnel distribution, evacuation efficiency can be substantially enhanced. Furthermore, the required evacuation time during nighttime fires is merely 36.6%–55.3% compared to unorganized evacuation. The findings of this study offer valuable theoretical guidance for the evacuation of super high-rise commercial buildings, holding immense significance in minimizing fire-related casualties within such structures.

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.

고층 공동주택용 보급형 승강식피난기의 피난효과 분석

This evacuation mechanism features a new technology evacuation mechanism with a universal design that is ’safe, simple and repeatable’ and easy to use for people with disabilities. An elevator evacuation machine is a rescue evacuation device in which the evacuee climbs on the platform and lowers the user’s weight by 1 floor when the button is bright. Because it evacuates one floor by floor, it is suitable as a high-rise evacuation mechanism. In addition, it is possible to use non-motorized power outages due to fire.BR The study confirmed the performance of the new technology elevator evacuator as a field test to confirm its efficiency when used for evacuation of high-rise buildings. The field test measured the time it took for a family of 4 living in a 33-story communal house to evacuate to the evacuation safe zone below the 10th floor. The evacuation was analyzed for the time it took for 4 people to evacuate 10 floors using stairs and elevator evacuations. It took about 100 seconds for a family of 4 to use the evacuation stairs, and 440 seconds for the elevator evacuation machine. In evacuation time, the lift evacuation period takes about 4 times longer. However, as a countermeasure in cases where the stairs are blocked by smoke and are difficult to use, evacuation using an elevator evacuator has confirmed the great responsibility. The evacuation time for a family of 4 on the 10th floor took about 8 minutes, confirming that it was safe enough.BR Currently, the fire protection law excludes the installation of evacuation equipment on the 11th floor or above. This is to prepare for safety accidents that occur during evacuation from high-rises. The elevator evacuator developed with the new technology can be applied regardless of the height of the building by dividing it into 1 floor and evacuating in the downward direction, It is hoped that in the fire objects of cities where high-rise normalization has become commonplace, elevator-type evacuators will be introduced as high-rise evacuation equipment and become an evacuation mechanism to protect the safety of the people.

Investigation of elevator-aided evacuation strategies for older people in high-rise elderly housing

Staircase evacuation is the major means of fire evacuation for current high-rise residential buildings. However, its feasibility may be questioned as the increasing aging population and many recent constructions of elderly community estates comprising high-rise apartment buildings. The weakness in physical strength and mobility impairment of older people may impede the successful implementation of staircase evacuation. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider facilitating older people's evacuation with elevators, shorted as elevator-aided evacuation (EAE). In order to find the most appropriate EAE strategy for high-rise elderly housing evacuation, three possbile strategy modes for EAE are proposed: horizontally rationed EAE (S1), vertically rationed EAE (S2), and refuge floor gathered EAE (S3). Using evacuation simulation to examine evacuation efficiencies of these proposed strategy modes varying in different evacuation scenarios, we find that S2 is appropriate for middle high-rise building (12 & 24 stories) evacuation; S3 is suitable for ultra high-rise building (36 & 48 stories) evacuation with a low occupants' density per floor; S1 is the most preferable for evacuation of ultra high-rise buildings (36 & 48 stories) with a high occupants' density per floor. More importantly, the ratio of occupants assigned to use elevators and stairs for evacuation needs to be regulated according to the occupancy information. Thus, a smart elevator-aided building fire evacuation scheme is suggested, which aims to determine the optimal EAE strategy according to the real-time on-site situation.

Yüksek Binaların Tahliye Etkinliğinin İncelenmesi: Gaziantep Ek Adliye Binası Örneği

Binaların tahliye analizinde en gerçekçi metot tahliye tatbikatlarıdır. Fakat bu metot özellikle yüksek kullanıcı yüküne sahip binalarda bazı fiziki riskler taşımaktadır. Gelişen teknolojiyle birlikte bilgisayar tabanlı benzetim çalışmaları, birçok alanda olduğu gibi tahliye analizlerinde de geniş yer almaya başlamıştır. Bu makalede, ön tanımlı metotla test edilmiş ve onaylanmış olan ve Türkiye İmar Yönetmeliğine göre yüksek yapı sınıfında bulunan Gaziantep Ek Adliye Binasının tahliye etkinliği incelenmiştir. Benzetim modelleri oluşturulurken kullanılan metotlardan ön tanımlı ve performans tabanlı metotları inceleyen bu çalışmada, Gaziantep Ek Adliye Binası, performans tabanlı modele göre ve uluslararası tanımlara göre, Pathfinder benzetim programıyla test edilmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre binanın, National Fire Protection Association tarafından belirlenen kullanıcı yüküne göre 45 dk 35 sn’de, yazarlar tarafından binanın normal bir gündeki normal yüküne yönelik oluşturulan tahmini kullanıcı yüküne göre ise 18 dk 50 sn’de tahliye edildiği görülmüştür. Ayrıca yüksek binaların tasarımında etkin tahliyeye izin verecek tasarım detaylarından bahsedilmiştir.

