Capacity Based Evacuation with Dynamic Exit Signs

Exit paths in buildings are designed to minimise evacuation time when the building is at full capacity. We present an evacuation support system which does this regardless of the number of evacuees. The core concept is to even-out congestion in the building by diverting evacuees to less-congested paths in order to make maximal usage of all accessible routes throughout the entire evacuation process. The system issues a set of flow-optimal routes using a capacity-constrained routing algorithm which anticipates evolutions in path metrics using the concept of "future capacity reservation". In order to direct evacuees in an intuitive manner whilst implementing the routing algorithm's scheme, we use dynamic exit signs, i.e. whose pointing direction can be controlled. To make this system practical and minimise reliance on sensors during the evacuation, we use an evacuee mobility model and make several assumptions on the characteristics of the evacuee flow. We validate this concept using simulations, and show how the underpinning assumptions may limit the system's performance, especially in low-headcount evacuations

Cloud Enabled Emergency Navigation Using Faster-than-real-time Simulation

State-of-the-art emergency navigation approaches are designed to evacuate civilians during a disaster based on real-time decisions using a pre-defined algorithm and live sensory data. Hence, casualties caused by the poor decisions and guidance are only apparent at the end of the evacuation process and cannot then be remedied. Previous research shows that the performance of routing algorithms for evacuation purposes are sensitive to the initial distribution of evacuees, the occupancy levels, the type of disaster and its as well its locations. Thus an algorithm that performs well in one scenario may achieve bad results in another scenario. This problem is especially serious in heuristic-based routing algorithms for evacuees where results are affected by the choice of certain parameters. Therefore, this paper proposes a simulation-based evacuee routing algorithm that optimises evacuation by making use of the high computational power of cloud servers. Rather than guiding evacuees with a predetermined routing algorithm, a robust Cognitive Packet Network based algorithm is first evaluated via a cloud-based simulator in a faster-than-real-time manner, and any "simulated casualties" are then re-routed using a variant of Dijkstra's algorithm to obtain new safe paths for them to exits. This approach can be iterated as long as corrective action is still possible.Comment: Submitted to PerNEM'15 for revie

The influence of low-temperature surface induction on evacuation, pump-out hole sealing and thermal performance of composite edge-sealed vacuum insulated glazing

Hermeticity of vacuum edge-sealing materials are one of the paramount requirements, specifically, to the evolution of energy-efficient smart windows and solar thermal evacuated flat plate collectors. This study reports the design, construction and performance of high-vacuum glazing fabrication system and vacuum insulated glazing (VIG). Experimental and theoretical investigations for the development of vacuum edgeseal made of Sn-Pb-Zn-Sb-AlTiSiCu composite in the proportion ratio of 56:39:3:1:1 by % (CS-186) are presented. Experimental investigations of the seven constructed VIG samples, each of size 300mm·300mm·4 mm, showed that increasing the hot-plate surface temperatures improved the cavity vacuum pressure whilst expediting the pump-out hole sealing process but also increases temperature induced stresses. Successful pump-out hole sealing process of VIG attained at the hot-plate set point temperature of 50˚C and the approximate cavity pressure of 0.042 Pa was achieved. An experimentally and theoretically validated finite volume model (FVM) was utilised. The centre-of-pane and total thermal transmittance values are calculated to be 0.91 Wm-2K-1 and 1.05 Wm-2K-1, respectively for the VIG. FVM results predicted that by reducing the width of vacuum edge seal and emissivity of coatings the thermal performance of the VIG is improved

Mean-Field-Type Games in Engineering

A mean-field-type game is a game in which the instantaneous payoffs and/or the state dynamics functions involve not only the state and the action profile but also the joint distributions of state-action pairs. This article presents some engineering applications of mean-field-type games including road traffic networks, multi-level building evacuation, millimeter wave wireless communications, distributed power networks, virus spread over networks, virtual machine resource management in cloud networks, synchronization of oscillators, energy-efficient buildings, online meeting and mobile crowdsensing.Comment: 84 pages, 24 figures, 183 references. to appear in AIMS 201

