podręcznik przykładów pathfinder eng

7/25/2019 Podrcznik Przykadw Pathfinder ENG

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1006 Poyntz Ave.

Manhattan, KS 66502-5459

785-770-8511

www.thunderheadeng.com

The RJA Group, Inc.

One Pointe Drive, Suite 210

Brea, CA 92821-6315

Example Guide

Pathfinder 2009


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iv

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1

SFPE and Steering Modes .......................... ....................................................... ....... 1

2. Room with Hallway ..................................... ........................................................ ........ 2

Create Geometry ................................... ....................................................... ............ 2

Add Exit Door ..... ................................................................. .................................. 3

Add Occupants ....................................................................... ................................. 3

Run SFPE Simulation ................................... ........................................................... 4

Run the Simulation Using Steering .................... ....................................................... 5

3. Stairwell Example ........................................................ ................................................ 7

Create Floor Geometry ............................................................ ................................ 7

Add Stairwells ......................................................................................................... 8

Add Doors ............................................................................................................. 10

Add Occupants .............................................................................. ........................ 11

Run the Simulation ....................................................................... ......................... 12

Run SFPESimulation ................................................................ ............................ 13

4. Sketching on Background Image Example ................................ ................................... 15Import Background Image ...................................................................................... 15

Sketch the Rooms .................................................................................................. 16

Add Doors ............................................................................................................. 20

Add Occupants .............................................................................. ........................ 21

Run Steering Simulation .................................................. ...................................... 22

5. Extracting Rooms from a 2D DXF ...................................................... ....................... 24

Import DXF File .................................................................................................... 24

Prepare the DXF Data for Room Extraction ............................................................ 24

Extract the Rooms ............................................................ ..................................... 26

Add Doors ............................................................................................................. 27

Add Occupants ................................................................. ..................................... 29

Run the Simulation ....................................................................... ......................... 29

SimulationResults ....................... .......................................................................... 29

6. Working with Imported 3D Data (PyroSim, FDS, and 3D DXF) ................................... 31

Import FDS File ............................................................................ ........................ 31

Configure the Floors .......................................................... .................................... 31

Extract the Rooms ..................................................................... ............................ 32

Add Doors ............................................................................................................. 33

Add Stairs ............................................................................................................. 35

7. SFPE Example 1 ..................................................................................... .................. 37

Create Geometry .................................................................................................... 37

Add Occupants .............................................................................. ........................ 40

Select SFPE Mode ................................................................................................. 41Run Simulation ...................................................................................................... 42

View Results ....................................................................................... .................. 42

Compare Results to SFPE Calculation .................................................... ................ 43

Re-Run the SFPE Mode Simulation with Equal Door Loads ..................................... 45

Run Using Steering Movement Mode ................................................... .................. 46

Adding Collision Avoidance to the SFPE Mode ................................................. ..... 47

8. SFPE Example 2 ............................................................................ ........................... 49


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Create Problem Geometry .............................................................. ........................ 50

Select Behaviors .................................. ........................................................ .......... 55

Run Simulation ..................... ........................................................ ......................... 56

View Results ................................................................................................ ......... 56

Compare Results to SFPE Calculation .................................................................... 57

Re-Run the Simulation Using Collision Avoidance .................................................. 59

Re-Run the Simulation Using SteeringBehavior ...................................................... 59

9. IMO Test 1, Maintaining set walking speed in corridor................................................ 61

Create Problem Geometry in Pathfinder ................................................................. 61

Add a Door ........................................................................................................... 61

Add an Occupant ................................................................................................... 62

Select Simulation Parameters .................................................................................. 62

Run Simulation ...................................................................................................... 63

View Results ........................................................................... .............................. 63

Summary Data .................................................................................... ................. 64

10. IMO Test 6, Rounding Corners ................................................................................. 65

Create problem geometry in PathFinder ................................................. ................. 65

Add an Exit Door ...................................................................... ............................ 67Add the Occupants ................................................................................................ 67

SFPE Simulation ................................................ .................................................... 68

View SFPE Results ................................................................................................ 69

Compare SFPE Calculation with Expected Result .................................................... 69

Steering Simulation .. .............................................................................................. 70

View Steering Results ..................... ....................................................................... 70

Compare Steering Calculation with Expected Result ................................................ 72

Summary of Calculated Exit Times ........................................................................ 72

11. Counterflow in Two Rooms Connected via a Corridor .... ............................................ 73

Create Problem Geometry in Pathfinder .................................................................. 73

Add Doors to the Corridor and Exits ...................................................................... 74

Add Occupants ............................................................................. ......................... 75Select Simulation Parameters .................................................................................. 76

Run SFPE Simulation ......................................................................... ................... 76

Run SFPE Simulation with Counterflow ................................................................. 77

Run Steering Simulation with Counterflow ............................ .................................. 78

12. IMO Test 9, Room with Four Exits ........................................................................... 80

Create Problem Geometry in Pathfinder ....................................................... ........... 80

Add Exit Doors ............................................................................... ...................... 81

Add the Occupants ................................................................................................ 82

Select Simulation Parameters .................................................................................. 82

Run SFPE Simulation ................................................................ ............................ 83

Run SFPE Simulation with Collision Avoidance ................... ................................... 84Run Steering Simulation ............................................................ ............................ 85

Add Additional Doors ..................... ....................................................................... 86

Run SFPE Analysis with Four Exits and Collision Behavior ...... ..... ...... ..... ...... ...... ... 86

13. IMO Test 10, Exit Route Allocation .......................................................................... 88

Create Geometry .................................................................................................... 88