Evaluation of crowd evacuation in high-rise residential buildings with mixed-ability population: combining an architectural solution with management strategies

The increasing growth of high-rise residential buildings in recent years and the existence of hazards such as fires, earthquakes, and terrorist incidents have increased the importance of evacuating buildings to save lives. Meanwhile, statistics show that a significant percentage of the population and hence residents of buildings are permanently disabled. However, the study of the evacuation of a mixed-ability population is more complicated than a homogeneous population. This study examined phased evacuation, emplacement strategy, and ramp installation using a mixed-ability population simulation in a 26-story residential building. The study population includes 2% of people with mobility limitations and 98% without disabilities. Unlike previous studies, the results revealed that phased evacuation could not reduce evacuation time in a mixed-ability population. It was also found that emplacement strategies could shorten the evacuation time by up to 10%, though suffering from an ethical problem. Meanwhile, combining ramp installation with others strategies offered the best and broadest impact on a safe evacuation and could improve evacuation time by up to 30% and reduce congestion on exit routes.

Towards a Smart Elevator-Aided Fire Evacuation Scheme in High-Rise Apartment Buildings for Elderly

Staircase evacuation is the major means of fire evacuation for current high-rise residential buildings. However, its feasibility may be questioned as more and more senior citizens live there in the future. The weakness in physical strength and mobility impairment of elderly people may impede the successful implementation of staircase evacuation. It is therefore reasonable to consider using elevators for overall evacuation in high-rise residential buildings. However, enhancing the fire protection of elevators and efficiently controlling the elevator-aided evacuation operations are two major difficulties for applying elevators in building fire evacuation. Recently, the use of smart control for building facility management has become a hot issue in built environment studies. An enabling solution for smart elevator-aided building fire evacuation (SEABFE) is proposed in this article. The solution supports the SEABFE by determining the safer and more efficient elevator-aided evacuation strategy based on real-time fire ground and evacuation progress on the scene. A simulated case study of fire evacuation in a typical high-rise residential building shows that the proposed SEABFE can be successfully performed. Apart from keeping the elevator operation safe, the planned elevator-aided evacuation strategy may save 38.0% of the time compared with the strategy using only staircases in the scene.

Performance of occupant evacuation in a super high-rise building up to 583 m

The stairwell is the main evacuation channel of super high-rise buildings, so revealing the evacuation characteristics on stairs in such buildings based on a full-scale experiment is critical for safer evacuation. However, currently there are few studies focusing on the evacuation performance of crowd in such buildings, especially for the collective movement scenarios. Here, an evacuation experiment is carried out in Shanghai Tower with a vertical height of 583 m, which is the second tallest building in the world. The evacuation speeds for 69 participants in 58 stair sections are extracted and the effects of travel distance, gender, age and density on descent speeds are analyzed and discussed. According to the result that the group of participants with a 9.63% higher travel height spends a 16.39% longer evacuation time, yet within each group the speed does not decrease with the increase of the moving distance, we propose an interesting hypothesis that the travel distance may affect descent speed, but it needs to be further verified. The speeds of the female are significantly lower than those of the male and the female are more sensitive to the increase of travel distance. At the same time, younger participants show better evacuation ability than the older ones, including that they evacuate faster and are less affected by the confluence. Furthermore, a new method is proposed to calculate density and the fundamental diagram These results are useful for the validation and calibration of related evacuation models, and can provide basic data for the design of emergency evacuation facilities in super high-rise buildings.

Optimal solutions to vertical access placement design in residential high-rise buildings based on human behavior

Human behavior at the time of building crisis should be analyzed in order to design buildings with satisfactory performance. In residential high-rise buildings, there are certain complications due to residential conditions. Given the high population density of these buildings, it is important to analyze their vertical access performance for emergency evacuations. This study aims to find the optimal placement and layout of vertical access in residential high-rise buildings. It asks: What is the most optimal solution to vertical access placement design in residential high-rise buildings? To answer this, human behavior simulation models during an emergency evacuation in residential high-rise buildings were first analyzed, and the best model was selected. Based on the human behavior models, the vertical access placement was then optimized to evaluate the optimal structures of four types of 60-story residential buildings designed and compared in SFPE and Steering simulation engines. The scenarios differ in vertical access placement. The simulations are conducted in four parts, which include how people placement on each floor, considering disabled persons along with assisted evacuation, and the fire-involved stories and the blocked stairs. According to the research results, a cost-effective core that solves structural problems and provides vertical access will not necessarily be the right solution to the emergency evacuation of high-rise buildings. Instead, placing vertical access features such as stairs and elevators on two opposite sides of a building plan can reduce the total evacuation time by 20%.

