The escape route is used to indicate the emergency exit, leading to the exit, stairs, fire doors and not obstructing them. In all companies there is a use of signs that indicate an escape route in ...emergencies. These plates are made of special materials that allow the visualization of the same case of power failure. The batteries contain a special ink or film that is being charged by ambient light. The values are varied from material to material and should be analyzed according to a demand definition.
The use of BIM is becoming increasingly important in the AEC industry because the included dataset enables the automation of many processes. One emerging application of BIM is the automation of ...building code checking by building authorities. Building code checking is a time-consuming process, particularly for escape routes. Therefore, its automation promises considerable optimisation potential. This study presents a semi-automated escape route analysis for building code checking. Our developed concept consists of two automated steps, with a legally required manual step in between: (1) escape route generation, which provides possible routes from which designers can select a valid combination, and (2) escape route validation, which checks the selected combination of escape routes for validity. The basis of both automated steps is a novel indoor navigation model. We implemented the concept in Solibri Office and validated it with real-world models. The developed escape route analysis method shows potential to improve designers’ escape route planning and building authorities’ escape route checking.
•Presenting an escape route analysis for automated building code checking.•A semi-automated concept ensures the possibility for human interference.•Presenting a novel indoor navigation model based on BIM models.•Special requirements for escape route analyses in building codes are included.•Optimisation of escape route planning and checking for building permissions.
A method for human safety assessment on a hydropeaked river reach is proposed and applied to an Alpine river. The human safety analysis during hydropeaking events is of particular interest because ...most of the Alpine watercourses are affected by hydropower plant energy production that cause rapid and frequent flow alterations (hydropeaking), but at the same time these watercourses are used by the population for recreational purposes.
In literature, many studies have focused on the effect of hydropeaking on the biota but a study of the interaction between a hydropeaking wave and human safety does not yet exist. The proposed procedure is characterized by the combination of hydraulic numerical simulations to study the characteristics of the flow field with a human safety analysis and is applied to a case study in north Italy. Human safety can be assessed in two different ways: one is by studying human stability during hydropeaking events and the other is exploring the possibility of a “target person” leaving the reach during hydropeaking waves, adapting proper escape strategies. For the escape strategy Dijkstra's algorithm is used, where the distance between adjacent nodes is defined as the difficulty (penalty) of moving from one node to the other. For this reason, an original set of penalty functions is proposed that takes into account the steepness (slope between two adjacent computational cells), the roughness, and the product between the water depth and flow velocity. The results show that the difficulty in escaping increases with the flow rate. Moreover, the areas where the human safety is very low are mainly located in the central part of the watercourse. The present work proposes a possible investigational tool to evaluate and parameterize the risk for the population during hydropeaking events through quantitative indices.
Display omitted
•3D hydrodynamic simulation of hydropeaking events•Human stability analysis during hydropeaking events•Escape strategy from the river to minimize the drowning risk
Building information modeling (BIM) is useful in three-dimensional (3D) visualization and data/information storage for planning and maintaining building projects. Recently, researchers globally have ...been exploring the applications of BIM. In this work, a BIM-based model is designed to support fire safety management of buildings. The model comprises four modules — evacuation assessment, escape route planning, safety education, and equipment maintenance. The evacuation assessment module integrates BIM with a Fire Dynamics Simulator to calculate the required safety egress time and the available safety egress time to evaluate the ability to evacuate in case of fire. The escape route planning module utilizes BIM to determine whether the distance of an escape route is acceptable. The safety education module presents hazardous areas, videos of escape routes and directional maps, all in three dimensions, to educate the occupants of the building about fire safety. The equipment maintenance module is implemented in a web-based prototype to support maintenance tasks in a remote management manner. The results of applying BIM have demonstrated that BIM can effectively provide 3D geometric data to support the assessment and planning of fire safety (using the first three modules), and it can store information in support of safety management and property management in a web-based environment (using the equipment maintenance module).
•This work designs a BIM-based model to support fire safety management of buildings.•The evacuation assessment module integrates BIM with a Fire Dynamics Simulator.•The escape route planning module uses BIM to determine whether the distance of an escape route is acceptable.•The safety education module presents hazardous areas, videos of escape routes and directional maps, all in three dimensions.•The equipment maintenance module can store information in support of safety management and property management in a web-based environment.
