Simulação computacional de evacuação em casa noturna - comportamento da multidão guiado por sinalização de emergência

Abstract

Emergency signs are key elements to ensure correct orientation of people in an evacuation process, especially for large public places. Fires with a high number of fatalities in nightclubs, such as Nightclub Kiss (Brazil) in 2013 with 242 fatalities, The Station (United States of America) in 2003 with 100 fatalities and the Cromañón Republic (Argentina) 2004 with 194 victims, among others, represent the importance of assessing emergency signaling systems for these kinds of locations. For this reason, this research aimed to verify the efficiency of fire and panic safety signals in escape routes prescribed by the Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 13434 (2004 e 2018), compared to an illuminated signal system, using computational simulations as a tool. The signs were numerically inserted into a generic nightclub model in four distinct scenarios, established according to the luminescent factor of each system. The results showed that for confined and low light environments, the beacon signals showed a reduction of approximately one hundred and sixty-three percent in the total output time, in relation to the photoluminescent signals operating at their maximum capacity. In addition, the total loss of luminescent capacity of conventional signals increased the average evacuation time by about four hundred and fifteen percent in relation to the beacon signals. Therefore, it is concluded that a completely perceptible signaling system can contribute significantly to the reduction in evacuation times in relation to photoluminescent signals in which the agents, even when not close to them, are able to perceive and interpret the information, contributing to the movement crowd in the direction of the escape route.