Add Occupants and Assign to Exits ........................................................................ 91

Run SFPE Simulation ............................................. ............................................... 91

Run Steering Simulation .................................................. ...................................... 92


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14. IMO Test 11, Staircase ............................................................. ................................ 93

Create Geometry .................................... ........................................................ ........ 93

Create Stairs .................................................................... ...................................... 93

Create Population .................................... ........................................................ ....... 94

Run SFPE Simulation and View Results ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... 95

Run SFPE Simulation with Collision Handling ........................................................ 96

Run Simulation using Steering Mode ...................................................................... 97

References ................................................... ........................................................ ......... 98


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List of Figures

2.1. Model dimensions ............................................................ ......................................... 2

2.2. Room with a hallway ............................................ .................................................... 3

2.3. Completed geometry ..................................................................... ............................ 3

2.4. Placing the occupants in the room ............................................................................. 4

2.5. The results for SFPE mode ........................................................................................ 5

2.6. The results for SFPE mode ........................ ................................................................ 6

3.1. Geometry of Ground Floor ........................................................................................ 7

3.2. Basic Geometry of All Floors .................................................................................... 8

3.3. Adding the stairs in the top view ............................................................................... 9

3.4. First Flight of Stairs .................................................................................................. 9

3.5. Completed Flight of Stairs ....................................................................................... 10

3.6. Doors added to the model .......................................... .............................................. 11

3.7. Completed Model ............................................... ..................................................... 12

3.8. simulation results for Steering mode ........................................................................ 13

3.9. The results for SFPE mode ..................................................... ................................. 14

4.1. Image of the office geometry ................................................................................... 154.2. Define the Anchor Point on the background image .................................................... 16

4.3. Define points A and B ............................................................................................ 16

4.4. Sketch of first office .......................................... ..................................................... 17

4.5. Sketch of second office ....................................................................... .................... 18

4.6. Preparing to copy second office .................................................................. ............. 18

4.7. After making copies of the second office .................................................................. 19

4.8. After making copies of the second office .................................................................. 19

4.9. Merging separate sketches to make one room..................................................... ...... 20

4.10. After all rooms have been defined. Note that some offices are separated by doors,

so those rooms are not connected to the main walking space. ...... ..... ...... ..... ...... ...... ..... .... 20

4.11. Adding a door to the model ................................................................................... 21

4.12. Adding a door to the model ................................................................................... 21

4.13. Adding individual occupants to the model ........ ..... ...... ........................................... 22

4.14. Adding occupants by room ................................................................................. ... 22

4.15. The resultsduring evacuation. They dodress nice at Fog Creek, don't they. ...... ..... .... 23

5.1. DXF of theThunderhead Engineering office ............................................................. 24

5.2. An imported 2D DXF with too much information ..................................................... 25

5.3. Trimmed 2D DXF Data ........................................ ................................................... 25

5.4. Rooms extracted from a 2D DXF ............................................................................. 26

5.5. Disconnecting the outer gap from a room-extracted 2D DXF ..................................... 27

5.6. Extracted office with the outer gap removed ............................................................. 27

5.7. A 2D DXF with extracted rooms and internal doors .................................................. 28

5.8. The final model for 2D DXF room extraction .................................................... ....... 295.9. 3D Simulation Results ............................................................................................. 30

6.1. thouse4.data FDS file ....................................................................... ....................... 31

6.2. Rooms extracted from an FDS File ................................................................... ....... 33

6.3. Separating a room from another ............................................................................... 34

6.4. The top floor of thouse4 with doors ................................................................. ........ 34

6.5. The bottomfloor of the town house with anexit door ................................................ 35

6.6. The bottomedge of the stairway .............................................................................. 36


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6.7. Completed townhouse model. .................................................... .............................. 36

7.1. Sketch of the model .............................................................................................. .. 37

7.2. Drawing the room ........................................................................................ ........... 38

7.3. Drawing the landing ............. ........................................................ ........................... 39

7.4. Adding the stairs ...................... ....................................................... ........................ 40

7.5. Adding the exit door ......... .................................................................................... .. 40

7.6. Completed model with occupants after rotation ............................................... .......... 41

7.7. Simulation summary data given on the run dialog (saved in summary.txt) ..... ...... ...... .. 42

7.8. Animated display of movement ................................................................................ 43

7.9. SFPE Example 1 Solution .................................................................... ................... 44

7.10. SFPE Example 1 Simulation .................................................................................. 45

7.11. Solution for symmetric model ................................................................................ 46

7.12. Occupant motion using steering movement ............................................... .............. 47

7.13. Occupant motion using SFPE movement with collision avoidance ............................ 48

8.1. Sketch of the model .................... .......................................................................... .. 49

8.2. The PathFinder model ...... .......................................................................... ............. 50

8.3. The floors in the model .............................................................................. ............. 51

8.4. The floors and landings in the model ....................................................................... 528.5. Imported FDS File ......................................................................................... ......... 53

8.6. Extracted Floors with FDS Geometry hidden ............................................................ 53

8.7. The right exit door on the bottom floor ............................................................ ........ 54

8.8. PathFinder model .................. .......................................................................... ........ 55

8.9. Display of results for SFPE mode. Note that occupants can overlap in space. ..... ...... .... 56

8.10. Display offloor occupancy results for SFPE mode. ................................................ . 57

8.11. SFPE Example 2 Solution ................................ ...................................................... 58

8.12. Display ofmovement for Steering mode ................................................................. 60

8.13. Display offloor occupancy results for Steering mode. ............................................. 60

9.1. The Top View in Pathfinder, showing the room ........................................................ 61

9.2. The 1 m exit door placed in the right side of the corridor . .......................................... 62

9.3. An occupant positioned at the left end of the corridor ................................................ 629.4. The 3D results view ................................... ............................................................. 63

