• The airEXODUS model is not currently available for purchase however, FSEG staff provide a consultative service using the software. Contact the Director for further information regarding airEXODUS consultative service.

airEXODUS has been used on applications involving all types of aircraft, from commuter to ultra-high capacity aircraft.

Applications Include:

Aircraft Design

90 Second certification trials

Crew Training

Development of crew procedures

Resolution of operational issues

Accident investigation
 
 

Close up of aircraft evacuation generated using airEXODUS.  Graphic is from the interactive SIMULATION Mode.

 
 

airEXODUS/vrEXODUS example of a certification type aircraft evacuation simulations.  

• buildingEXODUS v5.0 [December 2011] and vrEXODUS v5.1 [December 2011] are shipping NOW!

• buildingEXODUS v4.08 and vrEXODUS v5.0 are now discontinued.

• buildingEXODUS v4.06 and vrEXODUS v4.028 are now discontinued.

• buildingEXODUS v4.0 and vrEXODUS v4.0 are now discontinued.

• buildingEXODUS v3.0 and vrEXODUS v1.11 are now discontinued.

• buildingEXODUS FAQ

• vrEXODUS FAQ
   

Suitable for application to supermarkets, hospitals, industrial premises, rail stations, airport terminals, sports stadium, cinemas, shopping malls, high-rise buildings, etc.

Capable of handling 1000s of people

Incorporates human behaviour specifically tailored for building environments

Demonstrates compliance with building codes

Evaluates evacuation capabilities

buildingEXODUS application in Forensic Fire Analysis [Nov 2003]

Validating the buildingEXODUS model using an unannounced trial [Nov 2003]

New Features in v4.0: Interaction of Pedestrians with signage [Nov 2003]

buildingEXODUS example application (1): (a) Early stages of evacuation involving very large structure. Software displaying individual people. (1b): Later stages of evacuation. Software displaying individual people.(1c): Later stages of evacuation. Software displaying individual people coloured to represent person type.  

buildingEXODUS example application (2): Very large structure.

 
 

buildingEXODUS example application (3): (a) Early stages of evacuation involving multi storey structure. Note congestion around stairways. Software displaying individual people. (1b): Software displaying population density at same instant as figure 3a. Red regions indicate high population density.  

buildingEXODUS example application (4): Early stages of evacuation from football ground. Software displaying population density, red regions indicate high population density. Note congestion by gate (bottom right corner of ground) and near light pylon (botom left of ground).  Also note spot congestion on terracing.  Graphs generated by buildingEXODUS indicate flow characteristics at user identified points of interest.

 
 

buildingEXODUS example application (5): Early stages of evacuation from a building in the presence of smoke and fire. Software displaying smoke contours.  Fire atmosphere (smoke, heat and toxic gases) generated using the CFAST software.  Note darkest colour represents heaviest concentration of smoke.

 
 

buildingEXODUS/vrEXODUS example application (6): (6a) Early stages of people movement from two crowded trains at station platform.  Software displaying population density, red regions indicate high population density. NOTE seating arrangement is excluded in this example as simulation is primarily concerned with platform characteristics. (6b) Later stages of people movement.  Gates at end of platform insufficient to allow rapid egress of passengers.  High density population (red region) is being generated at gates and extending back along the platform. (6c and 6d) vrEXODUS representation of people movement along platform.  

buildingEXODUS example application (7): (7a) Non-emergency movement of people in amusement centre.   Software displaying individual person model.  (7b) Software displaying population density, red regions indicate high population density. NOTE crowds around various venues.  

• vrEXODUS v5.1 [December 2011] is shipping NOW!

• vrEXODUS v5.0 is now discontinued.

• vrEXODUS v4.028 is now discontinued.

• vrEXODUS v4.0 is now discontinued.

• vrEXODUS v1.11 is now discontinued.

