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ZJUS-A
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE A (Applied Physics & Engineering)  2015, Vol. 16 Issue (2): 117-130    DOI: 10.1631/jzus.A1400154
Civil and Mechanical Engineering     
Assessment of the safe evacuation of people walking through flooding staircases based on numerical simulation
Wei-yun Shao, Li-jie Jiang, Lei Fang, David Z. Zhu, Zhi-lin Sun
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Zhejiang Design Institute of Water Conservancy & Hydroelectric Power, Hangzhou 310002, China; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB, T6G 2W2, Canada; Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
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Abstract  A numerical model was developed to evaluate the possibility of people walking in a flooding flow on a staircase with rest platforms. Commercial software was used and validated by experimental data for flows on staircases and stepped spillways. The effects of the rest platform, the staircase slope, and the staircase pattern on the flooding flow characteristics are discussed. A comparison of staircases with or without rest platforms shows that the flow velocity increases significantly downstream of the rest platform on a straight-run type, which would have negative effects on the safe evacuation of people walking through a flooding staircase. The slope of the staircase, ranging from 26.6° to 30°, has less effect on safe evacuation. A comparison of flows on straight-run (with or without rest platforms), 90°-turn and 180°-turn staircases (with rest platforms) shows that the rest platforms on the latter two staircases could induce a redistribution of the flow field on the rest platform and downstream. The distribution of evacuation indicators along the longitudinal planes of those staircases indicates that a 90°-turn staircase or a straight staircase without rest platform would be the first choice for trapped people evacuating from underground spaces.

Key words： Staircase      Rest platform      Flood      Evacuation      Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation     
Received: 28 May 2014      Published: 03 February 2015
CLC:  TU998  
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Wei-yun Shao
Li-jie Jiang
Lei Fang
David Z. Zhu
Zhi-lin Sun
Cite this article:

Wei-yun Shao, Li-jie Jiang, Lei Fang, David Z. Zhu, Zhi-lin Sun. Assessment of the safe evacuation of people walking through flooding staircases based on numerical simulation. Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE A (Applied Physics & Engineering), 2015, 16(2): 117-130.

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http://www.zjujournals.com/xueshu/zjus-a/10.1631/jzus.A1400154     OR     http://www.zjujournals.com/xueshu/zjus-a/Y2015/V16/I2/117

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