Agent-Based Simulation and Analysis of Human Behavior towards Evacuation Time Reduction

Human factors play a significant part in the time taken to evacuate following an emergency. An agent-based simulation, using the Prometheus methodology (SEEP 1.5), has been developed to study the complex behavior of human (the ‘agents’) in high-rise buildings evacuations. In the case of hostel evacuations, simulation results show that pre-evacuation phase takes 60.4% of Total Evacuation Time (TET). The movement phase (including queuing time) only takes 39.6% of TET. From sensitivity analysis, it can be shown that a reduction in TET by 41.2% can be achieved by improving the recognition phase. Exit signs have been used as smart agents. Expanded Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) was used to determine the feasible evacuation routes. Both the ‘familiarity of environment’ wayfinding method, which is the most natural method, and the ACO wayfinding, have been simulated and comparisons made. In scenario 1, where there were no obstacles, both methods achieved the same TET. However, in scenario 2, where an obstacle was present, the TET for the ACO wayfinding method was 21.6% shorter than that for the ‘familiarity’ wayfinding method

Multi-storey residential buildings and occupant’s behaviour during fire evacuation in the UK: Factors relevant to the development of evacuation strategies

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate human behaviour during fire evacuations in multistorey residential buildings through a focus on the challenges and obstacles that occupants face. Any variations in response behaviours that are relevant to the evacuation strategies/plans in the UK context of occupancy typical of multi-storey buildings in large cities. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was conducted to identify the factors occupants face and also the decision-making of occupants regarding methods of egress. A mixed research method was adopted using interviews and a questionnaire survey. The findings from the interviews and survey are benchmarked against the information gathered from the literature review. Findings – The paper identifies various challenges that occupants face when evacuating a multi-storey residential building. In terms of the decision-making process, the research results evidence that occupants could be given more information on the evacuation procedures within their specific building. The paper also finds that occupants remain reluctant to use a lift during evacuation in fire event, irrespective of any signage clearly stating that is appropriate to do so in the context of modern lift technology. Originality/Value – This paper contributes to the body of knowledge available on the evacuation of multi-storey buildings located in large cities within the UK, outlining potential areas for future research, focused on providing an insight of the behavioural decisions made by the occupants make when evacuating a building in the event of a fire

Factors influencing the performance parameters of vacuum glazed smart windows to net zero energy buildings

The progression of smart technologies such as vacuum glazed windows are considered a realistic achievement of the net energy zero buildings (NZEBs). From designers to researchers to builders, there has been an increasing concern about understanding the inter-dependencies between the parameters and influencing factors that determine the performance of vacuum glazed smart windows. This research reviews the performance parameters such as thermal transmittance (U value), thermal resistance (R value), solar transmittance (g value), visible light transmittance (tv value) and thermal resistance of residual gas space (Rgas value). These are inter-dependent on factors such as edge seal, support pillar array, low emittance coatings, getters, and effective evacuation process. This research implicates that effective hermetic edge seal provides longevity such as fusion and solder glass edge sealed vacuum glazing could be cost-effective and energy efficient solution. Stainless steel support pillar array is an unavoidable compromise on U value. This review shows that an increase of the size of glass sheet increases support pillar array improving the overall U value. Also, an addition of low emittance coatings enhances U value whilst maintaining tv value. To improve the overall life span of the vacuum glazed smart window, an incorporation of combo-getter that absorb any gases released from the internal glass surfaces in to into the vacuum cavity from the glass surface which prevents degradation of vacuum pressure and provide long term vacuum pressure stability in the vacuum glazed smart window. A recent improvement in the understanding of evacuation process shows that hot-plate surface heat induction of 60˚C improved the vacuum pressure and mitigates the pump-out hole sealing process whilst lessening the temperature induced stresses