10.1. PyroSim model of the corridor ............................................................ ................... 65

10.2. The first part of the corridor ............................................................. ..................... 66

10.3. The second part of the corridor .............................................................................. 66

10.4. The exit door ........................................................................................................ 67

10.5. The occupants in the corridor ................................................................................. 68

10.6. Using animation to display the results .................................................................... 69

10.7. View of steering results .......................................................................... ............... 71

10.8. View of results as people ....................................................................................... 71

11.1. The connected room geometry .......................................................... ..................... 73

11.2. The two rooms connected by a corridor .................................................................. 7411.3. After drawing the doors ................................. ........................................................ 75

11.4. Placing the occupants in the room .......................................................................... 76

11.5. The results when using people .................................................................... ........... 77

11.6. Room 2 occupants ................................................................................................. 78

12.1. The room with exit doors ................................................................................... ... 80

12.2. Drawing the room ................................................... .............................................. 81

12.3. After drawing the doors ................................. ........................................................ 81

12.4. Placing the occupants in the room .......................................................................... 82


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12.5. The results for SFPE mode with 2 exit doors ..... ...... ..... ...... ...... ..... ...... ..... ...... ...... .. 84

12.6. The results for SFPE behavior with 2 exit doors ...................................................... 85

12.7. The results for steering behavior with 2 exit doors ................................................... 86

12.8. The results for steering behavior with 2 exit doors ................................................... 87

13.1. The room with exit doors ................................................................. ..................... 88

13.2. First Six Cabins ................................................. ................................................... 88

13.3. Cabins with Hallway Added ....................................................... ........................... 89


13.5. All Cabins Placed ............ ........................................................ .............................. 90


13.7. Cabin Geometry Completed ....................................... ............................................ 91

13.8. Changing the exits for the occupants ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ...... ...... .... 91

13.9. The results for steering behavior ..... ...... ..... ...... ...... ..... ...... ..... ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ..... 92

14.1. Room with corridor and stairs ................................................................................ 93

14.2. Floor Geometry ............................................................... ...................................... 94

14.3. Placing Stair ............................................................................................... .......... 94

14.4. Defining Profile ..................................... ....................................................... ........ 95

14.5. Occupants placed in room ....... ........................................................ ....................... 9514.6. Results for SFPE simulation ....................................................................... ........... 96

14.7. Results for SFPE simulation with collision handling ..... ...... ..... ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ..... 96

14.8. Results for SFPE simulation with collision handling ..... ...... ..... ..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ..... 97


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List of Tables

10.1. Summary of IMO 6 Exit Times ............................................................................. 72


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1

Chapter 1. Introduction

The examples in this manual demonstrate many of the features of Pathfinder. It is composed

of two sections. The first half of the manual contains simple example problems to help users

become familiar with Pathfinder's user interface. The second half of the manual - starting with

the first SFPE example problem - contains verification and validation problems. Results from

the second group of problems can be can be used to evaluate the different simulation modes and

compare them to external data.

SFPE and Steering Modes

This section presents a brief description of the different simulation modes available in Pathfinder.

More in-depth information can be found in the Pathfinder Technical Reference. All occupants

in Pathfinder use individual (or agent-based) descision making algorithms. The specific decision

making strategy an occupant uses is determined by the simulation mode. These modes are deter-

mined by the selection of simulation parameters. The primary modes are:

1. In SFPE Mode, the occupants follow rules described in SFPE Engineering Guide - HumanBehavior in Fire([SFPE, 2003]): the speed of the occupants is a function of room density,

occupants can occupy the same space, and flow rates through the doors are based on SFPE

guidelines. This mode provides a base case result that corresponds to a recognized solution.

This analysis option is computationally fast.

2. In SFPE Mode with Collision Avoidance, the occupants follow SFPE rules with the addition

that they avoid colliding with other occupants. This is a hybrid mode that can be susceptible

to more simulation artifacts (e.g. occupants cornering poorly) than the other modes. In SFPE

analyses, adding collision avoidance should not greatly change predicted exit times, but does

make it easier to visually identify congestion and queues. The collision options requires more

computation than pure SFPE mode.

3. In Steering Mode, the occupants are not externally constrained by door queues or room den-

sity. Instead, the occupants move toward their goals, while avoiding walls and other occu-

pants. This mode usually produces the most visually realistic results. This is the most com-

putationally intense simulation mode.


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Chapter 2. Room with Hallway

This example has 16 occupants in a room with two doors run in both SFPE mode and steering

mode.

Figure 2.1. Model dimensions

Create Geometry

To create the geometry:

1. On the Viewmenu, click Unitsand select SI.

2. On the Viewmenu, click Edit Snap Grid.... In the Snap grid spacingbox, type 1.0 m.

Click OKto close the dialog.

3. In the view toolbar, click Top View( ).

4. In the left toolbar, click Add a Rectangular Room( ). Click and drag to draw the room

from point (0,0) to (5,5).

5. In the left toolbar, click Add a Rectangular Room. Click and drag to draw the room from

point (5,2) to (7,3).

6. To merge the room and hallway, hold the CTRLkey and use the selection tool ( ) to select

the two rooms. Next, right-click anywhere on the selected rooms and from the pop-up menu

choose Merge. The room and the hallway are now considered one merged room.