High-Rise Building Evacuation Simulation Based on Physical Stamina of Evacuees

Currently, high-rise buildings are being continuously constructed, and thus, it is necessary to predict evacuation safety in advance in case of emergency situations in high-rise buildings. However, current studies focus only on the movement of individuals in evacuation situations for predicting the final evacuation time. Therefore, in this study, a simulation of realistic evacuation in high-rise buildings was performed based on characteristics such as the physical stamina of evacuees. The evacuation simulation was performed on the world's tallest high-rise building, Burj Khalifa, and comparative verification was performed with and without consideration of the physical stamina of evacuees. The results of the simulation indicated that the total evacuation time significantly increases when physical stamina is considered. Hence, realistic evacuation in high-rise buildings is possible when the stamina of evacuees is considered.

In whose best interests? Regulating childcare environments in Australia

This conceptual model paper uses systems theory to explain how key elements in the Australian policy and regulatory context lead to three issues of concern in childcare centre physical environments: siting of centres on busy roads; lack of outdoor space; and, emergency evacuation in high-rise buildings. Drawing on evidence from prior studies and policy documents through desktop research, as well as childcare centre visits and communications with stakeholders and experts, we confirmed these issues as threats to children’s health, safety, development and well-being. Adapting Goekler’s ‘iceberg model’ of systems theory, we identified a dominance of commercial childcare property interests and complex and conflicting policy and regulatory structures, as explanatory elements leading to outcomes that conflict with children’s best interests.

Effectiveness of travel time during evacuation in high-rise residential buildings: a case study in Selangor, Malaysia

PurposeIn recent years, the number of high-rise buildings in Malaysia has been increasing. Therefore, it is essential to take evacuation into consideration especially for emergency conditions such as fire, explosion and natural disasters. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the escape time in typical Malaysian high-rise residential buildings.Design/methodology/approachThis work comprises simulation on three buildings around the Selangor area in Malaysia. Quantitative methodology is adopted using Pathfinder software to simulate the evacuation process and time of the three typical Malaysian high-rise residential buildings. Four parameters were studied namely, the occupant load density, walking speed of first and last occupants, average of evacuation time per floor for the three buildings and effect of placement of emergency staircase on travel time.FindingsFindings show that 12 m2 which is double the allowable occupants' density in Malaysia increases evacuation time by 67.9% while the placement of the emergency staircase on the left and middle section of a building significantly affects the evacuation time by 21.2%. In conclusion, from the simulation studies, it is recognized that a higher occupant's density affects the evacuation time.Originality/valueThis work could provide information on escape time for future construction of high-rise buildings in Malaysia. Hence, the specification and design of buildings could be reviewed based on the results obtained from this simulation. This information could be beneficial to the building regulators and developers thus enhancing the knowledge of building constructor and possible issues in the design of staircases, corridors and height of buildings.

Fire Safety in High-Rise Buildings: Is the Stay-Put Tactic a Misjudgement or Magnificent Strategy?

Historically, fire incidents in high-rise buildings reveal that Fire and Rescue Services frequently rely on the stay-put tactic (i.e., occupants of high-rise buildings should remain in their apartments) during an inferno. Recent fire occurrences in high-rise buildings reveal that there are two opposing viewpoints on the stay-put tactic. First, the understanding that the stay-put tactic is a beneficial practice used to protect, control, and facilitate smooth evacuation of occupants during fire incidents. Second, the argument that the stay-put tactic is a misjudgement and futile strategy that leads to fatalities, particularly in high-rise buildings. The aim of this study was to provide awareness and understanding of fire and rescue services use of the stay-put tactic in high-rise buildings. We attempted to answer the questions: is the stay-put tactic a misjudgement or magnificent strategy? The study adopted phenomenological research strategies with various focus groups consisting of seasoned firefighters and survivors with first-hand accounts of stay-put instructions in high-rise buildings. The study also scrutinised three case studies of fire incidents in high-rise buildings in two countries. The study revealed that the stay-put tactic is obsolete; with the potential to cause catastrophic misjudgement, mostly during conflagrations in high-rise buildings. There is a need to advance research on the use of artificial intelligence communication systems and infrared image detectors camera to enhance quick and smooth fire evacuation in high-rise buildings.

