Development of a VR Prototype for Enhancing Earthquake Evacuee Safety

Training and education for enhancing evacuee safety is essential to reduce deaths, injuries and damages from disasters, such as fire and earthquake. However, traditional training approaches, e.g. evacuation drills, hardly simulate the real world emergency, which lead to the limitation of reality and poor interaction. In addition, traditional approaches may not provide investigation of participants' behavior during evacuations and give feedback after training. As a novel and effective alternative to overcome these limitations, in this paper, a VR-based training prototype system is designed and implemented for enhance earthquake evacuation safety. Key modules including earthquake scenario simulation, damage representation, interaction, player investigation and feedback are developed. In the immersive VR environment, players can be provided with learning outcomes as well as behavior feedback as crucial goals for safety training. Based on the result of the evaluation, this prototype has proven to be promising for enhancing earthquake evacuee safety and shows positive pedagogical functions

The standardization of human egress data

Empirical data provide the bridge between reality and understanding. Human egress data-sets are scarce. The data currently available are relatively narrow in scope. The data are derived from a range of sources and locations, not all appropriate. Much of the egress data are several decades old. These issues lead to weaknesses in our understanding of real-world phenomena and also in our attempts to model these phenomena. Data are often difficult to find, difficult to understand, and difficult to apply. This paper describes an attempt to standardize the description and storage of human egress data. This work has been conducted as part of a NIST-funded project and, as a result, a central repository of data will be created that provides tools to facilitate the storage, representation and access to the data needed for researchers and engineers alike

Improving the collection and use of human egress data

The analysis of human behavior in fire is a relatively young field, only existing for a matter of decades. For much of this time it was used to support the related engineering process, rather than as a significant pursuit in its own right—to provide support for the assumptions used by engineers, designers and by regulators. Prior to this point, the engineering process excluded the human response from the assessment process altogether. The field originally developed according to two principle objectives, both of which were tied to the practice of fire safety engineering: the ability to establish the importance of human performance and then the provision of key supporting evidence for engineering practice. In both instances, the development of the field was determined by engineering practice, rather than the generation of a comprehensive theory that helped to explain and predict phenomena. This evolution of the field has led to an incomplete, disorganized and disparate understanding of the subject matter: human performance in fire. The lifeblood of any field of study is data—data that bridges the gap between observation, understanding and application. This article, and the project on which it is based, represents an attempt to strengthen the data collection process, the representation of this data, and the dissemination of this data to interested parties; i.e., to strengthen the study of human performance in fire. This will be achieved through the provision of several tools (to aid the collection and presentation of data), that will be combined together in the form of an online data portal. This will benefit the field, allow the development of more refined and more comprehensive theories, and allow for better informed engineering activities

Simulating a building as a people movement system

Egress models are being used more frequently to simulate people movement; i.e., how people enter, use, and leave a building. However, little has been written on the different phases of people movement over the lifecycle of the building that can be examined and how these models may achieve this. In addition, little has been written on how these phases interact. This interaction may be due to these different phases occurring simultaneously or when an individual's experience in one phase (e.g., entering a building) influences another (e.g., route selection when leaving). This paper presents six modes in which an egress model can be applied: Naı¨ve, Operational, Predictive, Engineered, Real-Time, and Interactive. The paper describes what is needed to enable these application modes, in terms of data, expertise, and model functionality and the benefits that these modes provide. These modes should appear in the same model enabling a comprehensive and integrated representation of people movement, and the factors that influence it, to be produced

Pre-evacuation data collected from a mid-rise evacuation exercise

This article describes the observation of an unannounced evacuation exercise from a mid-rise administrative building. The primary focus of this activity was to collect pre-evacuation data, although evacuation times were also recorded for completeness. The article includes a description of the structure, the population, the emergency procedure employed and the observations made during the evacuation (both numerical and descriptive). Data are presented in a number of formats including raw values, averages, ranges, and distributions, i.e., in as much detail as possible and in context with the evacuation scenario. This should increase/improve potential applications, and reduces the likelihood of misunderstanding. A simple graphical scheme was developed to connect the numerical and descriptive data collected and provide a comprehensive timeline of events. In addition, a detailed description of the data collection methods employed is presented, outlining their strengths and limitations. This article therefore presents a range of valuable data, a detailed description of the methods employed and a means to clearly present the data collected