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Figure 2.2. Room with a hallway

Add Exit Door

To add the exit door:

1. In the left toolbar, click Add a new Door( ).

2. To add the exit door, click and drag from point (7,2) to (7,3). In the Namebox, type Exit.

Figure 2.3. Completed geometry

Add Occupants

To add 16 randomly distributed occupants to the room:

1. Click to add occupants to a rectangular space.

2. In the Countbox, enter 16.


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3. Click and drag from (0, 0) to (5, 5) to define the space into which the occupants will be added,

Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4. Placing the occupants in the room

Run SFPE Simulation

Select Simulation Parameters

Pathfinder provides the options for different simulation modes. The most basic is consistent with

the SFPE assumptions. To select the SFPE mode:

1. On the Simulationmenu, click Simulation Parameters....

2. Click on the Behaviortab.

3. In the Behavior Modelist, select SFPE.

4. Click OK.

Run Simulation

1. On the Simulationmenu, click Run Simulation.... This will open a Save Filedialog.

2. Save your document as example1_sfpe.

Summary Report

A summary report is provided in the analysis dialog. It provides "FIRST IN" and "LAST

OUT" times for each room and door. The "TOTAL USE" gives the maximum number of

occupants either in a room or in the door queue. This information will be saved in the

example1_summary.txtfile.

View 3D Results

The 3D results viewer will be opened at the end of an analysis.


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1. Click the Playbutton. This will display the occupants as disks with their direction indicated

by a line.

2. At any time click the Pauseor Stopbutton. You can drag the time line to control the animation.

Figure 2.5. The results for SFPE mode

Run the Simulation Using Steering

We will now perform the analysis using steering, where each occupant selects their path and

avoids collisions with each other and barriers. To use steering:

1. On the Simulationmenu, click Simulation Parameters...


3. In the Behavior Modelist, select Steering.

4. Click OK.

Run Simulation

1. On the Filemenu, click Save As. Save the model with the name example1_steering.

Click Save.

2. On the Simulationmenu, click Run Simulation....

View 3D Results



by a line.

2. To change to a more realistic display, on the Agentsmenu, click Show as People. This will

display the occupants as people, Figure 2.6..


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Chapter 3. Stairwell Example

This example represents an outer section of a dormitory wing with 30 persons randomly dis-

tributed inside. The persons will move through their respective halls and down a stairway to exit

the model.

Create Floor Geometry

We will begin by creating the ground floor:

1. In the toolbar, click SIto select metric units.

2. On the Viewmenu, click Edit Snap Grid.... In the Snap grid spacingbox, type 1.0 m.

Click OKto close the dialog.


4. In the left toolbar, double-click Add a Rectangular Room( ). Note: Using a double-click

makes the tool "sticky", that is, it remains selected so that we can add multiple rooms without

selecting the tool every time. This is indicated by the small green dot on the tool. To unselect

the tool, select another tool or press ESC.

5. Press the left mouse button and drag to create a rectangular room from (4, 0) to (18, 8).

6. Create four additional rooms from (4,0) to (11, 3), (11, 0) to (18, 3), (6, 5) to (12, 8), and

(12, 5) to (18, 8). Note: When we draw new rooms on top of an existing room, the new room

is "cut out" from the existing room. By first drawing the base room and then drawing new

rooms, we have automatically created a connected hallway.

7. Create the base of the stairwell by drawing a rectangular room from (2, 6) to (4, 8).

Figure 3.1. Geometry of Ground Floor

To quickly make the second and third floors, we will copy the ground floor. For convenience

and to help organize our model, we first create two new floors. To create the new floors:


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1. In the Floorbox (located above the treeview), click .

2. Type 4 mfor the height of the new floor, then click OK.

3. In the tree view, click to select Floor 0.0 m.

4. In the tools toolbar, click the Move Objects( ) tool. Select Copy Mode. In the Copiesbox,type 1. In the Move Zbox, type 4.0. Click Copy/Move.

5. While the newly created rooms are selected, right-click and select Change Group in the

context menu. Select Floor 4.0 m.

6. The second and third floors have larger landings than the first floor. Select the landing of the

second floor. With the Select/Edit Objectstool, click and drag the top left handle (blue dot

on the room) to (0,8) and the bottom left handle to (0,6).

Repeat the above steps for a floor at 8.0 m. If you copy the floor at 4.0 m, it is not necessary to

modify the landing. If you changed the active floor when creating a new floor, some geometry

may be hidden. To show the entire model again, click the Floorpulldown menu located above

the Tree View and select . The model should look like the figure below.

Figure 3.2. Basic Geometry of All Floors

Add Stairwells

Pathfinder provides two different ways of creating stairs. The two-point stair tool places stairsin between two already defined floors.

To add the first flight of stairs using the two-point stair tool

1. Create a new floor at 2 m. In the New Floordialog box, check Set as active floor. This hides

all other floors and causes newly created geometry to be added to the new floor.

2. Create a rectangular landing from (0, 0) to (4, 2).


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3. Show the floor at 0 m.

4. Select to use the two-point stair tool.

5. Click-drag across the edge of the landing on the bottom floor, then click any point along the

edge of the upper landing to place the first stair, Figure 3.3

6. Show the floor at 4 m.

7. Using the two-point stair tool, click-drag across the remaining portion of the stair landing at

2 m and click the landing edge at 4 m to complete the first flight of stairs.

Figure 3.3. Adding the stairs in the top view

Figure 3.4. First Flight of Stairs

Repeat to add the second flight of stairs using a landing at 6.0 m. When creating the stairs, it is

useful to hide floors that you do not want to select.


