- Author
-
Stahl, F. I.
- Title
- Final Report on the "BFIRES/VERSION 1" Computer Simulation of Emergency Egress Behavior During Fires: Calibration and Analysis.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, DC
- Report
-
NBSIR 79-1713,
March 1979,
178 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
-
computer programs
|
simulation
|
building fires
|
fire research
|
fire safety
|
human performance
|
sensitivity analysis
|
occupants
- Identifiers
- architectural research; computer-aided design; environmental psychology; modeling technique; programming
- Abstract
- This report documents computer simulation experiments designed to calibrate and analyze BFIRES, a computer program which simulates building occupants' egress behavior during fires. This report demonstrates that emergency egress behavior under certain specified conditions can be systematically conceptualized, and simulated through the use of a digital computer. Important findings concerning the calibration and sensitivity of BFIRES are also discussed. In particular, it is shown that: (a) a variety of general egress situations may be simulated through the application of BFIRES; (b) every such event is unique, and is defined by the set of user-supplied input parameter values which describe the building, the threat, and the occupants; (c) BFIRES may be used in simulated environments of known (or desired) spatial dimension, and events of known (or desired) temporal duration; and (d) BFIRES simulation outcomes are sensitive to variations in a number of parameters of immediate interest to the building design and regulatory communities.