A Study on Egress Algorithm for High-rise Buildings Using Egress Simulation

When the fire in the high-rise building was not extinguished in its early stage and propagated over its origin, safe egress becomes one of the most important factor to minimize the casualties. Recently fire protection for high-rise building has been reinforced after experiencing the series of disastrous fires. But, we still find many high-rise buildings do not comply with those reinforcement. And also there is a possibility of failure of reinforced fire protection system. Under these situation safe egress guide would be the final layer of protection. In this study existing egress methods were identified and evaluated. According the result of study, priority in egress should be given to the tenants on the floor of fire origin and floors exposed to the risk of fire. Then, the rest of the tenants can be evacuated simultaneously. Floors exposed in fire risk shall be determined by fire tests and/or fire simulations. But, the result of fire monitoring shall override preliminary estimations. Egress time for each algorithm was estimated by egress simulation and the result was compared. There was a little difference in egress time between total egress and phased egress, and a big difference between using stairs only and using elevators and stairs together. to a constant thickness between layers constituting a firefighter’s protective clothing should be considered in the future.