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Figure 3.5. Completed Flight of Stairs

Add Doors

With the geometry finished, doors can be added. This can be done in the 3D view, but it may

be easier to use the top view and hide other floors for ease of use and precision. To work in any

specific floor, right-click it in the tree view and select Set as Active Flooror select the floor

from the drop-down menu above the tree view.

To add doors to the first floor:

1. On the Viewmenu, click Edit Snap Grid..., type 0.5 m, then click OK.

2. Right-click on Floor 0.0 mand select Set as Active Floor.

3. Click the door tool ( ) to select it.

4. Add a door from the hallway to the stairwell. Click and drag from (4, 6.5) to (4, 7.5).

5. Create 1 m doors for each room. Click and drag from (9.5, 3.0) to (10.5, 3.0), (11.5, 3.0) to

(12.5, 3.0), (10.5, 5.0) to (11.5, 5.0), and (12.5, 5.0) to (13.5, 5.0).

Repeat for Floor 4.0 mand Floor 8.0 m.

Create an exit door on the ground floor from (4, 8) to (6, 8).


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Figure 3.6. Doors added to the model

Add Occupants

We now add occupants to each floor.

1. Right-click on Floor 0.0 mand select Set as Active Floor.

2. Hold the CTRLkey and click on each of the four rooms on the floor to select them.

3. On the Modelmenu, click Add Occupants.

4. In the By Numberbox, type 20, then click OK

5. In the same manner, add 50 occupants to the second floor and 30 occupants to the third floor.

To show the completed model:

1. On the Viewtoolbar, click Perspective View.

2. On the Viewmenu, under Agents, click Show as People.


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Figure 3.7. Completed Model

Run the Simulation

Run Simulation

1. On the Filemenu, click Save As. Create a new folder to store the results and save the model

with the name example3_steering.


View 3D Results

The 3D results viewer will open automatically at the end of an analysis.


by a line.

2. On the Agentsmenu, click Show as People. This will display the occupants as people, Fig-

ure 3.8.


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Figure 3.8. simulation results for Steering mode

Run SFPE Simulation


Pathfinder provides the options for different simulation modes. The SFPE mode is consistent

with the SFPE assumptions. To select the SFPE mode:



3. In the Behavior Modelist, select SFPE.

4. Click OK.

Run Simulation

1. On the Filemenu, click Save As. Save the model with the name example3_sfpe. Click

Save.

2. On the Simulationmenu, click Run Simulation.... This will open a Save Filedialog.

Summary Report

A summary report is provided in the analysis dialog. It provides "FIRST IN" and "LAST

OUT" times for each room and door. The "TOTAL USE" gives the maximum number of

occupants either in a room or in the door queue. This information will be saved in the

example1_sfpe_summary.txtfile.

View 3D Results

The 3D results viewer will open automatically at the end of the analysis.


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Chapter 4. Sketching on Background Image Example

This example demonstrates how to import a file as a background image and then create the

model by sketching. The image used is the office space of Fog Creek (we use their Fog-

Bugz software to track our bug reports) and is displayed at http://www.joelonsoftware.com/

items/2009/01/15.html. Right-click to download and save the image file, named 15floorplan.png.

Figure 4.1. Image of the office geometry

Import Background ImageWe will begin by importing the background image for sketching:

1. In the toolbar, click ENto select english units.

2. On the Viewmenu, uncheck Show Snap Grid. This will allow us to sketch in the 2D view

without snapping to the grid.

3. On the Modelmenu, click Add a Background Image.... Open the 15floorplan.pngfile. This

will display the Configure Background Imagedialog.

4. We first define the "Anchor Point" for the image. Type the coordinates as Model X:0.0 ft,Model Y:0.0 ft, and Model Z:0.0 ft. Click the Choose Anchor Pointbutton and click on

the mark in the lower left of the image, Figure 4.2.

5. We next define two points that will be used to scale the image geometry and to rotate the

image (if needed). Click the Choose Point Abutton and click on the cross mark in the upper

left of the image. Click the Choose Point Bbutton and click on the cross mark in the upper

right of the image. In the dist. A to Btextbox, type 166.0 ft, Figure 4.3.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/01/15.htmlhttp://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/01/15.html


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ground Image Example

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Figure 4.2. Define the Anchor Point on the background image

Figure 4.3. Define points A and B

Sketch the Rooms

We will now sketch the rooms on top of the background image. Remember that holding the

SPACEkey down temporarily disables snap-to. Also, after you define any room, you can selectthe room and then select any of the points that define the shape and drag the point to adjust the

shape.


2. In the Viewmenu, click Walkable Area Transparency.... In the dialog that opens, enter .75,

and click "OK". This will make all rooms, stairs, and doors 75% solid (25% transparent) so

that the underlying background image can still be seen.


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3. Zoom in on the top left of the background image and, in the left toolbar, click Add a Polygonal

Room( ). Click to define the periphery of the room. Use a right-click to draw the last line

that closes the polygon, Figure 4.4. How precise you want to be when defining the room

boundaries depends on you. In general, the results of the evacuation analysis are relatively

insensitive to exact precision of the room dimensions.

4. Repeat for the adjacent office, Figure 4.5.

5. We will now make copies of the second office, since the remaining offices are identical to

it. Select the second office, then,in the tools toolbar, click the Move Objects icon. Select

Copy Mode. In the Copiesbox, type 11. To define how far to move each copy, click on the

lower right corner of the polygon that describes the office and then click on the corresponding

point in the adjacent office, Figure 4.6. The second click will make the copies, Figure 4.7.

