The analysis of escape routes and pedestrian movement are fundamental elements within an overall ‘fire safety strategy’. Simplistic quantitative methodologies are available in some engineering Standards, e.g. NFPA 130: Standard for Fixed Guideway Transit and Passenger Rail Systems is used routinely to model passenger evacuation from underground railway stations. For ‘non-standard’ situations, such as complex multi-level buildings for example, a more sophisticated modelling approach is required.
Halcrow has developed two in-house software packages over the past two decades - PEDROUTE and PAXPORT, which incorporate a robust and dynamic routing algorithm. These codes allow automated routing of passengers through space simulation packages for the movement and escape of large numbers of individuals through complex geometries; work is currently underway to link egress models to CFD simulations, creating a state-of-the-art technology.
