Scientists at the University of Greenwich have released the new generation of the evacuation and crowd simulation software, buildingEXODUS. Version 3.0 incorporates new capabilities that enable building engineers to perform realistic desk top simulations of people in both normal and emergency conditions.

The software simulates not only how individual people interact with each other and the built environment, but also how they are debilitated by hazards such as heat, smoke and toxic gases. To simulate these complex relationships, the software uses sophisticated rule based systems to control the interaction of five advanced sub models. The software draws extensively on data and experience captured from experiments and real life incidents. For example, the human behaviour submodel includes rules governing the behaviour of people interacting with smoke in fire situations.

The arrival of this level of sophistication on the desk top means that the building engineer can test more designs in less time to reach the optimal solution, free from costly and unrealistic assumptions.

The new release, Version 3.0, incorporates four key advances

• ADVANCED VIRTUAL REALITY VISUALISATION

• ENHANCED REALISM

• PEOPLE CIRCULATION IN NON-EMERGENCY CONDITIONS

• CFAST INTERFACE

"buildingEXODUS Version 3.0 gives building engineers powerful new options for simulating crowd movement and evacuation on their desk tops," says Professor Ed Galea, Director of the University’s Fire Safety Engineering Group and developer of buildingEXODUS. "The new capabilities - a direct response to needs identified by our clients - represent a quantum leap in the sophistication offered by buildingEXODUS, and will help to maintain the software as one of the most advanced crowd simulation packages in the world."

• Movement - Specifies how individuals move around a space, including speed, overtaking, side stepping, or other evasive actions.

• Behaviour - Determines an individual's response to the current prevailing situation on the basis of his or her personal attributes and the level of information available to them.
• Occupant - Describes an individual as a collection of defining attributes and variables such as name, gender, age, maximum running speed, maximum walking speed, response time, agility, etc. Some of the attributes are fixed throughout the simulation while others are dynamic, changing as a result of inputs from the other submodels.

• Hazard - Controls the atmospheric and physical environment. It distributes pre-determined fire hazards such as heat, smoke and toxic products throughout the atmosphere and controls the opening and closing of exits.

• Toxicity - Determines the effects on an individual exposed to toxic products distributed by the hazard submodel. These effects are communicated to the behaviour submodel which, in turn, feeds through to the movement of the individual.

FACT SHEET:

Why engineers need to simulate people movement in buildings

buildingEXODUS is believed to be the first evacuation model to incorporate the four key areas - configurational (structural), environmental, behavioural and procedural - which govern evacuation.

The model uses a series of five sophisticated submodels to simulate, not only how people interact with each other and the built environment, but also how they are debilitated by hazards such as heat, smoke and toxic gases (see technical information fact sheet). The submodels interact to reveal how a defined group of people attempt to navigate a space or escape from it - from the routes they use and the times they take, to the moment that individuals are asphyxiated. The model even caters for the representation of people with movement disabilities.

It is not possible to consider these factors using traditional methods, which rely on a set of rigid rules, such as the number of exits required for a given floor space. At best, these traditional methods only reveal whether a design crosses the threshold of acceptability; not which of a range of acceptable designs is best. buildingEXODUS indicates relative performance and allows engineers to test more layouts to arrive at the optimal solution. The computer package can also help to demonstrate that a building complies with performance-based building standards.

The arrival of this level of sophistication on the desk top means that the safety engineer can test more designs in less time to reach the optimal solution, free from costly and unrealistic assumptions.

"The advent of novel building designs such as the Millennium Dome in London has heralded a new era in building standards," says Professor Ed Galea. "It is the era of objective ‘performance-based’ standards, which do not prescribe how to make a building safe; simply how safe a building must be. And it is the era of the computer simulations which can be used to demonstrate that level of safety."

Summary of new capabilities - Version 3.0

• The introduction of a VR post-processor interface, allowing the three dimensional representation of buildingEXODUS simulations.

• The introduction of a set of tools – known as askEXODUS – to aid in the analysis of multiple buildingEXODUS simulations.
• The introduction of an interface to CFAST V4.01 history files allowing direct import of results produced by a recognised zone model into the buildingEXODUS Hazard model.

• An Occupant Itinerary List function has been added allowing occupants to perform simple tasks prior to exiting.
• The ability to credit occupants with a localised understanding of the exits available (using the Local Familiarity system). The occupant has a list of known exits which then form potential egress routes. This can be attributed manually or automatically.
• Exits can be categorised according to their usage (either being emergency exits or in constant use). This is particularly important in the use of localised exit familiarity.
• Occupants moving through a smoke-filled environment may now exhibit inefficient movement caused by the reduced visibility levels. This will include occupant staggering and subsequently attempting to follow the walls of the geometry to aid in navigation.
• Occupants faced with a consistent barrier of smoke have the option to redirect away towards other available exits. The likelihood of this happening is dependent upon data derived from past experience.

• An Analysis feature is provided to aid in interpreting the occupant behaviour. This allows the simulated occupant to change colour according to their circumstances/behaviour.

• Introduction of Census Regions, enabling the automatic recording of information concerning specific areas of the geometry.
• Contouring features to display for example the temperature within the geometry.

