Modelling Ascending Stair Evacuation

Abstract: The thesis presents a basic validation study on the use of evacuation models for the simulation of ascending stair evacuation. The validation of the evacuation models is performed against a benchmark experiment consisting of a 50-floor ascending evacuation. The aim is to find which models – depending on the input calibration effort -can provide conforming results against the benchmark experiment regarding total evacuation time and walking speeds at each floor. This is performed by selecting five evacuation models for validation, representing different types of modelling assumptions. These models are then used to simulate ascending evacuation applying default settings and modified settings. The study indicates that models under consideration are not conservative when applying their default settings but models which have the possibility to alter the reducing speed factors per floor generally give better conforming results to the experimental results. The study also shows that the models estimation of the walked distance is a crucial factor.