The article by Bryan Hoskins who has a Ph. D. in Fire Protection Engineering dwells on the importance of structurally sound tall buildings in the context of possible disasters caused by fires or explosions which destroy the buildings in question. There is also substantial guidance on how to design an egress system in a tall building whilst also taking into account the Life safety Code.
The main thrust of the article is also based on calculating how people will behave when a tall building is evacuated. This will assist the engineer to design an egress system which has to account for long distances being travelled. Initially the article deals with time required to begin the evacuation and for several issues to be taken into account especially the effect of the fire alarms in the building. The issue of analysing data to come up with an average value for people’s reactions is also discussed here although this is given somewhat short shrift.
Next the author discusses movement within the stairs and how this affects the evacuation pattern of the building’s design. An equation which is found in the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering is presented and discussed at length especially within the context of the time it takes to descend the stairs in such tall buildings. Further technical analysis of this equation follows with the results from several studies particularly those from Canada being discussed. There is much store being set on the possibility that theoretical conclusions do not necessarily translate into practical conclusions. Additionally even small variances within the margin of error can cause disaster if a building is designed according to these results. The use of computer models and variances to be allowed for vulnerable populations is also discussed.
Works Cited:
Hoskins B: The Evacuation of Tall Buildings; Retrieved from: http://magazine.sfpe.org/content/evacuation-tall-buildings, April 1, 2013
