Review of Building Evacuation Models.
Review of Building Evacuation Models.
(1595 K)
Kuligowski, E. D.; Peacock, R. D.
NIST TN 1471; NIST Technical Note 1471; 153 p. July
2005.
Keywords:
evacuation; egress; occupants; human behavior; fire
data; validation; computer models; people movement
Abstract:
Evacuation calculations are increasingly becoming a part
of performance-based analyses to assess the level of
life safety provided in buildings. In some cases,
engineers are using back-of-the-envelope (hand)
calculation to assess life safety, and in others,
evacuation models are being used. Hand calculations
usually follow the equations given in the Emergency
Movement Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection
Engineers (SFPE) Handbook to calculate mass flow
evacuation from any height of building. The occupants
are assumed to be standing at the doorway to the stair
on each floor as soon as the evacuation begins. The
calculation focuses mainly on points of constriction
throughout the building (commonly the door to the
outside) and calculates the time for the occupants to
flow past these points and to the outside. To achieve a
more realistic evacuation calculation, engineers have
been looking to evacuation computer models to assess a
building's life safety. Currently, there are a number of
evacuation models to choose from, each with unique
characteristics and specialties. The purpose of this
paper is to provide a comprehensive model review of 30
past and current evacuation models for current and
potential model users. With this information, a user can
select the model or models appropriate for his/her
design.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899