To provide an indication of software performance, using buildingEXODUS V1.1 it required 10 minutes to perform an evacuation simulation for a population of 1000 people from a 2500 m² enclosure. Today, using buildingEXODUS V3.0 the same calculations require only 37 seconds. This 16 fold improvement in buildingEXODUS performance in the last three years is a combination of software improvements and advances in PC technology.

Technical information

INTRODUCTION:

The EXODUS software simulates people-people, people-fire and people-structure interactions. The model tracks the trajectory of each individual as they make their way out of the enclosure, or are overcome by fire hazards such as heat, smoke and toxic gases.

The software has been written in C++ using Object Orientated techniques and utilises rule-based software technology to control the simulation. For additional flexibility these rules have been categorised into five interacting submodels (see below) which operate on a region of space defined by the geometry of the enclosure. This can be (i) read from a geometry library, (ii) constructed interactively using the tools provided or (iii) read from a CAD drawing using the DXF format. Internally the entire space of the geometry is covered in a mesh of nodes. The nodes are then linked by a system of arcs. Each node represents a region of space typically occupied by a single occupant.

• Behaviour

• Occupant

• Hazard

• Toxicity

EXODUS APPLICATIONS

Since its launch in October 1996, the buildingEXODUS has been used by engineering consultancies, architects, research laboratories, regulatory authorities, police forces, fire brigades and universities in 17 countries : Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Korea, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the USA.

Applications have included the following:

• Austin Hospital, Victoria (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Wimmera Base Hospital: Nursing Home, Victoria (Lincolne Scott Ltd),
• Golden Pyramids Plaza, Cairo Egypt, (FPC),
• Ansett Domestic Terminal Redevelopment, Sydney (Lincolne Scott Ltd),
• Sydney Olympic Stadium (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Millennium Dome London (Buro Happold),
• La Fenice Opera House Italy (TESCA),
• World Expo 1998 Portugal (FPC),
• Ascot Race Course UK (Buro Happold),
• Various regulatory applications in Australia (CFA),
• Hospital ward UK (NHS Trust),
• Lund City Hall in Sweden (FSD),
• Museum of Victoria: Primary Exhibition Fitout, Melbourne (Lincolne Scott Ltd),
• The Esbjerg Concert Hall in Denmark (FSD),
• Court and Police Station – involving up to 2,000 people, Victoria (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Australian Archives, Sydney (Lincolne Scott Ltd),
• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (Lincolne Scott Ltd),
• National Art Gallery extension, Canberra (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• School Library and Laboratory building – 4 floors, Australia (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Orange Shopping Complex – 10,000sq m. NSW (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Shopping Complex UK (J Gardner and Associates),
• Shopping Complex – 1,300,000m², 20,000 people, Queensland (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Supermarket – 3,000sq m, NSW (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Large Warehouse Melbourne (Marsh &McLennan),
• Cinema Complex (5 theatres) Australia (CFA),
• Theatre Finland (VTT),
• Banquet Hall – 2,500 people, NSW (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• 7 storey block of flats, Victoria (Daryl Knight Ltd),
• Cairns Esplanade: Carpark, Queensland (Lincolne Scott Ltd).

The Fire Safety Engineering Group (FSEG) of the University of Greenwich was founded by Prof Galea in 1986. Its early work focused on the development of CFD based fire modelling techniques. Over the years the research and consultancy interests of the 20 strong group have expanded to include the mathematical modelling of evacuation, combustion, fire/smoke spread, structural response to fire and fire extinguishment. Application areas include, the built environment, aerospace, marine and rail. The work of FSEG includes research/consultancy, software development, international standards development and training.

FSEG is one of Europe's leading centres of excellence concerned with the mathematical modelling of fire and related phenomena. It is also one of the largest university based groups dedicated to the modelling of fire in the world. Since 1990, FSEG has generated over £2 million worth of research and consultancy funding. The groups research and consultancy activities have been supported by organisations such as:

A selection of consultancy projects undertaken by FSEG include:

• crowd safety and control analysis for Ascot Race Course,
• advice to the ESSEX fire Brigade on evacuation performance from large structures,
• evacuation analysis for DeHavilland of Canada concerning certification of new aircraft,
• evacuation analysis for Airbus concerning design and certification of new aircraft including the A3XX and A340-600,
• analysis of ventilation and smoke movement characteristics for an underground station,
• a fire safety analysis of the International Space Station for the European Space Agency,
• CFD based pollution spread analysis for the HSE,
• project specific advice to the Melbourne Fire Brigade,
• expert witness advice for legal hearings and Inquiries e.g. Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry,
• expert advice to documentary makers for television and radio.

The group has published over 130 academic and professional publications concerning fire and related topics.

Research undertaken by FSEG has lead to the development of the fire engineering software buildingEXODUS, airEXODUS and SMARTFIRE. These products are distributed world-wide by FSEG.

FSEG expertise in fire/evacuation modelling and human behaviour is sought by national and international standards bodies such as the BSI (UK), Human Behaviour Task Group of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (USA) and ISO (International).