Optimization of exit location in underground spaces

Workplace evacuation is a significant emergency response strategy and evacuation planning is mandatory for the emergency safety plan. It is known that the evacuation effectiveness depends directly on the effective location and functionality of the exit route, which includes exit access and exit discharge. Apparently, the exit doors location affect both these elements. The exit doors position is ruled by standards and regulations and depends on workplace use, building type, occupants' number and type, etc. In underground constructions, the selection of the appropriate location of the exits is not easy. The land surface, the area topography and the fact that emergency exits are involved in the space's ventilation, increase the engineers' difficulty to design. The regulations mentioned above provide information about installing exits so that the workplace complies with the restrictions imposed. However, up to now a tool to help engineers select the best alternative combination of exits location for a given workplace does not exist. The purpose of this paper is to present a new software application that takes into account the basic parameters of exit routes regulations (such as distance, exit routes angle, dead end - common path of travel distance limitation) and therefore providing all the possible combination of exit doors location. In addition, each combination acquires an efficient grade through a mathematical function. That mathematical function has derived from a study on the evacuation affecting parameters and provides optimized results for exits location. Therefore, on one hand, the users may observe those combinations that comply with the standards restrictions and on the other hand, they can choose the best alternative. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.