Evacuationz is a fire evacuation model that was originally developed at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. It is a risk-based model that incorporates the Monte Carlo approach in producing probability distributions of evacuation times collected from repeated simulations of a specified scenario. Evacuationz uses a coarse network approach that eases the representation of the building space but occupants are represented from an individual perspective. The movement and queuing mechanics employed by Evacuationz are based on the equations published in the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering.
Contact: Dr Michael Spearpoint, OFR Consultants, Manchester,
michael.spearpoint@ofrconsultants.com
Capabilities
- Unlimited nodes to represent building spaces. Nodes can represent rooms, corridors and stairs;
- Unlimited connection paths which can represent flow constrictions such as doors;
- Unlimited number of building occupants;
- Unlimited range of occupant classes to represent staff, customers, adults, children etc;
- Occupant building distribution, pre-evacuation times, movement and behaviour can be assigned using probabilistic functions;
- Quick simulation times allow multiple runs to be executed in a reasonable time;
- Probability distributions can be normal, log-normal, uniform, triangular or Weibull shapes;
- Model output includes distribution of total evacuation times, agents using each node and/or connection at each time step, ability to track decision-making of each agent throughout a simulation.
Although Evacuationz does not come with its own graphical user interface, the modeller can use the freely available yEd graph tool to create node maps and visualise results. More information can be found here.
Creation of a building map using the yEd tool.
In addition work is on-going to allow results to be viewed as a Smokeview animation, and more can be found here.
Availability
A version of the model that runs on Windows 7/10 is available on request subject to agreeing to the licence conditions.
Publications
- Spearpoint, M., Glasgow D. Modelling of the effect of refuges in the Signature Tower egress simulations. 5th Magdeburg Fire and Explosion Days, 23-24 March, Otto-von-Guericke University, Germany, 2017.
- Retana Rodriguez E, Spearpoint M. Assessment of the New Zealand verification method pre-travel scenarios using the evacuation decision model. 6th International Symposium on Human Behaviour in Fire, 28–30 Sept 2015, Cambridge, UK.
- Kuligowski E D, Peacock R D, Reneke P A, Wiess E, Hagwood C R, Overholt K J, Elkin R P, Jason D. Averill J D, Ronchi E, Hoskins B L, Spearpoint M J. Movement on stairs during building evacuations. NIST Technical Note 1839, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 2014.
- Gwynne, S M V, Kuligowski, E, Spearpoint, M., Ronchi, E. Bounding defaults in egress models. Fire and Materials, 39(4), 335-352, 2015.
- Spearpoint M J. Network modelling of The Station nightclub fire evacuation, Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, 22(3) p.157-181, 2012.
- Spearpoint M J, MacLennan H A. The effect of an ageing and less fit population on the ability of people to egress buildings. Safety Science, 50 (8):1675–1684, 2012.
- Spearpoint M J, Xiang X. Calculating evacuation times from lecture theatre type rooms using a network model. Fire Safety Science, (10):599–612, 2011.
- Spearpoint M J. Verification exercises on a probabilistic network model for building evacuation. Journal of Fire Sciences, 27 (5):409–430, 2009.
- Ko S Y, Spearpoint M J, Teo A. Trial evacuation of an industrial premises and evacuation model comparison. Fire Safety Journal, 42 (2):91–105, 2007.
Downloads
News
Evacuationz is now available through the Windows Package Manager (winget)
Evacuationz 