Simulation study of evacuation in high-rise buildings

In this article, a vertical mixing evacuation model was presented, and some human factors had been considered, including the percentage of occupants using the elevators in relation to the located floors and the time they would wait for the elevator before move to stairs. Eight evacuation strategies for a 60-floor building were performed, taking a different combination of stairs and elevators. Results showed that the shortest evacuation time was gotten when a combination of elevators, staircases and refuge floors were used. And in most cases, if no appropriate information was provided, most elevator waiters would turn to stairs, which significantly reduced the efficiency of evacuation. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.