On the use of multi-stage time-varying quickest time approach for optimization of evacuation planning

A multi-stage time-varying quickest flow approach (MSTVQF) is established to estimate the minimal clearance time for evacuating the occupants of a building in an emergency situation. As an optimization tool, MSTVQF is especially appropriate for building evacuation planning. It is capable of finding the most efficient movement pattern in a complex building and can provide valuable information for the management to establish effective emergency management strategies including setting evacuation routes and the departure schedule in phased evacuation. Moreover, it can also assist the building designers to identify bottlenecks in an escape system. By adopting MSTVQF for analysis, the time-varying properties of a network that has been resolved to represent a building can be modeled. Accordingly, it can be used to analyze the effect of blocked exits caused by the development of fire in an evacuation analysis. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.