Numerical simulation of emergency evacuation of a subway station: A case study in beijing

A case study of the modelling emergency evacuation of a typical subway station in Beijing is presented in this paper. The objectives of the study are to assess the evacuation capability with different passenger loadings, compare the results with the requirements in the current code for the design of subways in China, and design practical and effective evacuation management measures. Four groups of scenarios under different passenger loadings are identified after discussions with different parties. Evacuation patterns are studied by the software building EXODUS with 23 scenarios. The attributes and flow of passengers in this study are based on the statistical data reported in previous research. These included field surveys in three operating lines from 1996 to 2001; video-recordings on the normal evacuation of the three stations in 2004; and data collected recently at the actual subway stations during weekdays and holidays. The potential influence of various factors in each group is systematically studied, and the main influential factors are identified. The influences of each main factor under different loadings are compared and analyzed. The evacuation capability in each group is compared with the requirements in the current subway construction code. The effect of different possible evacuation management measures is explored and compared under each passenger loading.