Exploring the Impacts of Exit Structures on Evacuation Efficiency

Abstract

In the context of a fire emergency, safe and efficient exits are of paramount importance for pedestrian evacuation. The recent rapid development in the construction industry has rendered exit structures more diverse and complex. However, little attention has been paid to the influence of exit structures on the efficiency of crowd evacuation processes. In this paper, a tentative experiment was designed to preliminarily reveal the effects of five exit structures (Exit 1, Exit 2, Exit 4, Exit 5, and Exit 3 as examples for comparison) on crowd evacuation. Exit 1 has door leaves opening outward. Exit 2 has door leaves opening inward. Exit 3 has no leaves. Exit 4 consists of double-layer exit doors with the doors opening outward. Exit 5 comprises double-layer exit doors with the doors opening both sides outwards Subsequently, according to the properties of this experiment, a social force-based simulation model was established using the AnyLogic software 8.8.4. By changing the exit width and the crowd density, data such as evacuation time, flow rate, crowd density, and time delay were investigated in detail. The results revealed a notable variation in the evacuation efficiency depending on the deign of the exit. The respective flow rates for Exits 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were 0.66 people/(m·s), 0.77 people/(m·s), 0.80 people/(m·s), 0.71 people/(m·s), and 0.66 people/(m·s). Although Exit 3 excelled in terms of evacuation efficiency, it is not directly applicable to real architectural structures. Therefore, Exit 2 emerged as a highly promising solution in terms of flow rate and population control in the exit area, underscoring the effectiveness and practicality of its structural design. It is prospective that the results of this study can offer engineering and technical professionals valuable references and guidance concerning the design of exit structures.