Assessment on Fire Safety Condition and Modeling on Fire Performance and Escape Route Based on PyroSIM and Pathfinder:A study on IUT Academic Building

Abstract

In recent times fire incidents are one of the major hazards in our country which was happening because of some lacking of awareness on fire safety management, reluctant behavior in building safety codes or guidelines, and inadequate fire extinguishers. Recently back-to-back fire-related accidents also give us a wave of awareness for the safety of our future generations, respective teachers, and staffs who may spend their half of time in educational institutions. So, the safety of educational institutions is essential to each and every one for awarding them and able to make suitable decisions in case of emergencies. The overall purpose of our study was to assess the fire safety of the academic buildings, namely the First Academic Building and the Second Academic Building of IUT. We took our campus as a test subject. The data collection was minimal but sufficient to run the program and get the desired outcome from it. For this we have done firstly, to operate a fire propagation program which will help the research to predict the occupant behavior during a fire. And secondly, to propose a new fire evacuation plan with an improved, efficient, and technologically much more advanced system according to guidelines. For this purpose, simulations using PyroSIM and Pathfinder software. With PyroSIM the conditions of heat and smoke caused by a hypothetical fire source were simulated. With Pathfinder the evacuation scenarios were simulated. The buildings were compared with local guidelines. Some key findings were derived from these endeavors. For the room where the fire source was located, the heat and smoke are less when the windows are open and the room is bigger. With regards to local guidelines, the times of evacuation are acceptable, however, there are significant shortcomings such as lack of markings for emergency pathways, lack of fire alarms, fire exits, etc. For each simulation in Pathfinder, we have got the results for both male and female occupants with their evacuation time and traveled distance to reach the one exit and in the same time simulating PyroSIM it will show the exact time it will take to spread the fire and smoke all over the room and that can give an approximate time to design an efficient fire escape route. Besides this, there is an improved and efficient fire evacuation proposal, and the findings of major deficiencies for fire safety of our study area are also mentioned. This project there conducted a comparison study between the proposed civil structure dimensions with the already available local guidelines and a management plan for the future also