Actual chemical industrial park accidents usually involve multi-hazard accidents. Synergistic effect of accidents could lead to serious casualties. In order to reduce the individual risk of ...accidents, this work proposes a method for managing the dynamic individual risk when toxic substance leakage and fire accidents occur concurrently, in which spatial and temporal synergistic effect of above two accidents is considered. The synergistic effect may reduce individual escape ability, and is modeled by quantifying the relationship between escape ability and toxic substance dose. In addition, the method analyzes dynamic individual risk of a person receiving the thermal radiation dose and toxic substance dose when escaping along a certain route. The casualty degree is described by the injury degree based on dose thresholds and the total fatality probability based on Probit model. Combined with the accident scenario, the critical safety escape distance is obtained. The model is proposed to plan the individual escape route based on the risk assessment results. The critical values of toxic substance concentration and thermal radiation intensity are defined as the basis for planning alternative escape routes. Finally, the optimal escape route is obtained according to the total fatality probability of each route. The range of safe escape direction can be used when wind direction information is inaccurate. A case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method and risk management strategy.
Fire safety evaluation is rarely involved in the iterative building design process except for legislative approval phases compared to other building objectives. However, regardless of architectural ...design priorities, all buildings should have adequate fire protection. This research develops a fire vulnerability assessment model based on the impact of architects on fire protection and effects of building design characteristics on fire safety. Inherent to the uncertain nature of fire safety evaluation practice, this study proposes a fuzzy vulnerability decision-making methodology to detect and visualize escape route vulnerabilities, which have the highest impact on the interoperability of fire safety and architectural design practices. The model was validated in an opera house building since the assembly occupancies have specific importance due to the significant number of fire causalities. The escape routes of the case study building were evaluated for materials’ fire reaction, route flow, route equipment, means of egress, dimensions and layout input variables. The output vulnerability levels were discussed to enhance the understanding of critical building design factors that contribute to fire vulnerability. The results confirm that the model is fairly effective in the detection and visualization of vulnerability sources by reducing communication time delays and preventing human-induced mistakes.
In cases of fire, the evacuation times especially on passenger ships are strictly limited and wrong direction choices might be fatal. Therefore, an age-differentiated study was designed to ...investigate direction choices in a virtual corridor system with new digital situation-adaptive escape route signage. 60 people participated in the study within two equal, gender-balanced age groups (20–30 and 61–79 years). Three experimental conditions, varying in mental, emotional and physical demands, were realised to simulate the strain of an evacuation. Four sign types were included in the study, namely Standard without any additional elements, Updated with temporal update information, Flashing with a green flashing frame and Crossed-Out with a combination of the recommendation of one escape route and the prohibition of the other escape route. The digital escape route signs were partly presented in conflict with environmental cues, i.e. wider, brighter and less angled opposite corridors. The sign types Standard, Updated and Flashing were highly powerful to influence direction decisions of young and elderly persons even against conflicting environmental cues, whereas Crossed-Out led to misunderstandings and distrust. Hence, digital escape route signage with and without temporal update information and flashing elements has great potential to enhance safety during evacuations, while integrating prohibitory elements might be dangerous.
•Digital situation-adaptive escape route signs improve guidance during evacuations.•People follow even against conflicting environmental cues such as corridor width.•The majority even follow if a sign is updated while approaching.•The integration of prohibition elements is disadvantageous, maybe even dangerous.•The findings are valid for young and elderly people.
Ensuring the safety of personnel and providing practical escape routes for potential victims play essential roles in reducing the human vulnerability to site-specific landslides. However, the escape ...guidelines adopted by government departments and public welfare organizations are vague and unfocused because they ignore the features of individual people and spatial differences among hazard zones. In this paper, a scenario simulation model for quantitatively evaluating the escape behavior and human vulnerability was proposed using a Python platform based on the landslide runout process and hazard zone characteristics. A database that includes detailed information for the hazard zone’s demographic structure and behavioral characteristics was established based on sampling surveys and field investigations. The probability values of scenario input parameters such as the escape route and speed were calculated and quantified by classic probability theory. The registered population over 65 years old accounted for 13.46% of the total, and most residents had no more than a primary school education background. Older adults were inclined to escape a moving landslide by running parallel to the sliding direction, although the public considers this direction to be the most dangerous. The exposure time in the hazard zone is 930 to 980 h per hectare during a corn planting year; the model simulation revealed that the cumulative mortality can be significantly reduced by promoting disaster prevention awareness and improving the advance warning time. This research and the developed quantitative human vulnerability framework provide user-friendly disaster prevention rehearsal guidelines and a reference for human disaster mitigation.
PDF
