| Title |
Schematic Development of ‘Refuge Floors’ and ‘Areas of Refuge’ for High-Rise Buildings |
| Authors |
Choi Jae-Pil ; Kang Bum-Joon ; Park Young-Sup ; Lee Yun-Jae |
| Keywords |
High-rise Building ; Refuge Floor ; Areas of Refuge ; Fire Protection Planning ; Simulation ; Regulation Improvement |
| Abstract |
Fire safety in high-rise buildings has become the most significant problem among the related issues, many of which focus on the development of ‘refuge floors' or ‘refuge areas'. The objective of this study is to discuss the fire codes in other countries and the applications of a designated refuge floor or refuge area in them, and to develop the concept of them in finding a way to ensure the safety performance. The current domestic code prescribes the ‘refuge floor' only as a story having exits??directly linked to the ground floor. Whereas the building codes for fire protection in some countries require the provision of refuge floors/areas as a requisite part of the exit system, the definition of a ‘refuge floor' in domestic codes is only limited to the ground floor. In this concern, it is intended in this study to discuss the schematic development of ‘refuge floors', and to analyse the effectiveness of the application of it through the evacuation simulation using SIMULEX. The simulation results are as follows : the evacuation time can be evidently reduced if refuge floors are provided in the intermediate floors, and in terms of the accumulative empty time through the whole evacuation process, the time efficiency can be much improved in case refuge floors are provided, which means the more people can escape in the relatively earlier stage of emergency. The estimated required refuge area takes up less than one household unit in our simulation case study. |