The vrEXODUS software is a graphics post-processor that can be used in conjunction with all EXODUS products.  vrEXODUS creates animated three dimensional representations of EXODUS generated simulations. The current version of vrEXODUS supports the latest computer technology; taking advantage of dedicated graphics hardware and processing power available on modern day PCs.
Using vrEXODUS it is also possible to capture the screen while playing back a simulation to create an animation file in the Windows Media format WMV. Creating animations can require a large amount of disk space, especially for long simulations. If this feature is not used correctly, megabytes of hard disk space can very easily be consumed.
The vrEXODUS software will run on most standard computer systems. Essentially, if your computer system is capable of running the main EXODUS software it should be capable of running the virtual reality environment. However, users should note that the generation and execution of VR graphics is an extremely CPU/GPU intensive operation. As the number of objects (i.e. number of wall elements, number of people, complexity of people, etc) and length of simulation increases the demands on CPU, RAM and graphics card increase dramatically.

vrEXODUS FAQ

buildingEXODUS/vrEXODUS example application:  Pedestrian movement at corridor junction, simulation generated using buildingEXODUS and displayed using vrEXODUS.

buildingEXODUS/vrEXODUS example application:  Evacuation from two storey building in the presence of smoke, heat and toxic gases (not displayed).  Note occupants with a "H" above their heads are suffering from heat exposure while occupants with "T" above their heads are suffering from exposure to toxic gases.  Exposure determined using FED model capability of buildingEXODUS.
 

airEXODUS/vrEXODUS example application:  Aircraft evacuation under certification conditions.

 

maritimeEXODUS/vrEXODUS example application:  Passenger ship evacuation from two passenger decks.

  Leaflet

• maritimeEXODUS v4.14 [December 2011] and vrEXODUS v5.1 [December 2011] are now shipping.

• maritimeEXODUS v4.11 and vrEXODUS v4.028 are now discontinued.

• maritimeEXODUS v4.1 is now discontinued.

From the modelling perspective, there are at least five components to a ship evacuation:

(1) Recognition by passengers of the need for emergency action i.e. response to alarm.
(2) Preparatory actions e.g. collect life jacket, reunite family, deploy crew, etc.
(3) Progressive evacuation to place of relative safety i.e. refuge or assembly station.
(4) Preparation/deployment of escape system e.g. prepare lifeboats, deploy Marine Evacuation System (MES).
(5) Abandoning the vessel e.g. boarding and lowering lifeboat, going down an MES and boarding life boat, climbing down a ladder, etc.

Depending on the nature of the "what if" conditions being simulated, all of the above aspects may need to be modelled, while other applications may only require some of these components.  To perform the required simulation reliably requires an evacuation model with the appropriate set of capabilities and access to the necessary data.   Furthermore, the scenario under consideration may be under conditions of calm or involve situations with list or roll and may occur at day or night.  This will affect not only the nature of the data required but also the capabilities of the model.

maritimeEXODUS v4.1 has a host of new features which are incorporated into: the User Interface, Geometry Mode, Population Mode, Scenario Mode, Simulation Mode, Data and Statistics Collection and in the Behavioural representation of the crew and passengers.  The most significant anew features include:

•  New behavioural features to better represent congestion avoidance and LSA selection.
• New features to determine the /Visibility Catchment Area/ (VCA) associated with wayfinding signage.
• A link to the SMARTFIRE v4.1 CFD fire simulation software.
• Extending the toxicity models within maritimeEXODUS to include the impact of irritant fire gases.
• Numerous improvements to the user interface (e.g. the left hand navigation window and the navigator facility).
• A new feature to enable the attributes of selected individuals to be output throughout their evacuation, enabling a greater understanding of their individual experiences.
• The MSC 1238 response time distributions are set as defaults and there is a facility enabling the response times of selected individuals to be assigned according to user-defined distributions.
• The introduction of an MSC 1238 congestion contour, enabling the user to identify areas at which significant congestion (> 4 people/m² ) was experienced for greater than 10% of the total simulation time.
• maritimeEXODUS v4.1 is fully compliant with MSC 1238

