Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T06:03:40.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Computer model for numerical simulation of emergency evacuation of transport aeroplanes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2016

R. Martínez-Val
Affiliation:
rodrigo.martinezval@upm.es, Escuela de Ingenieros Aeronáuticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

The present paper describes a new, agent-based computer model that can simulate the evacuation of narrow body transport aeroplanes in the conditions prescribed by the airworthiness regulations for certification. The input data are extracted from a complete plan view of the cabin. The results include full egress details of all occupants, passengers and crew-members, and the most significant evacuation figures and diagrams. The model has been tuned and verified with real data of narrow body certification demonstrations. Numerical simulations of six narrow body aircraft, representative of current designs, show the capabilities of the model and provide relevant information on the relationship between cabin features and emergency evacuation results. Although the computer model has been developed for helping in the certification process it would be useful too in the design of new cabins.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2010 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Mohler, S.R., Swearingen, J.J., McFadden, E.B. and Garner, J.D., Human Factors of Emergency Evacuation, Civil Aeromedical Research Institute, Federal Aviation Administration, TR AM-65-7, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, September 1964.Google Scholar
2. Task Force Report on Emergency Evacuation of Transport Aeroplanes, Volume I – Summary Report, Technical Report DOT/FAA/VS–86/1.I, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC, USA, 1986.Google Scholar
3. Aircraft Evacuation Testing: Research and Technology Issues. Background Paper. OTA–BP–SET–121, Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, Washington, DC, USA, 1993.Google Scholar
4. Code of Federal Regulations. Aeronautics and Space. Part 25 – Airworthiness Standards: Transport Category Aeroplanes, Office of the General Register, Washington, DC, USA, 1 January 2008.Google Scholar
5. Certification Specifications for Large Aeroplanes CS-25.Amendment 4, European Aviation Security Agency, 27 December 2007.Google Scholar
6. Goslin, P.D. and Riches, C.G.. Towards meeting VLTA challenges for evacuation slides and slide-rafts, Aeronaut J, 2003, 107, pp 185199.Google Scholar
7. Middleton, V.E., A computer simulation of aircraft evacuation with fire, NASA CR 166511, Moffett Field, CA, USA, 1984.Google Scholar
8. Edwards, M. and Edwards, L., The Cabin Aircraft: Managing the Human Factors, Gower Technical, Aldershot, England, UK, 1990.Google Scholar
9. Learmount, D.. Crew direction aids evacuations by 50 percent, Flight Int, 1723 February 1993, p 9.Google Scholar
10. Muir, H.C. and Cobbet, A., Influence of cabin crew during emergency evacuations at floor level exits, Civil Aviation Authority, CAA Paper 95006, London, UK, 1995.Google Scholar
11. Muir, M. and Thomas, L.. Passenger safety in very large transport aircraft, Aeronaut J, 2003, 107, pp 201206.Google Scholar
12. Court, M.C. and Marcus, J.H.. Use of object-oriented programming to simulate human behaviour in emergency evacuation of an aircraft’s passenger cabin, Civil Aeromedical Inst. FAA Report DOT/FAA/AM-97-20, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, 1997.Google Scholar
13. Barthelmess, S.A.. An FAA analysis of aircraft emergency evacuation demonstration, society of automotive engineers, Paper 821486, Aerospace Congress and Exposition, Anaheim, CA, USA, October, 1982.Google Scholar
14. Martínez-val, R. and Hedo, J.M.. Analysis of evacuation strategies for design and certification of transport aeroplanes, J Aircr, 2000, 37, (3), pp 440447.Google Scholar
15. Poudel, M., Aircraft Emergency Evacuation: Analysis, Modelling and Simulation, Doctor Thesis, Toulouse University, Toulouse, France, 18 June 2008.Google Scholar
16. Parks, D.L. and Ostrand, R.A., EVAC Computer simulation of personnel in aeroplane evacuation, Proceedings of the 26th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors Society, 1982, pp 974978.Google Scholar
17. Cagliostro, D.E.. A user-operated model to study strategy in aircraft evacuation, J Aircr, 1984, 21, (12), pp 962965.Google Scholar
18. Watts, J.M.. Computer models for evacuation analysis, Fire Safety J, 1987, (12), pp 237245.Google Scholar
19. Marcus, J.H., A review of computer evacuation models and their data needs, Civil Aeromedical Institute, FAA Report DOT/FAA/AM-94-11, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, 1994.Google Scholar
20. Folk, E.D., GPSS/360 Computer models To simulate aircraft passenger emergency evacuation, DOT/FAA/AM-72-30, US Department of Transport, Federal Aviation Administration, 1972.Google Scholar
