A Review of Building Evacuation Models - NIST Virtual Library

• A series of competitive evacuation drills were performed using a Trident aircraft.
Competitiveness stemmed from the fact that the first 30 evacuees received a monetary
reward. The occupants either evacuated via the main exit (Type 2) with varying door width
or through the overwing exit (Type 3).
• A double-decker bus was evacuated, and the evacuees were aware that a trial was being
completed. Smoke capsules were used and the driver ordered the evacuees to leave the bus.
• Two theaters were evacuated during the Tukuba Exp in 1985. These seated 424 and 500
people.
The results are shown in Table A.13:
Validation Case
Table A.13: Validation results for the EGRESS model
Evacuation Time (s)
Variation
Observed
EGRESS
Trident (main) 24 33 +38 %
Using EGRESS default emergency speed 22 -8 %
Trident (overwing) 53 25 -53 %
Bus 83 65 -22 %
SU Pavilion 66 86 +30 %
SH Pavilion 160 133 -17 %
The range of error is approximately ±20 % to ±30 %, except where specific features were not
modeled, according to the developer. Also, crowding was well modeled. Lastly, the Trident
aircraft example provided a better result when EGRESS was equipped with the emergency
speed, since the experiment was competitive in nature.
One thing should be noted is the length of the evacuation times in each comparison. They range
from 0.5 min to under 3 min. With short evacuation times, a difference of 9 s, such as shown in
the Trident (main) case, will give a 38 % variation. This is calculated by taking the different in
the evacuation times and dividing the difference by the observed evacuation speed. If that
observed speed is a lower number, even a small difference, such as 9 s, will show a significant
percentage in variation. The author added this paragraph to put the last column’s (Variation)
values into context.
Special features:
Counterflow – Yes, the model can specify emergency personnel to move towards the fire as a
goal.
Manual exit block/obstacles – Yes, the user can add obstructions to the building.
Fire conditions affect behavior Input by the user in a scenario file allows the user to simulate
fire conditions. The drawn building plans are edited at different times with hazard information.
Defining groups – Yes, the model only recognizes groups with different goals and movement
speeds.
A-69