Simulation of high-rise building evacuation considering fatigue factor based on cellular automata: A case study in China

Stair evacuation plays a crucial role in building evacuation since stairs are generally the only means to evacuate high-rises on fire. To ensure safety stair design, the Life Safety Code suggests using a performance-based design approach, which requires evacuation simulations. Most of existing simulations, however, do not consider the structure of stairs and fatigue of evacuees, and these simulations are not validated by real emergency events or experiments. This paper is on improving the simulation of pedestrian flow in the stairs of high-rises by addressing these issues. A new Cellular Automata simulation model is developed where the simulation map is divided into zones based on the stair structure, and the rule of evacuees' movement for each zone is appropriately defined to simulate turning behavior. To validate the simulation, a fire drill was held in two high-rise buildings. In this drill, evacuees felt tired after a walk. The simulation results demonstrate that, compared with the simulation without fatigue factor, our simulation can predict the evacuation time more accurately. Building designers can make evacuation plans and strategies based on the new simulation.