maritimeEXODUS makes use of marine specific data for the performance of passengers under conditions of LIST and heel. This data has been collected in partnership with FSEG partner BMT FLEET Technology through their SHEBA facility.  Data from TNO trials are also incorporated with maritimeEXODUS.  As the model has the flexibility to allow the user to alter all of the pre-set default values, it is easily adaptable when new data becomes available. Furthermore, an abandonment component of maritimeEXODUS is also available, allowing the simulation of the abandonment phase.  This includes the use of most currently available escape systems such as MES, davit launched lifeboats, life rafts, etc.  In maritimeEXODUS v4.0, new capabilities to handle vertical ladders, 60 degree stairs, water tight doors and hatches were also introduced.  Data from SHEBA trials funded by the Royal Navy have been included in maritimeEXODUS.

maritimeEXODUS can simulate ship evacuation under conditions of fire.

 

OUTPUT FROM maritimeEXODUS INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS WINDOW IN SIMULATION MODE

 
OUTPUT FROM vrEXODUS REPRESENTATION OF FOUR SCENES FROM maritimeEXODUS SIMULATION OF SHIP EVACUATION

 

CLOSE UP FROM vrEXODUS REPRESENTATION OF maritimeEXODUS SIMULATION OF SHIP EVACUATION

OUTPUT FROM vrEXODUS REPRESENTATION OF maritimeEXODUS v4.0 simulation of evacuation from a large passenger ship. Passengers in yellow have donned their lifejackets.

OUTPUT FROM maritimeEXODUS v4.0 simulation showing a reconstruction of the sinking of the GUSTLOFF. In 1945 she took 3 torpedoes developing a 20 degree heel and sinking with the loss of over 10,000 lives.  maritimeEXODUS was used to predict the number of fatalities in this disaster for the TV documentary Unsolved History: Wilhelm Gustloff World's Deadliest Sea Disaster as shown on Discovery Channel.  Depicted are the population density contours.  The simulation included the effect of progressive heel and trim and flooding of compartments as the vessel sank.

CLOSEUP FROM maritimeEXODUS v3.0 simulation of normal circulation movements at end of a theatre showing.  Software is in population density mode.

OUTPUT FROM maritimeEXODUS v3.0 simulation of mustering phase of a two deck passenger ferry.  Software is in population density mode.

OUTPUT FROM vrEXODUS REPRESENTATION OF maritimeEXODUS v4.0 simulation of crew and passengers using vertical ladders, 60 degree stairs and normal stairs.

OUTPUT FROM vrEXODUS REPRESENTATION OF maritimeEXODUS v4.0 simulation showing smoke spread within large passenger ship.

CLOSEUP FROM vrEXODUS REPRESENTATION OF maritimeEXODUS v4.0 simulation showing passengers still in cabins while corridors filling with smoke.

• The railEXODUS model is currently under development and in alpha release with sponsorship from the US Federal Rail Administration. 

Disclaimer: Development of railEXODUS was partially funded by the Federal Railroad Administration, U.S Government. Funding does not constitute endorsement of railEXODUS, its application, or related papers.

While the buildingEXODUS software is used for rail stations including the modelling of trains in stations, the railEXODUS software is specifically being designed to simulate evacuation from rail rolling stock and possess rail specific human performance data. 

The railEXODUS software is specifically designed to cater for rail situations involving the evacuation from:

• rail car to rail car,
• rail car to platform,
• rail car to track side and
• evacuation from overturned rail carriages. 

See FSEG projects pages for data generation project specific to rail applications. Additional data from full-scale rail car evacuation trials conducted in the US will be included in the software. 

The software will also cater for multi-level rail cars and like the other EXODUS software, will have a link to both SMARTFIRE and CFAST allowing the inclusion of fire hazards such as heat, smoke and toxic gases.

Last modified: December 2011