21. Chandler, R.F., Garner, J.D. and Cook, E.A., GPSS computer simulation of aircraft passenger emergency evacuations, Civil Aeromedical Institute, FAA Report DOT/FAA/AM-78-23, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, 1978.Google Scholar
22. Gourary, B.S., PC-based simulation of the evacuation of passengers from a transport aeroplane, Technical report, Gourary Associates Inc, Montclair, New Jersey, USA, 1994.Google Scholar
23. Gourary, B.S.. PC-Based Simulation of the evacuation of passengers from a transport aeroplane, proceedings of the Eleventh International Cabin Safety Symposium, Southern California Safety Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1994.Google Scholar
24. Schroeder, J.E. and Turtle, M.L.. Development of an Aircraft Evacuation (AIREVAC) Computer Model, Phase I: Front End Analysis and Data Collection, Technical Report SwRI Project Number 12-4099, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA, 1991.Google Scholar
25. Grant, J.E. and Turttle, M.L., Modeling Human Behavior in Aircraft Evacuations, in Swain, J. J. and Goldsman, D. (Ed). Proceedings of the 1992 Winter Simulation Conference, School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1992.Google Scholar
26. Development of ARCEVAC an emergency evacuation simulation model-beta version 1.0, Aviation Research Corporation Transport Canada Technical Report, Rept. RJS-92-122, Transportation Development Center, Montreal, Canada, 1994.Google Scholar
27. Owen, M., Galea, E.R., Lawrence, P.J. and Filippidis, L.. The numerical simulation of aircraft evacuation and its application to aircraft design and certification, Aeronaut J, 1998, 102, (1016), pp 310312.Google Scholar
28. Galea, E.R., Blake, S.J., Gwynne, S. and Lawrence, P.J.. The use of evacuation modelling techniques in the design of very large transport aircraft and blended wing body aircraft, Aeronaut J, 2003, 107, pp 207218.Google Scholar
29. Galea, E.R.. Proposed methodology for the use of computer simulation to enhance aircraft evacuation certification, J Aircr, 2006, 43, (5), pp 14051413.Google Scholar
30. Macey, P. and Cordey-Hayes, M., Probabilistic risk assessment modelling of passenger aircraft fire safety, Technical Report IERC, Cranfield University, Cranfield, UK, 1995.Google Scholar
31. Macey, P. and Cordey-Hayes, M.. A computer-based simulation and risk-assessment model for investigation of airliner fire safety, Paper presented at the PEP 88th Symposium on Aircraft Fire Safety, held in Dresden, Germany, 14-17 October 1996, and published in CP-587, ISBN 92-836-0046-0.Google Scholar
32. Robbins, C.R. and McKee, S.. Simulating the evacuation of a commercial airliner, Aeronaut J, June 2001, pp 323328.Google Scholar
33. Xue, Z. and Bloebaum, C.L., A particle swarm optimization-based aircraft evacuation simulation model – VacateAir, Proceedings of 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nevada, USA, January 2008.Google Scholar
34. Xue, Z. and Bloebaum, C.L.. Aircraft cabin configuration design using VacateAir – an aircraft evacuation simulation model, 12th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2008.Google Scholar
35. Xue, Z., Desjardin, P.E. and Bloebaum, C.L., A Particle Swarm Optimization based behavioral and probabilistic fire evacuation model incorporating fire hazards and human behaviors, 2007 Annual Fire Conference, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, 2007.Google Scholar
36. Hedo, J.M., Martínez-val, R. and Hernández, C., Cabin–Layout–Based Algorithm to Assess the Evacuation of Transport Aeroplanes, In Soekkha, H.M. (editor), Aviation Safety, Utrecht, Netherlands, 1997, VSP. pp 213227.Google Scholar
37. Wilensky, U., NetLogo V4.0.2. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA, December 2007. ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/.Google Scholar
38. Hedo, J.M., Modelización Computacional del Ensayo de Evacuación de Emergencia de Aviones de Transporte (in Spanish), Doctor Thesis, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 22 May 2009.Google Scholar
39. Langston, P.A., Masling, R. and Asmar, B.N.. Crowd dynamics discrete element multi-circle model, Safety Science, 2006, 44, pp 395417.Google Scholar
40. A380 evacuation trial video, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIaovi1JWyY.Google Scholar
41. Kenett, R.S. and Zacks, S., Modern Industrial Statistics: Design and Control of Quality and Reliability, Duxbury Press, Pacific Grove, CA, USA, 1998.Google Scholar
42. Ibe, O.C., Fundamentals of Applied Probability and Random Processes, Academic Press, Burlington, MA, USA, 2005.Google Scholar
43. Hedo, J.M. and Martinez-Val, R., Computer model for numerical simulation of emergency evacuation of transport aeroplanes, AIRTEC 2008, Frankfurt, Germany, 11-13 November 2008.Google Scholar