Work

Numerical simulation of the water flow field on subway stairs and evaluation of people safety evacuation

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Stairs in subway stations are vulnerable to floods when rainstorm disasters occur in cities. The stairs, as a critical way for human evacuation, can affect the safe evacuation of people on flood-prone stairs. To evaluate the risk of people evacuating through different slopes and forms of stairs when floods invade subway stations, a numerical model for the water flow on stairs based on the volume of fluid model and the realizable k-ε model was established. The water flow patterns on stairs at the subway station entrance under different slope conditions and with/without rest platforms were simulated. The real-time water flow process on stairs at different inlet depths was obtained, and the escape control index F was used to evaluate the risk of people evacuating through stairs at different slopes and water depths. The results indicate that the presence of a rest platform can cause an increase in water velocity and depth on pedestrian stairs, and people should choose stairs without a rest platform for evacuation during the evacuation process. The research results hope to provide a reference for the people evacuation on stairs, and further improve the theory of safe evacuation of personnel on flood-prone stairs.

Source: Journal of Hydroinformatics

DOI: 10.2166/hydro.2024.105

Authors: Mingjie Wang, Guixiang Chen, Weifeng Liu, Chenxing Cui

Institutions: Beijing Jiaotong University, Henan University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics

Subfield: Ocean Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: Henan University of Technology, Henan University, Key Research and Development Program of Hunan Province of China, Henan Provincial Science and Technology Research Project