6. You will probably need to zoom in and adjust the exact positions of the offices. SelectNormal

Modeto move an office without making a copy. When completed, the model will look like, ,

Figure 4.8

Figure 4.4. Sketch of first office


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Figure 4.5. Sketch of second office

Figure 4.6. Preparing to copy second office


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Figure 4.7. After making copies of the second office

Figure 4.8. After making copies of the second office

1. Continue to sketch the rooms. Figure 4.9 shows sketches made that go around furniture. As

a second sketch is made next to an existing room, the cursor will snap to the existing room

coordinates. Hold the CNTRLkey and select both rooms, then right-click and select Merge.Continue this process to complete the sketch.

2. You can cut holes in an existing room by drawing a new polygonal room on the existing room

and deleting the polygon.

3. Continue the sketching process until you have made all the rooms for the office. Note that

we can leave the walls with a finite thickness separating the rooms. After some time, your

model will look like Figure 4.10


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Figure 4.9. Merging separate sketches to make one room

Figure 4.10. After all rooms have been defined. Note that some offices are separated by doors, so

those rooms are not connected to the main walking space.

Add Doors

Doors are added to the offices that are separate from the open walking space.


2. Double-click to select the door tool. By default the doors are 32 inches wide. The Max

Depthis the maximum thickness the tool will use to search for adjoining space. Depending

on how accurately your model is sketched, you might need to increase the value.

3. Zoom in to the upper left of the model and move the mouse to the location for the door and

the tool will snap to the adjoining spaces, Figure 4.11.


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4. Continue adding doors until the model looks like Figure 4.12.

Figure 4.11. Adding a door to the model

Figure 4.12. Adding a door to the model

Add Occupants

We will add 80 occupants, 50 placed in offices and open space and 20 and 10 placed in the two

conference rooms.

1. Double-click the Add an Occupanttool ( ). Click to position 50 occupants in offices or

open space, Figure 4.13.

2. To add occupants to the conference room, right-click on the left conference room and in the

Pop-Upmenu, click Add Occupants....


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3. For Placement, select Random. In the By Numberbox, type 20. Click OK to close the

dialog and add the occupants, Figure 4.14.

4. Repeat to add 10 occupants to the adjacent conference room.

Figure 4.13. Adding individual occupants to the model

Figure 4.14. Adding occupants by room

Run Steering Simulation


Pathfinder provides the option to use steeringbehavior, where each occupant selects their path

and avoids collisions with each other and barriers. To use steering:


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1. On the Simulationmenu, click Simulation Parameters...


3. In the Behavior Modelist, select Steering. Make sure both Collision Handlingand Inertia

are selected.

4. Click OK.

Run Simulation

1. On the Filemenu, click Save. Save the model with the namefog_creek.


View 3D Results



by a line.


3. To change to a more realistic display, on the Agentsmenu, click Show as People. This will

display the occupants as people, Figure 4.15..

Figure 4.15. The results during evacuation. They do dress nice at Fog Creek, don't they.


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Chapter 5. Extracting Rooms from a 2D DXF

This example demonstrates how to import a 2D DXF file and automatically extract rooms to

create a Pathfinder file. The DXF used is the floor plan for the Thunderhead Engineering office.

Figure 5.1. DXF of the Thunderhead Engineering office

This example uses the English unit system. To ensure the English unit system is enabled in

Pathfinder: on the main toolbar, click EN.

Import DXF File

First we will import the DXF file:

1. On the Filemenu, click Import...

2. From the file chooser dialog, selectC:\Program Files\Pathfinder 2009\exam-

ples\ThunderheadOffice_acad_2000.dxf, then click Open.

3. The DXF units dialog will open. Select in(inches) as the unit then click OK.

Prepare the DXF Data for Room ExtractionAs can be seen in Figure 5.2, there is quite a bit of extra information in the DXF that we do not

need, including several different layouts of the office, side views of the wall construction, door

symbols, etc. The only data we really need are the lines that form the boundaries of the rooms.

1. On the main toolbar, click to enable the Selection Tool. Delete everything but the bottom left

room configuration by drawing boxes around the geometry to delete then pressing DELETE

on the keyboard. The data remaining should look like that in Figure 5.1.


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2. On the Viewmenu, click Reset View to All Objects.

3. Press and hold the ALT key, then click the door symbol in the upper-right corner of the office,

then press DELETE. Holding ALT while selecting an object will cause the object's parent

group to be selected, which will in turn select the object and all the siblings of the object in

the hierarchy.

4. Now delete any other objects that do not contribute to obstructions or room boundaries or

that should not otherwise be present in the simulation, e.g. furniture. In this example, we will

delete the table on the right side of the office, the furniture in the conference room, and the

desk chairs. When finished, the DXF data should now appear as in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.2. An imported 2D DXF with too much information

Figure 5.3. Trimmed 2D DXF Data


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Extract the Rooms

Now that the DXF data has been trimmed to the desired set, we can extract the rooms. To extract

room information from the drawing:

1. From the Floor drop-down above the tree view, select the floor into which the resulting rooms

will be added. For this example, the floor is Floor 0.0 ft.

2. Double-click the 3D Extracttool ( ).

3. Single-click anywhere in the hallway. This will create a room that fills the hallway and ad-

jacent rooms.

4. Single-click anywhere in the conference room.

5. Press ESC to exit the extraction tool.

There should now be two rooms as shown in Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4. Rooms extracted from a 2D DXF

We now observe that the main room in the office spills outside of the office. To remove this

outer gap from the office, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Thin Wall Tool( ).

2. Click a point on the top edge of the doorway, then click another point on the bottom edge of the

doorway (Figure 5.5). The main office room should now be disconnected from the outer gap.

3. Click to select the outer "room", then press DELETE. The model should now look like that

in Figure 5.6.


