Cellular automaton modeling approach for optimum ultra high-rise building evacuation design

With the development of modern cities, numerous buildings over 40-storey have been constructed in recent decades. Fire safety issues, especially evacuation, are of the major concerns for building designers, occupants, as well as governments. To ensure the safety of ultra high-rise building evacuation, different performance-based designs have been proposed. In this study, we propose a quantitative and viable elevator aided ultra-high rise building evacuation model which simulates both pedestrian movement and elevator transportation. After validation and calibration, the proposed Ultra high-rise building Evacuation with Elevators (UEE) model is adopted to explore two main evacuation strategies, i.e., phased evacuation and total evacuation with the aid of elevators. In these two strategies, refuge floor plays an important part because it not only provides a place for temporarily stop, but also for the transition from stair evacuation into elevator evacuation. Thus, the effect of refuge floor interval on the high-rise building evacuation process is further investigated. It is found that the interval design of refuge floors has a direct relation with the characteristics of the elevators and building occupants. In the case that a proper ratio of the building occupants is transported to the ground level by fast elevators while others are evacuated by stairs, the evacuation process can reach an optimized state. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.