Stadiums, arenas, towers and shopping centres. We model the movement of thousands of people and compare the evacuation time with the time the fire allows.
Our portfolio includes several hundred evacuation analyses. Here is a selection: stadiums, arenas, towers, shopping centres and mountain huts. Click a card to see the scope.
Warsaw
PGE Narodowy
Stadium, 58,000 seats
What we checked
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Arne Müseler (arne-mueseler.com), CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Warsaw
Varso Tower
Tower, 310 m
What we checked
Kraków
Tauron Arena
Sports and entertainment arena, 22,000 spectators
What we checked
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Piotr Tomaszewski (fly4pix.pl), CC BY-SA 4.0
Chełm
Lubelskie Centrum Piłki Nożnej
Football stadium
What we checked
Model: F&K Consulting Engineers
Białystok
Chorten Arena
Stadium, 22,000 seats
What we checked
Płock
Orlen Stadion
Football stadium
What we checked
Poznań
Poznań International Fair
Exhibition hall
What we checked
Kraków
Cracow University of Technology
University building
What we checked
Gdynia
Riviera
Shopping centre
What we checked
Bukowina Tatrzańska
Terma Bukovina
Thermal pool complex
What we checked
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Panoramio), photo by Tomasz Józefczak, CC BY-SA 3.0
Warsaw
Progresja
Concert club in the Fort Wola complex
What we checked
Gardno
Zalando logistics centre
Logistics centre
What we checked
Beskid Sądecki
Przehyba mountain hut
Mountain hut, 1,138 m a.s.l.
What we checked
Szczawnica
Orlica mountain hut
Mountain hut
What we checked
No projects in this category.
Applications
We most often use evacuation simulations to model occupant movement accurately in buildings with complex architecture and wherever large numbers of occupants are expected - where empirical hand calculations may not be sufficient.
Our portfolio includes several hundred evacuation simulations for buildings of various uses. We have repeatedly validated our models against real conditions in the buildings.
Pathfinder is one of the most widely used evacuation simulation programs. It models the movement of individual occupants on a defined navigation mesh in two modes. In steering mode, doors do not limit flow and people keep a reasonable distance from one another. SFPE mode lets occupants overlap, but doors regulate the flow and walking speed is controlled by density.
The navigation geometry is built from a triangulated mesh representing the actual building. Walls and impassable areas become holes in the mesh, while doors and exits become special mesh boundaries at which we record occupant flow.
Purpose of the analysis
The main purpose of an evacuation simulation is to determine the time required for the complete, safe evacuation of the building. We compare it with the available escape time - the difference between the two is the safety margin.
Per PD 7974-6:2019 - the time between ignition and the moment tenability limits are exceeded in a given space. We define critical conditions by visibility, temperature and radiant heat flux, among other criteria.
The time occupants need to leave the threatened space. It depends on the detection time, the alarm time, the occupants' response to the threat and the travel time to the exits.
Time components
All behaviour before people start moving towards the exits - from detection and alarm to recognising the threat. Often much longer than the travel time itself.
The physical movement of occupants towards the exits - governed by the capacity of routes and exits and by crowd density.
Good practice is to simulate two representative design cases: the maximum number of occupants (where the capacity of routes and exits governs) and one third of that number (where the occupants' response time governs). In every case we apply pre-movement times in line with current engineering practice.
FAQ
A computer model of how people move through a building during an alarm. Each person is modelled individually, with their own speed, behaviour and route choice. The output is the time to clear the building or zone, a picture of queuing at exits and on stairs, and an assessment of whether the escape routes are adequately sized.
RSET is the required safe escape time: the time for fire detection, alarm, occupant response and travel to a place of safety. ASET is the available safe escape time, after which conditions in the space are no longer tenable, as determined by the CFD simulation. Evacuation is safe when ASET exceeds RSET with a margin.
We carry out evacuation simulations for buildings with large numbers of occupants, such as stadiums, shopping centres, railway and metro stations; for phased evacuation in hospitals and high-rise buildings; and for alternative solutions, where it must be shown that a longer travel distance or fewer exits does not reduce safety.
We run evacuation simulations in Pathfinder and model fire conditions in the building in FDS. Combining the two lets us compare the evacuation time with the time after which smoke and heat prevent safe escape.
Car parks Jet fan ventilation and smoke control in underground car parks 
Stairwells Smoke venting and pressurisation of stairs, corridors and lobbies 
Complex buildings Stadiums, halls, malls, theatres, museums and towers 
Infrastructure Road and rail tunnels, metro, stations Comfort simulations Thermal comfort, airflow, wind 
International projects Middle East, Europe, the Americas Describe the building, the number of occupants and the deadline - we will prepare the scope of analysis and a quote.
