Movement on Stairs During Building Evacuations
Author
Summary, in English
The time that it takes an occupant population to reach safety when descending a stair during building evacuations is typically estimated by measureable engineering variables such as stair geometry, speed, stair density, and pre-observation delay. In turn, engineering models of building evacuation use these variables to predict the performance of egress systems for building
design, emergency planning, or event reconstruction. As part of a program to better understand occupant movement and behavior during building emergencies, the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been collecting stair movement
data during fire drill evacuations of office and residential buildings. These data collections are intended to provide a better understanding of this principal building egress feature and develop a
technical foundation for future codes and standards requirements. NIST has collected fire drill evacuation data in 14 buildings (11 office buildings and 3 residential buildings) ranging from six to 62 stories in height that have included a range
of stair widths and occupant densities. A total of more than 22000 individual measurements are included in the data set.
This report provides details of the
data collected, an analysis of the data, and examples of the use of the data. The intention is to better understand movement during stair evacuations and provide
data to test the predictive capability of building egress models.
While mean movement speeds in the current
study of 0.44 m/s ± 0.19 m/s are observed to be quite similar to the range of values in previous studies, mean local movement speeds as occupants traverse down the stairs are seen to vary widely within a given stair, ranging from 0.10 m/s ± 0.008 m/s to 1.7 m/s ± 0.13 m/s. These data
provide confirmation of the adequacy of
existing literature values typically used for occupant movement speeds and provide updated data for use in egress modeling or other engineering calculations.
design, emergency planning, or event reconstruction. As part of a program to better understand occupant movement and behavior during building emergencies, the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been collecting stair movement
data during fire drill evacuations of office and residential buildings. These data collections are intended to provide a better understanding of this principal building egress feature and develop a
technical foundation for future codes and standards requirements. NIST has collected fire drill evacuation data in 14 buildings (11 office buildings and 3 residential buildings) ranging from six to 62 stories in height that have included a range
of stair widths and occupant densities. A total of more than 22000 individual measurements are included in the data set.
This report provides details of the
data collected, an analysis of the data, and examples of the use of the data. The intention is to better understand movement during stair evacuations and provide
data to test the predictive capability of building egress models.
While mean movement speeds in the current
study of 0.44 m/s ± 0.19 m/s are observed to be quite similar to the range of values in previous studies, mean local movement speeds as occupants traverse down the stairs are seen to vary widely within a given stair, ranging from 0.10 m/s ± 0.008 m/s to 1.7 m/s ± 0.13 m/s. These data
provide confirmation of the adequacy of
existing literature values typically used for occupant movement speeds and provide updated data for use in egress modeling or other engineering calculations.
Department/s
Publishing year
2014
Language
English
Publication/Series
Technical Note
Document type
Report
Publisher
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Topic
- Building Technologies
Keywords
- Disabled
- egress
- egress modeling
- evacuation
- fire safety
- human behavior
- mobility impairments
Status
Published
Report number
1839
Research group
- Evacuation