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Figure 5.5. Disconnecting the outer gap from a room-extracted 2D DXF

Figure 5.6. Extracted office with the outer gap removed

Add Doors

We will now add doors that, in SFPE mode, control the flow of occupants and in both SFPE and

steering modes connect the separated rooms. First we will use the door tool to fill doorways that

are internal to the main office room.


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1. Double-click to select the door tool ( ) to indicate that this tool should remain active for

multiple doors.

2. The office has no doorways greater than 45 in wide and 6 in deep, so in the property panel,

enter 50 in for the Max Widthand 10 in for the Max Depth. It is good practice to set these

values slightly greater than expected to allow some tolerance.

3. Hover the cursor over the doorway for the northwest room of the office. A preview of a thick

door should appear in the doorway. Left-click once to place the door. This will automatically

substract that area from the main room, disconnect the northwest room, and create a thick door.

4. Do the same for the doorways to the southwest room, the two southern rooms, and to the closet

in the northeast corner. You should now have seven rooms and five thick doors as shown in

Figure 5.7.

5. Press ESC to exit the door tool and revert back to a navigation tool.

Figure 5.7. A 2D DXF with extracted rooms and internal doors

We will now attach the conference room to the main room with two more thick doors.

1. Because the conference room is detached from the main hallway, we will have to draw the

thick doors manually. We still want them to match the DXF, however, so expand the tree viewso that the "ThunderheadOffice_acad_2000.dxf" group is visible. Click on the group and in

the property panel check the box next to Visibleto show the DXF data.

2. Double-click the door tool ( ) to select it and make it sticky.

3. For each door on the angled walls, click and drag the cursor from the corner of the doorway

on one of the rooms to the opposite corner on the other room, using the DXF lines as a guide.

This will create two more thick doors connecting the two rooms.


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Finally, an exit door can be created on the office entrance. The resulting model should look like

that in Figure 5.8. The model is now ready to be filled with occupants and simulated.

Figure 5.8. The final model for 2D DXF room extraction

Add Occupants

With the geometry in place, it is now possible to add occupants and run the simulation. To add

occupants:

1. Double-click the Add an Occupanttool.

2. Click next to each desk, adding a total of 6 occupants.

Run the Simulation

To run the simulation:

1. On the Simulationmenu, click Run Simulation...

2. In the Savedialog, create a new folder to store the results, then save the current simulationin a file named thunderhead_office.pth

3. The simulation will begin when you click Save.

Simulation Results

A screenshot of the 3D results is shown in Figure 5.9. In this image, occupants are shown as

disks, with the original DXF image as a background image.


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Figure 5.9. 3D Simulation Results

Notice that occupants are able to move freely over some areas of the model that, in the original

DXF, were obstructed by furnature (e.g. the conference room sofa). This is because those ele-

ments were removed from the model and did not affect the movement mesh.

Also notice that, for some occupants, the shortest path to the exit takes them through the confer-

ence room. If you need to prevent occupants from taking short cuts through internal rooms, you

can eliminate the "upstream" doorway. In this case, eliminating the left conference room doorwould prevent additional occupants from entering the conference rooms.


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Chapter 6. Working with Imported 3D Data (PyroSim, FDS, and3D DXF)

This example demonstrates how to extract rooms from imported 3D data and work with multiple

floors. The 3D data will come from the FDS townhouse example, shown in Figure 6.1.

Figure 6.1. thouse4.data FDS file

This example uses the metric system. To work in the metric system, click SIon the main toolbar.

Import FDS File

First we will import the FDS file:

1. On the Filemenu, click Import....

2. In the file chooser dialog, select C:\Program Files\Pathfinder 2009\exam-

ples\thouse5.fds, then click Open.

The imported 3D data is placed in the Imported Geometrygroup, in the thouse5.fds

subgroup. The model should now appear as in Figure 6.1.

Configure the Floors

The imported geometry contains two levels. We will create floors in our model to match. The

bottom level is at Z=0, and our model already has a default floor at Z=0, so we do not need to

create one for the bottom level. We do, however, need to create a floor for the top level.


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1. In the Floorbox (above the tree view), click

2. In the New Floordialog, type 2.5 mor click anywhere on the floor of the top level in the

3D view.

3. Click OK.

4. Expand the Floorsnode in the tree view and right-click Floor 0.0 m. From the right-

click menu select Set as Active Floor. This will cause only the bottom floor geometry to be

visible.

5. With the bottom floor still selected in the tree view, type 2 mfor the Z Max Filterin the

property panel above the 3D view. Now the ceiling of the bottom floor will be hidden from

view.

Extract the Rooms

Now that the floors have been prepared, we can extract the rooms from the imported data.

1. Expand the Floorsgroup in the tree view and right-click Floor 0.0 m. From the right-

click menu select Set as Active Floor to only show the bottom floor. Subsequent rooms

created by Pathfinder will be placed in this floor group.

2. Click to select the 3D Extracttool ( ).

3. Click a point on the floor in the lower level. The point must be clear of any obstructions within

the maximum head height. A room will be created that contains the selected point with all

overhead obstructions subtracted.

4. In the Floorbox, click to select Floor 2.5 m.

5. Extract the rooms on the top floor as performed in step 4. This time, you will extract two

rooms - the master bedroom and the remaining portion of the upper floor - from the imported

geometry.

All the rooms can now be viewed by clicking the Floordrop-down and selecting .

To hide the imported geometry, on the Viewmenu, click to deselect Show Imported Geometry

( ). The model should now have three rooms, as shown in Figure 6.2.


