Assessment Of Total Evacuation Systems For Tall Buildings

This SpringerBrief focuses on the use of egress models to assess the optimal strategy for total evacuation in high-rise buildings. It investigates occupant relocation and evacuation strategies involving the exit stairs, elevators, sky bridges and combinations thereof. Chapters review existing information on this topic and describe case study simulations of a multi-component exit strategy. This review provides the architectural design, regulatory and research communities with a thorough understanding of the current and emerging evacuation procedures and possible future options. A model case study simulates seven possible strategies for the total evacuation of two identical twin towers linked with two sky-bridges at different heights. The authors present the layout of the building and the available egress components including both vertical and horizontal egress components, namely stairs, occupant evacuation elevators (OEEs), service elevators, transfer floors and sky-bridges. The evacuation strategies employ a continuous spatial representation evacuation model (Pathfinder) and are cross-validated by a fine network model (STEPS). Assessment of Total Evacuation Systems for Tall Buildings is intended for practitioners as a tool for analyzing evacuation methods and efficient exit strategies. Researchers working in architecture and fire safety will also find the book valuable.

This Guide provides information on special topics that affect the fire safety performance of very tall buildings, their occupants and first responders during a fire. This Guide addresses these topics as part of the overall building design process using performance-based fire protection engineering concepts as described in the SFPE Engineering Guide to Performance Based Fire Protection. This Guide is not intended to be a recommended practice or a document that is suitable for adoption as a code. The Guide pertains to “super tall,” “very tall” and “tall” buildings. Throughout this Guide, all such buildings are called “very tall buildings.” These buildings are characterized by heights that impose fire protection challenges; they require special attention beyond the protection features typically provided by traditional fire protection methods. This Guide does not establish a definition of buildings that fall within the scope of this document.

The architect's primary source for information on designing for egress, evacuation, and life safety, Egress Design Solutions, Emergency Evacuation and Crowd Management Planning, is written by proven experts on egress issues. Meacham and Tubbs are engineers with Arup, an international firm with a stellar reputation for quality design and engineering. Their book examines egress solutions in terms of both prescriptive and performance-based code issues. A portion of the book focuses on techniques for providing egress design solutions and for coordinating egress systems with other critical life safety systems. Another part reviews historic and recent tragic life-loss fire events. As such, this is easily the most comprehensive take on the subject, written especially for architects.

Post-earthquake fire is one of the most complicated problems resulting from earthquakes and presents a serious risk to urban structures. Most standards and codes ignore the possibility of post-earthquake fire; thus it is not factored in when determining the ability of buildings to withstand load. This book describes the effects of post-earthquake fire on partially damaged buildings located in seismic urban regions. The book quantifies the level of associated post-earthquake fire effects, and discusses methods for mitigating the risk at both the macro scale and micro scale. The macro scale strategies address urban regions while the micro scale strategies address building structures, covering both existing buildings and those that are yet to be designed.

Fire safety is a major concern in many industries, particularly as there have been significant increases in recent years in the quantities of hazardous materials in process, storage or transport. Plants are becoming larger and are often situated in or close to densely populated areas, and the hazards are continually highlighted with incidents such as the fires and explosions at the Piper Alpha oil and gas platform, and the Enschede firework factory. As a result, greater attention than ever before is now being given to the evaluation and control of these hazards. In a comprehensive treatment of the subject unavailable elsewhere, this book describes in detail the applications of hazard and risk analysis to fire safety, going on to develop and apply quantification methods. It also gives an explanation in quantitative terms of improvements in fire safety in association with the costs that are expended in their achievement. Furthermore, a quantitative approach is applied to major fire and explosion disasters to demonstrate crucial faults and events. Featuring: Full international coverage and a review of several major fires and explosion disasters. Presentation of the properties and science of fire including the latest research. Detailed coverage of the performance of fire safety measures. This is an essential book for practitioners in fire safety engineering, loss prevention professionals, technical personnel in insurance companies as well as academics involved in fire science and postgraduate students. This book is also a useful reference for fire safety officers, building designers, engineers in the process industries, safety practitioners and risk assessment consultants.

As software skills rise to the forefront of design concerns, the art of structural conceptualization is often minimized. Structural engineering, however, requires the marriage of artistic and intuitive designs with mathematical accuracy and detail. Computer analysis works to solidify and extend the creative idea or concept that might have started o

Occupational Safety and Hygiene VI collects recent papers of selected authors from 21 countries in the domain of occupational safety and hygiene (OSH). The contributions cover a wide range of topics, including: - Occupational safety - Risk assessment - Safety management - Ergonomics - Management systems - Environmental ergonomics - Physical environment - Construction safety, and - Human factors Occupational Safety and Hygiene VI represents the state-of-the-art on the above mentioned domains, and is based on research carried out at universities and other research institutions. Some contributions focus more on practical case studies developed by OSH practitioners within their own companies. Hence, the book provides practical tools and approaches currently used by OHS practitioners in a global context.