General information
Project type: PhD Project
Funding: KESØ Project
PhD student: Janne Gress Sørensen
Supervisor: Anne Dederichs
Time schedule: 1. October 2011 - 30. September 2014
Keywords: fire safety, evacuation models, able-bodied groups, heterogeneous population, visual impairments, walking speed, evacuation tests.
Project description
Nowadays evacuation models are mainly based on evacuation characteristics for able-bodied people. The increasing accessibility to buildings leads to an increased physical presence of people with disabilities in buildings. However, accessibility is not an assurance of egressibility. It is therefore important to consider this part of the population in the fire safety design of buildings.
The aim of the project is to identify the evacuation characteristics of people with visual impairments. This comprises walking speeds on horizontal planes and on stairs, density dependency, flow and the overall behavior. The different parameters are used to develop evacuation models, describing this part of the population and ensuring the safety of this population in building design.
The aim of the project is to deliver new data on the evacuation capability and behavior. The new data will be the base for more representative input to computer models, used for simulations on evacuation times. Furthermore, the data will provide new information to be implemented in future guidelines. Finally, use of the gained knowledge will lead to an increased safety of this vulnerable group.