Evacuation Experiment Study in Up and Down Escape Staircase of Underground Road

To measure evacuation basic parameters, reveal evacuation performance, and study reasonable staircase spacing of up and down escape staircase in case of fire, an evacuation experiment, which was based on the most unfavorable evacuation scenario, was conducted. The experiment took personnel and vehicles of actual underground road traffic into account, and evacuation process image data were extracted and analyzed by artificial statistics. Experimental results indicate that the personnel plane evacuation speed is between 1.43 and 1.95 m/s, and the upstairs evacuation speed that is less affected by gender and age is mainly between 0.5 and 1.1 m/s; under the escape stairs width of 0.8 m, the average capacity of escape staircase is 0.7 P/s, and the entrance of the staircase is evacuation bottleneck and queuing phenomenon occurs. Based on the experiment, a calculation model of three-phase personnel net evacuation time was established. By simplifying the evacuation model, a calculation formula of the reasonable escape stair spacing considering the influence of multiple factors was proposed. And the proposed theoretical model was verified by project cases of up and down escape staircase. With 2 min emergency broadcasting time and 6 min Available Safety Evacuation Time of medium-sized fire as the Personnel Safety Evacuation Rule’s reference, the recommended value of escape staircase spacing of single pipe double-deck two-way four-lane (double pipes double-deck two-way eight-lane) underground roads is 64.3 m.

Development and experimental testing of special technical devices for evacuation of children from rope parks

Introduction. The paper describes the results of a model experiment to test the performance of a special technical device for descending children from the height of the rope Park route, the theoretical model of which was previously proposed by the authors. Taking into account the results of the experiment and using the theory of solving inventive tasks, a model of a new trigger device was developed and tested. Goals and objectives. The main purpose of the study is to check the functioning of the trigger device with previously defined required parameters, including an assessment of the performance of the brake mechanism, checking the required descent speed, as well as a preliminary assessment of the reliability of a special technical device. Methods. The research used well-known scientific methods: analysis, synthesis, field experiment, theory of inventive problem solving, graph theory. Results and discussion. The results of the study showed that the previously proposed device can be used for timely evacuation of children, but it requires design improvements to increase its versatility - to ensure that it can be used for lowering children weighing from 15 to 40 kg. Tests of the new model of the device have shown its effectiveness and the possibility of using it for descending children of various weights at the required safe speed. At the same time, all the nodal parts of the device function coherently, and no malfunctions were detected either during or after the experiment. Conclusion. It was found as a result of the study that the development of a trigger device based on a new model is a promising task with a guaranteed positive result. Using the theory of solving inventive tasks allows us to increase the efficiency of creative activity and minimize the cost of finding the "right" solution. Keywords: rope park, descent device, evacuation, experiment, physical model, theory of solving inventive problem

Relevance of disaster awareness factors and evacuation experiment without emergency alarm: fire case study

PurposeThe lack of studies about the relevance of disaster awareness factors and disaster evacuation as a part of disaster responses especially for fire cases in an academic environment in Indonesia has triggered this study to explore the disaster awareness factors and evacuation experiment without emergency alarm for case study students in the classroom. The relevance of disaster awareness factors in transforming into practical action and decision in a disaster evacuation need to be examined to study the relevance of both phases in disaster.Design/methodology/approachThis research conducted a quantitative approach by studying questionnaires from 162 respondents collectively divided into five groups to examine the student disaster awareness factors randomly from those groups. The qualitative approach was implemented through the evacuation experiments that were conducted twice to analyze the disaster evacuation performance. The analysis for the relevance is conducted by comparing the result of the questionnaire study and the evacuation experiment.FindingsAccording to the questionnaire study, generally, the students are highly confident with their hazard knowledge in disaster awareness except that half of them are doubtful about appropriate steps in a disaster. The experiment without explosive sound showed that they have slower responses in the critical moment of evacuation. The response in the experiments showed relevance with several disaster awareness factorsResearch limitations/implicationsThis study has explored the relevance of disaster awareness factors with disaster response in a campus building. In the part of reducing risk during fire disaster, this research shows the importance of social interaction and hazard knowledge during the disaster.Practical implicationsThe improvement of disaster evacuation procedures and training in a campus building is mandatory to reduce disaster risk based on the relevance of disaster awareness factors and disaster response in this study.Originality/valueThis study measures the relevance of disaster awareness factors performance of the students by comparing it to their actions and decisions in an experimental setting of fire building. The disaster awareness factor performance was measured by a questionnaire survey while the experiments were deployed to observe the performance of their actions and decisions during evacuation as part of the disaster response phase.

Unannounced Evacuation Experiment in a High-Rise Hotel Building with Evacuation Elevators: A Study of Evacuation Behaviour Using Eye-Tracking

Past studies suggest that people are often reluctant to use occupant evacuation elevators in case of fire. However, existing research is scarce and current knowledge is based on questionnaire studies and laboratory experiments. An unannounced evacuation experiment was therefore performed on the 16th floor of a 35-floor high-rise hotel building. Sixty-seven participants took part and eye-tracking glasses were used to collect data on exit choice and eye fixations. Three different scenarios were studied, including two different hotel room locations on the floor and a variation of guidance system for one of these locations, i.e., flashing green lights next to the evacuation sign at the elevators. Results suggest that people typically choose the elevator for evacuation, even if their hotel room was located closer to the evacuation stair. Flashing green lights next to an evacuation sign made people look more at this sign. However, in spite of looking more at the sign, the flashing light was not shown to significantly improve compliance with the sign. Also, the results suggest that a detector activated self-closing fire door without vision panels to the elevator lobby made it more difficult to find the evacuation elevators in an emergency.

Evaluation of tsunami evacuation planning of the primary school student in Padang

This paper presents an evaluation of the tsunami evacuation of elementary school children in Padang. The objective of the study is to evaluate the evacuation planning using an observation data from an evacuation Experiment initiated by the Padang Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Padang). In this study, the chosen evacuation destination was evaluated based on the available evacuation time, the evacuation methods, walking speed of the students in a group and the provided tools in the classroom for evacuation as in the guidelines of tsunami evacuation for schools in Hawaii.