The Effect of Pre-movement Time and Occupant Density on Evacuation Time

The effect of occupant pre-movement time and occupant density on evacuation time is presented in this article. Two hypothetical scenarios, a simple room and a multi-compartment building, are presented as building environment. The occupant pre-movement time, an important component of the evacuation time in buildings, follows probability distribution. It is characterized by normal distribution to study its effect on evacuation time for different occupant densities. Moreover, when pre-movement time is characterized by explicit values, the effect of pre-movement time on evacuation time is also studied. Probability distribution of the total evacuation time is also studied under different pre-movement times characterized by normal distributions. Based on congestion and queue analysis, some phenomena of simulation results are interpreted theoretically.