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PRESCRIPTIVE AND ACTUAL OCCUPANT LOAD OF BUSINESS PREMISES IN FINLAND BEFORE AND DURING COVID19

Rantamäki, Timo LU (2022) In LUTVDG/TVBB VBRM05 20221
Division of Fire Safety Engineering
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis was to study the correspondence of occupant load factors determined by
the guidance document of Finnish National Building code and the real occupant loads measured
from shopping malls. The correspondence of occupant load factors determined according to
Finnish National Building Code were compared with the occupant load factors determined in other
national and international building codes. In addition, the impact of Covid19 pandemic to the
evacuation was studied. The data was collected from shopping malls that were located around
Finland. The years where the data was asked were 2019 and 2020 so that comparison before and
during the pandemic could be carried out. As a result, it was observed that the... (More)
The purpose of this thesis was to study the correspondence of occupant load factors determined by
the guidance document of Finnish National Building code and the real occupant loads measured
from shopping malls. The correspondence of occupant load factors determined according to
Finnish National Building Code were compared with the occupant load factors determined in other
national and international building codes. In addition, the impact of Covid19 pandemic to the
evacuation was studied. The data was collected from shopping malls that were located around
Finland. The years where the data was asked were 2019 and 2020 so that comparison before and
during the pandemic could be carried out. As a result, it was observed that the occupant loads that
were determined with the occupant load factors overestimated the occupant load in shopping malls
quite significantly. When the correspondence of occupant load factors was examined, it was
observed that the occupant load factors are determined much more specifically to specific building
use in other countries than in Finland. Therefore, occupant load factors that were determined in
the guidance document of Finnish National Building Code did not correspond very well with the
real occupant loads. Lastly the impact of Covid19 pandemic to the evacuation was studied. Firstly,
it was noted that even though the occupant loads in shopping malls decreased a lot when the
pandemic began, they recovered in a couple months close to the levels before the pandemic. It was
also observed that if the occupants are physical distancing during the evacuation, it will increase
the evacuation time specially if they get stuck in the queues on their way out of the building. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rantamäki, Timo LU
supervisor
organization
course
VBRM05 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Occupant load, Occupant load factor, Finland
publication/series
LUTVDG/TVBB
report number
5667
other publication id
LUTVDG/TVBB-5667-SE
language
English
id
9083929
date added to LUP
2022-06-07 09:46:01
date last changed
2022-06-07 09:46:01
@misc{9083929,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this thesis was to study the correspondence of occupant load factors determined by 
the guidance document of Finnish National Building code and the real occupant loads measured 
from shopping malls. The correspondence of occupant load factors determined according to
Finnish National Building Code were compared with the occupant load factors determined in other 
national and international building codes. In addition, the impact of Covid19 pandemic to the 
evacuation was studied. The data was collected from shopping malls that were located around 
Finland. The years where the data was asked were 2019 and 2020 so that comparison before and 
during the pandemic could be carried out. As a result, it was observed that the occupant loads that 
were determined with the occupant load factors overestimated the occupant load in shopping malls 
quite significantly. When the correspondence of occupant load factors was examined, it was 
observed that the occupant load factors are determined much more specifically to specific building 
use in other countries than in Finland. Therefore, occupant load factors that were determined in 
the guidance document of Finnish National Building Code did not correspond very well with the 
real occupant loads. Lastly the impact of Covid19 pandemic to the evacuation was studied. Firstly,
it was noted that even though the occupant loads in shopping malls decreased a lot when the 
pandemic began, they recovered in a couple months close to the levels before the pandemic. It was 
also observed that if the occupants are physical distancing during the evacuation, it will increase 
the evacuation time specially if they get stuck in the queues on their way out of the building.}},
  author       = {{Rantamäki, Timo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{LUTVDG/TVBB}},
  title        = {{PRESCRIPTIVE AND ACTUAL OCCUPANT LOAD OF BUSINESS PREMISES IN FINLAND BEFORE AND DURING COVID19}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}