Fire evacuation in high-rise buildings: a review of human behaviour and modelling research

Abstract

A review of literature related to fire evacuation in high-rise buildings was carried out with the following objectives, (1) to identify the key behavioural factors affecting the performance of people during a fire in a high-rise building, the singularities associated to this type of buildings and areas of future research; (2) to review the procedures and strategies currently adopted in high-rise buildings; (3) to review and analyse the capabilities of evacuation models by reviewing their current characteristics and applications in the context of high-rise building evacuations. The review included both findings on human behaviour in high-rise buildings and modelling techniques and tools. Different categories of building use were taken into account, namely office buildings, residential buildings and health care facilities. The individual or combined use of different egress components was analysed. Egress components include the use of stairs, elevators as well as alternative means of escape (e.g., sky-bridges, helicopters, etc.). The effectiveness of the egress components is strongly affected by the building use and the population involved. The review shows that evacuation models can be effectively employed to study relocation strategies and safety issues associated with high-rise buildings. The suitability of egress models for high-rise building evacuations is associated with their flexibility in representing different egress components and complex behavioural processes. The review highlights that there is not a definitive model to be used but that the predictive capabilities of evacuation modelling techniques would be enhanced if more than one model is employed to study different egress aspects. Future research and model developments should focus on the study of the impact of staff actions, group dynamics and people with disabilities. Given the increasing height of buildings and the gradual reduction in the physical abilities of the population, the effects of fatigue on evacuation need further studies.

A Study on the Development of a Low-cost Device for Measuring the Optical Smoke Density

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Comparação entre os Algoritmos de Busca pela Vizinhança de Von Neumann ou de Moore para Geração do Mapa de Distâncias em um Ambiente Construído

“…São aplicáveis a áreas tão distintas como logística, pesquisa operacional, roteirização, robótica, automação, jogos (de natureza séria ou lúdica), segurança, dentre outras. Uma situação corriqueira é se determinar um melhor percurso a ser adotado por uma pessoa, considerando um posicionamento inicial qualquer no ambiente e um destino específico desejado, que pode ser tanto um setor como um almoxarifado ou depósito, uma rota de fuga ou uma saída de emergência (KO et al, 2007;RONCHI;NILSSON, 2013;KULIGOWSKI et al, 2013). Esse melhor caminho, normalmente considerado como sendo o roteiro que permite o deslocamento com o menor percurso (AN-DAYESH;SADEGHPOUR, 2014), pode ser encontrado pela análise de mapas de distâncias (THOMPSON; MARCHANT, 1995).…”

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