Fire Evacuation Process Using Both Elevators and Staircases for Aging People: Simulation Case Study on Personnel Distribution in High-Rise Nursing Home

There were increasing concerns on the possibility and suitability of using elevators for high-rise building evacuation because, through the improvement of the elevator system, the self-evacuation ability of age people is promoted as much as possible in the process of an emergency evacuation. The combined evacuation using both elevators and stairs was put into discussion. However, there was no empirical evidence and numerical simulation on emergency evacuation using both elevators and staircases for aging people in high-rise nursing homes. Therefore, using one case study, this paper simulated the emergency evacuation in a high-rise nursing home using variables such as the distribution of the elderly with different physical conditions, the proportion of the elderly in different physical conditions, the number of the elderly, the number of floors, the number of elevators used, and the priority of the elevator floor. By simulating the evacuation process in various scenarios, the general distribution strategy of high-rise nursing home and the optimal use of the elevator-stair combination during the emergency evacuation were developed. Results show that the elevator-stair combination of evacuation is more effective than using elevators or stairs alone. Increasing the number and speed of elevators can reduce evacuation time. Categorizing elderly people on each floor according to their physical conditions could reduce the evacuation time than randomly distributing them.

Egress Parameters Influencing Emergency Evacuation in High-Rise Buildings

Fire in buildings pose a significant threat to occupants, first responders as well as the structural system. Rapid spread of fire and smoke in buildings can hinder the process of evacuation resulting in loss of human life. Such situations call for a reliable egress system that provides safe evacuation of occupants in minimal time. Updating the occupants and first responders with much-needed situational awareness such as accessible stairwells and exits during the disaster can not only lead to efficient evacuation but also shorten the duration of evacuation in some scenarios. This paper examines occupant evacuation scenarios in fire exposed high-rise buildings. A parametric study is carried out on evacuation strategies in a 32-story typical office building during different fire exposure scenarios. The movement of occupants with and without situational awareness is simulated. The effect of critical parameters such as number of stories, width of the egress paths, location and number of exits on the evacuation process is evaluated. The time required for occupants to evacuate the building is estimated under normal conditions (to simulate fire evacuation drill) and under realistic fire exposure. Results from the study indicate that the two most significant factors that influence evacuation time are the location of stairway within the building and the floors at which fire starts. When fire starts at the lower levels of the building, the evacuation time is the highest. More importantly, if situational awareness is incorporated in emergency evacuation procedure, it can improve the evacuation efficiency in a fire exposed high-rise building; wherein up to 24% reduction in evacuation time is achieved.

Modeling Evacuation of High-Rise Buildings Based on Intelligence Decision P System

High-rise buildings usually have more complex architectural structures and hold more people than single-storey buildings. Currently, crowd management under emergent conditions, especially rapid evacuations of high-rise buildings, is a worldwide problem. In this study, a bio-inspired simulation technology extracted from a cell migration process, namely Intelligent Decision System (IDPS), was used to model the dynamic evacuation of high-rise buildings and calculate the evacuation time for different scenarios. This work was motivated by the comparability between the pedestrian movement behavior and cell migration process. Specific structure information of high architecture was also described in IDPS. A case study was done about evacuation simulation of a 12-storey teaching building in China University of Geosciences in Beijing. The simulation results showed that evacuation time varied with different parameters, such as density threshold, interaction probability, walking speed, population distribution, and stair width. With the proper density threshold and good interaction probability, the load balance of staircases and exits can be improved. For staircases with high utilization ratios, it was recommended that the evacuation process can be accelerated by widening the staircases appropriately. Finally, the impact of initial number of evacuees at each floor level was also analyzed in view of safety management.

The numerical analysis of mass evacuation in Taipei 101 with control volume model

Issues of safety evacuation of super high-rise buildings for emergencies have been attracting a lot of studies, especially after the disaster of WTC 9/11. In this study, the numerical results and dynamic processes of mass evacuation of a super high rise building are investigated by using the control volume model. The evacuation process of this model is divided into five stages and based on the assumptions of homogeneous flow with merge flow ratio where the exit flows from different floors meet and merge together. The super high-rise building, Taipei 101 is chosen for the object of evacuation simulation building, which is about 508 m tall. Seven scenarios, which content as total building evacuation and phased evacuation, are analyzed by using various values of the parameters which influenced the evacuation process in the building including walking speed, coefficient of flow rate, and merge flow ratio etc. The numerical results of mass evacuation are found to be in good agreement with the result of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) first-order approximation and indicate that the evacuation processes are highly dependent on the parameters of walking speed and specific flow. Furthermore, the dynamic characteristics of the evacuation process at each time-step for each floor are presented and discussed.