ABEM-based simulation of building egression safety for the elderly under different circumstances : enlightenments of healthy residential buildings for the elderly

Abstract

People generally spend 90% of their time indoors. Owing to the increasing proportion of the elderly, how to develop healthy residential buildings, especially for the elderly, has raised more concerns. Even though many researchers have studied the healthy performance within the home environment of the elderly, there is little research focusing on the safety of indoor public spaces in mid-rise or high-rise residential buildings that are quite common in high-density cities. Dissimilar to other ordinary residents, the elderly would take changing and greater dangers during the egression under normal and urgent circumstances. Therefore, this study aims to explore building egression safety for the elderly under diverse circumstances. The agent-based egression models (ABEMs) are developed to simulate the egression process, and absolute values and relative values of simulation results are proposed to explore the egression safety for the elderly. One ten-story residential building is adopted as the case of simulation. The findings reveal how building egression safety for the elderly changes with different circumstances. This study offers an effective tool to ensure building egression safety. In practice, the ABEM-based simulation and indicators of building egression safety would benefit several stakeholders, by helping the designers and developers to improve their design schemes for better egression safety in the design stage, assisting the developers and property managers in updating egression plans and facilities based on the new occupancy status in the operation stage, helping potential old home buyers to make decisions, and finally facilitating the development of healthy residential buildings.