In my master's thesis, I focused on the evacuation of people. When it comes to safe evacuation, the most important factor is the actual time for safe evacuation ASET and the time required for safe evacuation from the facility RSET. During my master's thesis, I studied the time required for the evacuation of people from the premises of a technical goods store. I chose a random technical goods store as a basis. In the introduction, I presented in more detail the factors that affect evacuation and the time required for the evacuation of people from the facility.
In my work, I analyzed 4 spaces, each representing a separate department of the store, treated as an independent space with its own exits. Although these spaces are connected to each other via corridors in reality, I treated them separately for the sake of transparency and easier comparison. Within each space, I analyzed simulations based on the selected factors, changing key parameters such as the number of people (10, 20, 50 and 100), the number of exits (1 or 2), the speed of movement of people (1.20 m/s and 1.60 m/s) and the spatial arrangement of shelves (vertical and horizontal) and obstacles in the space. I depicted the spaces using the Autocad program, which allows drawing floor plans in 2D and 3D format. Then, from each space, I used the Pathfinder program to simulate the movement of people towards the exit. I observed how people move around the space and which direction they choose to exit. The program also allowed me to print out the times needed to evacuate people outdoors. This way, I obtained the maximum, average, and total times needed to evacuate people from each space.
Based on the comparisons of the obtained average, maximum and total times required for people to withdraw from the space, I found that the aforementioned factors affect the withdrawal times. Namely, a larger number of people in the space extends the withdrawal times. Obstacles in the space also extend the withdrawal times. The more people are dispersed throughout the space, the longer the withdrawal times and the more disorderly the movement of people. In simulations where people moved at a speed of 1.20 m/s, the withdrawal times were longer than in simulations where people moved at a speed of 1.60 m/s.
Based on the results obtained, I confirmed or refuted 6 given hypotheses and determined preventive measures that can be helpful in the construction, installation and treatment of such facilities. The results can serve as a basis for planning and implementing fire protection measures in such facilities. They are also helpful in determining the optimal number of people in a particular room, in the placement of shelves in the room and exits.
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