Evacuation strategies for vertical ship lift during initial fire: Integrated application of stairs and elevators

Abstract

Vertical ship lifts (VSLs) are widely used in navigation facilities worldwide because of their efficiency and low cost. Although several researchers have investigated fire evacuation strategies for reducing potential safety hazards in VSLs, an effective and integrated application of stairs and elevators when a fire occurs in a VSL is necessary. Several evacuation routes were analyzed according to VSL structure and evacuation times in this study. Objective function corresponding to the minimum vertical evacuation time and related simulation model was subsequently developed to obtain a cooperative evacuation plan considering different numbers of evacuees. The Three Gorges ship lift was used as an example, and simulation results indicate that number of evacuees and exit selection are the main influencing factors of the total evacuation time in the stair- and elevator-coordinated evacuation mode. Furthermore, the distance between people trapped in ship reception chamber and evacuation exits affects evacuees’ choice of exits. The proposed model can provide a theoretical reference for evacuation research during initial fire events in VSLs.

Keywords

vertical ship lift / initial fire / fire evacuation / numerical simulation / stair / elevator

References

[1] Bao Y (2011). Study on fire prevention performance-based design of a large underground banquet hall. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 94–96: 2065–2069

[2] Black W Z (2009). Smoke movement in elevator shafts during a high-rise structural fire. Fire Safety Journal, 44(2): 168–182

[3] Butler K, Kuligowski E, Furman S, Peacock R (2017). Perspectives of occupants with mobility impairments on evacuation methods for use during fire emergencies. Fire Safety Journal, 91: 955–963

[4] Cao Q, Huang L L, Xiao X K (2013). Study on the parameters of ultra-high-building evacuation by elevators. Fire Safety Science, 22(4): 207–212 (in Chinese)

[5] Chen J J, Wang X G, Fang Z (2016). Collaborative evacuation strategy of ultra-tall towers among stairs and elevators. Procedia Engineering, 135: 170–174

[6] Chen S, Shen H B, Wang Y, Wang J P, Li Z (2018). Strategy for emergency evacuation from vertical ship lift on initial fire. China Safety Science Journal, 28(2): 187–192 (in Chinese)

[7] Chen S, Xi Y, Wang J P, Shang M H, Li Z (2019). Simulation optimization of evacuation schemes for vertical ship lift on initial fire. Journal of System Simulation, in press (in Chinese)

[8] Ding N, Zhang H, Chen T (2017). Simulation-based optimization of emergency evacuation strategy in ultra-high-rise buildings. Natural Hazards, 89(3): 1167–1184

[9] Ding Y C, Yang L Z (2013). Occupant evacuation process study of public buildings based on computer modeling and simulation. Journal of Applied Fire Science, 23(3): 365–380

[10] Ding Y C, Yang L Z, Weng F L, Fu Z J, Rao P (2015). Investigation of combined stairs elevators evacuation strategies for high rise buildings based on simulation. Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 53: 60–73

[11] Fang T, Yu J, Wang J (2012). Study of staircase design effects on evacuation in architectural plane design. Journal of Applied Fire Science, 22(1): 69–80

[12] Fang Z, Lo S M, Lu J A (2003). On the relationship between crowd density and movement velocity. Fire Safety Journal, 38(3): 271–283

[13] Fruin J J (1971a). Designing for pedestrians: A level-of-service concept. In: 50th Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board. Washington DC, No. HS-011 999

[14] Fruin J J (1971b). Pedestrian Planning and Design. New York: Metropolitan Association of Urban Designer and Environmental Planners

[15] Graat E, Midden C, Bockholts P (1999). Complex evacuation; effects of motivation level and slope of stairs on emergency egress time in a sports stadium. Safety Science, 31(2): 127–141

[16] Guo X M, Yao B, Li Z, Zuo T C (2018). Optimization study on high-rise building collaborative evacuation by combined use of stairs with elevators. Fire Safety Science, 27(1): 53–61 (in Chinese)

