Designing escape routes for buildings through an aggregate approach

In this paper a method for the definition of effective destination and escape routes by means of the simulation of pedestrian outflow related to the evacuation of a building is described. The generated feasible alternatives are compared in terms of evacuation time by means of an aggregate assignment model. Such method can be easily implemented in a spreadsheet and can be used to give a first evaluation of evacuation procedures without performing evacuation drills. It can also be used to give a fast response in identifying critical points on the network. To check the capabilities of the proposed procedure, results obtained from simulations are compared with data recorded from an experimentation on a test site conducted in a primary school located in an Italian town.