The faults with default

Any computer model is merely a representation of reality that involves a combination of the model’s representation of current theory, user’s knowledge, and engineering judgment. When employing sophisticated simulation tools, the user is required to provide input data to the model, select between embedded data-sets, select between scenario or behavioral settings, and/or rely on hardwired data. Depending on the model, the user is frequently tasked with providing information on occupant response (movement and behavior) that allows the simulation tool to operate and results to be generated. This requires a significant amount of expertise on the part of the model user and during model development. Critically, it requires an understanding of the implications of using and employing this data. This paper discusses model defaults, their use, and the consequences of their use on engineering results. A default setting is an initial setting provided by a developer that enables the model to be used without the modification of model settings and/or the provision of new data. Defaults are often provided as shortcuts to configuring an evacuation model because they allow the user to run the model and familiarize themselves with the model’s functionality without understanding all of the model’s capabilities. In reality, the vast majority of software programs (including engineering models) require defaults to prevent the model from initially being difficult to use and to provide some guidance on parameter selections. This is reasonable and expected. However, in scientific or engineering models, the selection (and the associated description) of the default settings can have a significant impact on the results produced. This is particularly the case in a relatively immature field(s) such as egress modeling and human behavior in fire. There are both positive and negative aspects of providing defaults in current evacuation models. Default values or parameters can prove useful in the simulation of certain (basic) scenarios that are commonplace and/or similar to those from which the default data/understanding was collected 1,2 , especially given the lack of an overarching theory. Conversely, the use of default values or parameters can provide the user with ready-made input that may not be relevant to the scenario being modeled and/or provide a ready-made scenario that precludes the user from understanding the input and the results produced

Employing pedestrian observations in engineering analysis

Simulation tools are often used to establish pedestrian and evacuee performance. The accuracy and reliability of such tools are dependent upon their ability to qualitatively and quantitatively capture the outcome of this performance; i.e. whether the simulated agents perform the expected acts and take the expected amount of time to complete them. This article investigates the relationship between simulating individual agent actions and generating reliable emergent conditions (e.g. congestion). Once this relationship is established for a particular tool, it can then be used to investigate the conditions that may emerge in certain scenarios and mitigate against them. This article presents a simple framework for categorising real-world observations and then translating these observations into the simulated environment – extracting key information from the data collected to configure the simulation tool as required. The article addresses the qualitative benefits of representing individual-level actions, and, to a lesser degree, the quantitative benefits, although this effort is limited given the nature of the data. It tests this relationship using observations made at the Hajj, specifically the Sa’ee where large numbers of pilgrims perform religious rites in concert. Several scenarios are simulated using the buildingEXODUS model, enabling the importance of individual-level behaviours upon emergent conditions to be investigated, even when simulating relatively large crowds of up to 15,000 people

Understanding the effectiveness of notification technologies in assisting vulnerable populations

Different sections of the general population were examined to establish two criteria: whether they were particularly vulnerable to death in fire incidents; and whether these vulnerabilities could be reduced through developing and/or applying specific notification technologies. This study was conducted in order to establish where there were omissions in our current understanding and where this coincided with technological solutions of particular interest. An approach was developed to identify vulnerabilities and prioritize them in order to focus future research. The approach adopted was able to achieve this goal. The suggested research was then conducted and allowed guidance to be developed regarding the use of different notification technologies. This article describes the development of this analytical framework and the analysis of some of the results produced

Questioning the linear relationship between doorway width and achievable flow rate

This paper challenges the currently assumed linear relationship between doorway width and achievable flow. The current view is seen as a simplification that may lead to anoverly optimistic view of the achievable flowrates. Analyzed data are presented in order to demonstrate the impact that the actual use of the doorway and its design can have upon the flow rate generated. These data are then supported by the use of numerical simulations to demonstrate the impact that this overestimation can have upon the design process. It is contended that the specific flow rate assumed for a doorway should take into consideration not only its width, but also the design of the doorway (i.e., the opening and closing mechanism) and how evacuees behave in response to it. The issues raised have implications for the governing codes/regulations, engineering guidance and on the development of future computational egress models

Understanding and representing staff pre-warning delay

In this article, the staff pre-warning delay concept is developed: the time between staff becoming aware of an incident by receiving a pre-alarm, or as a result of other cues, and the raising of a general alarm. This represents the potential delay in staff response as they interpret the cues received and engage in various response behaviors before warning the population and raising a general alarm; a delay that may be procedural and/or cognitive. The theoretical basis for this concept is discussed, examples of incidents involving this delay described and data from experiments and incidents examined to help demonstrate and estimate the impact and the effects upon the available safe escape time/required safe escape time calculation. Hypothetical examples of how pre-warning delay can influence required safe escape time are presented, along with a discussion of the aspects of emergency procedures that are particularly susceptible to this type of delay. A framework for understanding these susceptibilities is suggested, together with proposals for dealing with this aspect in engineering designs so as to evaluate and minimize its impact on escape time. This concept is considered important as the exclusion of a (potentially sizable) delay from the engineering design may lead to artificially optimistic results being produced