[17] Hu C P, Yang Y (2007). A case study on fire evacuation by elevator in high-rise building. Journal of Natural Disasters, 16(4): 97–102 (in Chinese)

[18] Huo F Z, Song W G, Chen L, Liu C, Liew K M (2016). Experimental study on characteristics of pedestrian evacuation on stairs in a high-rise building. Safety Science, 86: 165–173

[19] Klote J H (1993). A method for calculation of elevator evacuation time. Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, 5(3): 83–95

[20] Klote J H, Tamura G (1986). Elevator piston effect and the smoke problem. Fire Safety Journal, 11(3): 227–233

[21] Kong D P, Lu S X, Ping P (2017). A risk-based method of deriving design fires for evacuation safety in buildings. Fire Technology, 53(2): 771–791

[22] Koo J, Kim Y S, Kim B I, Christensen K M (2013). A comparative study of evacuation strategies for people with disabilities in high-rise building evacuation. Expert Systems with Applications, 40(2): 408–417

[23] LaDue D, Tetreault B (2017). Improving navigation safety with better charts. Sea Technology, 58(3): 20–24

[24] Lam W H K, Cheung C Y (2000). Pedestrian speed/flow relationships for walking facilities in Hong Kong. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 126(4): 343–349

[25] Li J M, Hu C, Li Y F, Liu S S, Xu P (2014). Influence of crow density on the movement speed on different egress paths. Building Science, 30(8): 122–129 (in Chinese)

[26] Li X Y, Zhang K N, Ke Z J, Zheng D W, Lu F X (2018). Application research on firefighting system of ship lift chamber of Three Gorges. Fire Science & Technology, 37(7): 927–930 (in Chinese)

[27] Lu S, Liu W S, Weng X, Li F Z (2012). Study on evacuation strategy in high-rise buildings fire. Advanced Materials Research, 472–475: 3207–3213

[28] Ma J, Chen J, Liao Y J, Lo S M (2013). Efficiency analysis of elevator aided building evacuation using network model. Procedia Engineering, 52: 259–266

[29] Ma J, Lo S M, Song W G (2012a). Cellular automaton modeling approach for optimum ultra-high-rise building evacuation design. Fire Safety Journal, 54: 57–66

[30] Ma J, Song W G, Tian W, Lo S M, Liao G X (2012b). Experimental study on an ultra-high-rise building evacuation in China. Safety Science, 50(8): 1665–1674

[31] NIST (2008). Changes to ICC building and fire codes—from FY 2008 NCST Annual Report. Available at: nist.gov/el

[32] Pauls J (1987). Calculating evacuation times for tall buildings. Fire Safety Journal, 12(3): 213–236

[33] Ronchi E, Nilsson D (2013). Fire evacuation in high-rise buildings: A review of human behaviour and modelling research. Fire Science Reviews, 2(1): 7

[34] Sheehan R C, Gottschall J S (2012). At similar angles, slope walking has a greater fall risk than stair walking. Applied Ergonomics, 43(3): 473–478

[35] Smith R A (1995). Density, velocity and flow relationships for closely packed crowds. Safety Science, 18(4): 321–327

[36] Wang C, Wang H L, Han J Y (2014). The study of lift evacuation efficiency in super-high rise buildings. Fire Science & Technology, 33(11): 1257–1260 (in Chinese)

[37] Wang J P, Wang M R, Zhang R X, Li Z (2018). Risk analysis of major hazard source of Three Gorges Ship Lift based on fuzzy theory. Yangtze River, 49(9): 98–102, 106 (in Chinese)

[38] Wang J P, Wang M R, Zhou J L, Zuo Q J, Shi X X (2020). Simulation based optimal evacuation plan in vertical ship lift: A case study. Engineering Computations, 37(5): 1757–1786

[39] Yang L J, Lu W B (2017). Introduction of the Three Gorges Ship Lift. Hydropower and New Energy, (1): 7–14 (in Chinese)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2020 Higher Education Press