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An Experimental Data-Set on Pre-school Children Evacuation

Ronchi, Enrico LU orcid and Najmanová, Hana LU (2017) In Fire Technology 53(4). p.1509-1533
Abstract
This study presents an experimental data-set describing movement and behaviours of pre-school children. Data is presented together with detailed information about the evacuation procedure and the data collection methods, in order to enable a comprehensive interpretation of the results and to enhance the understanding of pre-school children evacuation. Data was collected during two semi-announced evacuation drills conducted in the same pre-school institution in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2013. The experiments involved a total of 188 children aged from 3 to 6 years; two age groups of children are distinguished: Junior children (aged 3–4 years) and Senior children (aged 5–6 years). The presented data-set consists of travel speeds on... (More)
This study presents an experimental data-set describing movement and behaviours of pre-school children. Data is presented together with detailed information about the evacuation procedure and the data collection methods, in order to enable a comprehensive interpretation of the results and to enhance the understanding of pre-school children evacuation. Data was collected during two semi-announced evacuation drills conducted in the same pre-school institution in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2013. The experiments involved a total of 188 children aged from 3 to 6 years; two age groups of children are distinguished: Junior children (aged 3–4 years) and Senior children (aged 5–6 years). The presented data-set consists of travel speeds on horizontal and vertical escape routes (stairs), pre-evacuation times, and total evacuation times. The travel speeds of Junior children on a horizontal plane ranged from 0.69 m/s to 1.33 m/s. Higher speeds of Junior children were observed on an internal straight staircase (mean 0.57 m/s) than on an external straight staircase (mean 0.34 m/s). For Senior children, a mean travel speed equal to 0.56 m/s was found on external spiral staircases. Good agreement is observed between the observed travel speeds and the results reported in the literature. This corroborates that the main variables impacting the movement and the self-rescue abilities of children are age and the configuration of the escape route. The observed pre-evacuation times were longer in classrooms with Junior children (mean value 46 s) than in classrooms with Senior children (mean value 20 s). The total evacuation times ranged from 81 s to 186 s, depending on the location of the classroom and the evacuation route. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Fire safety, Evacuation, Children, Pre-school, Drill, Data-set
in
Fire Technology
volume
53
issue
4
pages
1509 - 1533
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85009495990
  • wos:000404163400002
ISSN
0015-2684
DOI
10.1007/s10694-016-0643-x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
aec9cfcd-890a-466e-8c13-cfcfa066f63b
date added to LUP
2017-01-26 13:01:59
date last changed
2022-04-09 02:32:31
@article{aec9cfcd-890a-466e-8c13-cfcfa066f63b,
  abstract     = {{This study presents an experimental data-set describing movement and behaviours of pre-school children. Data is presented together with detailed information about the evacuation procedure and the data collection methods, in order to enable a comprehensive interpretation of the results and to enhance the understanding of pre-school children evacuation. Data was collected during two semi-announced evacuation drills conducted in the same pre-school institution in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2013. The experiments involved a total of 188 children aged from 3 to 6 years; two age groups of children are distinguished: Junior children (aged 3–4 years) and Senior children (aged 5–6 years). The presented data-set consists of travel speeds on horizontal and vertical escape routes (stairs), pre-evacuation times, and total evacuation times. The travel speeds of Junior children on a horizontal plane ranged from 0.69 m/s to 1.33 m/s. Higher speeds of Junior children were observed on an internal straight staircase (mean 0.57 m/s) than on an external straight staircase (mean 0.34 m/s). For Senior children, a mean travel speed equal to 0.56 m/s was found on external spiral staircases. Good agreement is observed between the observed travel speeds and the results reported in the literature. This corroborates that the main variables impacting the movement and the self-rescue abilities of children are age and the configuration of the escape route. The observed pre-evacuation times were longer in classrooms with Junior children (mean value 46 s) than in classrooms with Senior children (mean value 20 s). The total evacuation times ranged from 81 s to 186 s, depending on the location of the classroom and the evacuation route.}},
  author       = {{Ronchi, Enrico and Najmanová, Hana}},
  issn         = {{0015-2684}},
  keywords     = {{Fire safety; Evacuation; Children; Pre-school; Drill; Data-set}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1509--1533}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Fire Technology}},
  title        = {{An Experimental Data-Set on Pre-school Children Evacuation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10694-016-0643-x}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10694-016-0643-x}},
  volume       = {{53}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}