Uncommon exit arrangement effects in airplane emergency evacuation

This paper presents the effects of uncommon exit size and location arrangement in the emergency evacuation of transport airplanes. The analysis is carried out by means of an agent-based computer model conceived to simulate the evacuation of narrow-body aircraft as required in the certification process, as well as for design purposes. The simulation model provides full evacuation data of all occupants: escape route followed, distance to exit, time to reach the ground, etc., as well as those of the whole cabin: exit utilization patterns, evacuation histograms, chronolines and total evacuation time. The present research concentrates on the effect of uncommon exit size and location arrangements, such as large longitudinal shifting and/or suppression of some of the exits in the evacuation performance.