Information Driven Evacuation System (I.D.E.S.)
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Date
27/11/2014Author
Grindrod, Samuel Edmund
Metadata
Abstract
The effectiveness of an emergency response during an incident is often affected
by the lack of information provided to the people within the situation about the
current conditions. Deaths in large-scale fires are often likely to have been
caused by delays in the occupants receiving relevant information on the fire and
egress routes. This is why pre-movement behaviour, which is defined as the
behaviour which occurs before an alarm is sounded and includes the activities
which occur between the alarm sounding and the occupants beginning to move
towards an exit, is believed to be generally more important to survival than the
actual movement speed.
It is the unpredictability and complexity of human behaviour that is the most
influential factor on the success / failure of an evacuation plan. Unfortunately,
evacuation plans rely on the use of purposely designed egress routes which
often are not the common everyday exits. These specifically designed egress
routes, which an engineer may assume will be used during an evacuation, are
often ignored by occupants due to the lack of information and noticeable
distinguishing features. Having occupants moving in directions away from these
intended routes may result in the increasing possibility of occupants finding
themselves in a dangerous situation, ultimately leading to potential loss of life.
The value of a sensor-linked fire model has been demonstrated and the
potential for interpretation of human behaviour shown. However, there are
many challenges in representing and interpreting data on human behaviour.
Within most emergency evacuation situations, occupants will often walk past
emergency exits without using them and exit through the main entrance or main
exit, as displayed during an evacuation experiment held in IKEA in 1996.
Problems occur because occupants will rely on the familiar exits over the closest emergency exit, which could be potentially overcome by the use of an
information driven evacuation system.
The main function of the Information Driven Evacuation System or I.D.E.S. is to
provide occupants with information on the most appropriate egress paths within
a building based on the development of the fire and the movement of other
occupants. The system is a combination of real-time sensor data, a prediction
modelling tool and the information driven way-finding tools. However, as all
three processes are independent systems, a central server will be required in
order to ensure that all the different processes are speaking the same language
and that the information from one system can be understood by another. of the
components within the system interact with each other.
The basis of the system will combine the use of sensors within a building and
specific way-finding tools to give the I.D.E.S. the ability to change the
information provided by the way-finding tools by having the sensors within the
building interfacing with a computer server. This server will incorporate a
modelling program that will have ability to assess the data gathered by the
sensors, and use the servers “intelligence” (i.e. predicting capabilities) to alter
the information provided by the way-finding tools. The server will also have the
ability to use the sensor data to predict the development of the fire and the
movement / behaviours of the occupants.
The way-finding tools used within the I.D.E.S. would have the primary goal of
relaying the information to the occupants within the building through the use of
both audio (e.g. directional speakers) and visual (e.g. flashing lights) capabilities.
Basic audio and visual tools are already used as common features of an
evacuation plan [9] and include exit signage and alarm bell/sirens. The computer
model used as part of the “intelligence” of the server will need to have
predicative capabilities that incorporate information provided in real time. It is believed that the combination of these tools will be able to provide the
occupants with the information required to evacuate the building in a safe and
efficient way without causing confusion, thus reducing the possibility of stress
and anxiety. However, the solution will only work if the combination of the
tools, sensors and systems are able to be integrated into a central control panel
that can be understood and used effectively by fire service and/or security staff.
The following is the Chapter breakdown of the thesis:
Chapter 1 discusses the nature of the problem that is to be addressed by the
I.D.E.S. as well as the proposed solution and the overall concept of the system.
Chapter 2 provides an overview of the system to be developed as part of this
thesis, via a graphical overview as well discussing the current status of the
system and an higher level summary.
Chapters 3, 4 and 5 discusses the background research and information
gathered on the current code requirements for an evacuation design, the current
theories and completed research focusing on the human behaviour of occupants
during an evacuation, and the development of computer modelling programs
and their historical implementation.
Chapter 6 focuses and describes the development of predictive modelling, the
limitations that dictates the modelling process, the requirements of the I.D.E.S.
modelling programme and a review of the possible programmes for their ability
to be used as part of the system.
Chapter 7 covers each of the three evacuation experimental series that were
conducted as part of this thesis. The purpose of each of the relevant experiment is covered, the results gathered, the analysis of the research, and how the results
influenced the development of the simulation methodology.
Chapter 8 focuses on the development of the modelling programme, based on
the experimental data gathered, and presents a feasibility study that will
demonstrate how the system would work during a simulated real life evacuation
based on the information gathered from the experiments using the updated
CRISP program and the hypothetical installation of the system within an
existing building, located in Auckland, New Zealand. The possible further
evolution of the system is discussed in Chapter 10.