All building users should have the right to safe evacuation. However, evacuation becomes a big challenge when it concerns people with disabilities. Nowadays, computer programs are used to plan escape routes. Therefore, the manuscript deals with the issues of modeling evacuation with particular emphasis on people with disabilities. A review of different evacuation modeling software is presented. The research is performed mainly to see what the limitations of different programs are and how they regard occupants with disabilities. The analyses contain a study of six cases of the evacuation from a building. In this study the three following programs—SIMULEX, STEPS and Pathfinder—are considered. Different populations of people with mobility impairments are modeled. The comparison of the methodology when using these three programs is presented in the following sections. Research has shown that despite the same input data, the results obtained with the three programs differ significantly. In the case of the total evacuation time, the differences reach up to 8%.

The use of numerical fluid mechanics to model smoke flow in buildings where a fire develops is common. It allows to check the effectiveness of ventilation systems at the design stage. It also gives the opportunity to determine the conditions that will be on escape routes. Numerical analyzes of smoke flow in buildings are most often performed using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The paper presents numerical analyzes performed for the atrium building. The purpose of the calculations was to build a numerical model that corresponds to the real object located in the laboratory in Murcia, Spain. The analyzes consisted of fitting a numerical model based on the temperature distribution at selected points of the atrium. The model mapped the geometry of the real building and assumed the same fire power. Calculations showed high temperature compliance throughout the atrium, except for the vicinity of the fire source itself.

The journal retracts the 23 February 2021 article [...]

Współczesne obiekty handlowe przejmują dodatkowe funkcje, zapewniając swoim klientom rozrywkę i rekreację. Zróżnicowanie przestrzeni pod kątem ich przeznaczenia oraz obciążeń cieplno-wilgotnościowych wymaga odpowiedniego podejścia do projektowania systemów ogrzewania, wentylacji i klimatyzacji. W artykule przedstawiono najczęściej stosowane rozwiązania instalacji HVAC umożliwiające utrzymanie komfortu cieplnego i dobrej jakości powietrza w obiektach handlowych. Przedstawiono także rozwiązania wentylacji pożarowej niezbędne w wielkokubaturowych obiektach użyteczności publicznej.