Experimental investigation on the evacuation performance of pedestrians in a three-lane urban tunnel with natural ventilation in a fire scenario

摘要

This paper presents a field experimental study of several participants' evacuation behaviour in fire-induced smoke in a bidirectional six-lane, urban tunnel with natural ventilation. Ceiling openings with vertical shafts are equipped as natural ventilation and provide a large amount of sunlight into the tunnel in the daytime, increasing the illuminance in the tunnel and assisting evacuation in fire emergency. In this study, route choice, movement time, physical condition and reaction to technical installations were recorded and discussed to evaluate evacuees' performance. Human factors including pedestrians' gender, age and emotional state were taken into consideration. Besides, the characteristic of ceiling openings and its impact on human evacuation and technical systems settings are analysed. The results of the experiment and analysis suggest natural ventilation has a positive impact on evacuation. This study also leads to guidance on evacuation strategies in tunnels with natural ventilation and puts forward suggestions regarding to technical installations in the tunnel, such as way finding signs and continuous light.