Crowd evacuation from enclosed spaces

Abstract

Crowd evacuation from confined spaces is a complex fire safety engineering problem, involving interactions between human behavior, crowd dynamics, building geometry, and the availability of escape routes. This monograph provides a comprehensive analysis of the physical and behavioral mechanisms governing crowd evacuation, with particular emphasis on heightened emotional states and the resilience of evacuation systems. The presented research examines the impact of occupant speed, crowd density, bottleneck geometry, fatigue, and emotional state on evacuation effectiveness. Particular attention is paid to phenomena such as stop-and-go waves and blocking pile formation, which can impede movement and increase the risk of casualties. Original experimental studies examine crowd flow through bottlenecks under various behavioral states, demonstrating the relationship between occupant behavior and evacuation effectiveness. The monograph also reviews microscopic, macroscopic, and mesoscopic approaches to evacuation modeling and examines the adequacy of existing regulatory requirements. Next, agent-based modeling was used in a probabilistic multisimulation analysis to investigate the impact of additional emergency exits on evacuation efficiency. Accounting for variability and uncertainty in evacuation parameters, the analysis assessed evacuation time, occupant exposure to hazardous fire conditions, and the occurrence of unfavorable evacuation scenarios. The results demonstrate that increasing emergency exit redundancy can improve evacuation efficiency and increase system resilience under adverse conditions. Although the analyzed configurations met established safety criteria, the additional exit shortened evacuation time, reduced exposure to hazardous conditions, and mitigated the negative impacts associated with prolonged evacuation. These observations provide a scientific basis for considering resilience-oriented improvements in evacuation system design requirements and support the application of probabilistic risk assessment in fire safety engineering.