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Figure 6.2. Rooms extracted from an FDS File

Add Doors

We will now add doors to the extracted rooms. There are three doorways on the top level and one

exit door on the bottom level. To create the doors on the top level perform the following steps:

1. Switch to the Top View( ).

2. Show the imported geometry in wireframe mode by clicking the Wireframebutton ( ).

3. Set the top floor to be active by right-clicking the floor in the tree view and selecting Set asActive Floor.

4. Click the Doortool ( ).

5. In the property panel for the door tool, set the Max Widthto "150 cm" and the Max Depth

to "25.4 cm".

6. Position the cursor over the doorway leading to the lower-left room. A preview of a thick

door should appear in the doorway. Click to place the door. This will automatically subtract

the shape of the door from the room, separate the lower-left area into its own room, and add

the thick door.

7. Click the Thin Walltool ( ). Separate the lower-left room from the hallway by clicking two

points on the boundary of the room where the lower-left room meets the hallway as shown

in Figure 6.3.

8. Now another door can be added between the lower-left room and the hallway by clicking the

door tool and dragging a line along the boundary where the hallway and the lower-left room

meet. This will create a thin door.


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9. Click the Doortool, and draw a thick door connecting the hallway to the upper room using

the imported geometry as a snapping guide.

Figure 6.3. Separating a room from another

With the imported geometry hidden, the top floor should now appear as in Figure 6.4.

Figure 6.4. The top floor of thouse4 with doors

Now we will add the exit door to the bottom floor. To add the exit door:


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1. In the Floorbox, click to select Floor 0.0 m.

2. Click the Doortool, and draw a thin exit door next to the kitchen as shown in Figure 6.5.

Figure 6.5. The bottom floor of the town house with an exit door

Add Stairs

To complete this model we will add the stairway to connect the bottom and top floors. To add

the stairs:

1. In the Floorbox, click to select .

2. Click to select the Two-point StairTool ( ).

3. Click and drag to draw a line across the bottom edge of the stair as shown in Figure 6.6.

4. Click a point on the top edge of the stair.


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Figure 6.6. The bottom edge of the stairway

The model is now complete with rooms, doors, and stairs and is ready to be filled with occupants.

The final model with imported geometry hidden should look like that in Figure 6.7.

Figure 6.7. Completed townhouse model.


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Chapter 7. SFPE Example 1

This example attempts to reproduce example 1 in the SFPE Engineering Guide - Human Be-

havior in Fire([SFPE, 2003]). We determine the total movement time for a room containing

300 people. The room has a travel distance of up to 200 feet to egress through two 32-inch doors

that lead to two enclosed 44-inch stairs (height and depth of tread of 7 inches and 11 inches,respectively) and down 50 feet of stairs to a wide discharge at grade, Figure 7.1.

Figure 7.1. Sketch of the model

Create Geometry

To select English measurements:

1. On the Viewmenu, click Unitsand select ENto display measurements using the English

system.

To specify snap grid spacing:

1. On the Viewmenu, click Edit Snap Grid....

2. In the Specify snap grid spacingmenu, type 10.0. By default, length units will be in feet,

however, you can type a value followed by a unit (e.g.: "in" or "m") and the length will be

converted to feet.

3. Click OK.

To create the room:


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2. In the tools toolbar, click Add a Rectangular Room( ).

3. In the Z Planebox, type 26.843(the height of the room above ground).

4. Click and drag to draw the room from point(0,0)to (200,30). In order to properly see the

geometry, it might be necessary to zoom out by rolling back the mouse wheel. The dimensions

of the room will be displayed below the 2D view as you drag the mouse, Figure 7.2. You can

also directly type the coordinates into the coordinate boxes.

5. In the Namebox type Room.

Figure 7.2. Drawing the room

To create the landing:

1. In the tools toolbar, click Add a Rectangular Room.

2. In the Z Planebox, type 0.0 ft.

3. The left edge of the landing should be 40 ft to the right of the room. Click and drag to draw

the landing from point (240,0)to (250,30), Figure 7.3.

4. In the Namebox type Landing.


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Figure 7.3. Drawing the landing

To add the first stairway:

1. In the tools toolbar, click Create Stairs between two edges( ).

2. In the Stair Widthbox, type 44.0 in.

3. In the Door 1 Widthbox, type 32.0 in. Door 1 is the door associated with the first click

of the mouse when creating stairs. In the Door 2 Widthbox, type 32.0 in.

4. The Tread Riseis 7.0 inand the Tread Runis 11.0 in.

5. Position the cursor at X=200 and Y=20 ft, click and then click a second time on the edge of

the landing. This will create the stair.

6. In the Namebox type Stair Left.

To add the second stairway:

1. In the tools toolbar, click the Create Stairs between two edges( ) .

2. In the Stair Widthbox, type 44.0 in.

3. In the Door 1 Widthand Door 2 Widthboxes, type 32.0 in.

4. The Tread Riseis 7.0 inand the Tread Runis 11.0 in.

5. Position the cursor at X=200 and Y=10 ft and click. Hold theSHIFTkey to switch the location

of the stairs and then click the edge of the landing to create the stair.

6. In the Namebox type Stair Right.


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Figure 7.4. Adding the stairs

To add the exit door:

1. In the tools toolbar, click Add a New Door( ).

2. Click and drag along the edge of the landing opposite the stairs to add a door to the entire

width of the landing.

3. In the Namebox, type Exit.

Figure 7.5. Adding the exit door

Add Occupants

To add 300 randomly spaced occupants to the room:


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1. Using the Selectiontool, click to select room.

2. On the Modelmenu, click Add Occupants....

3. In the By Numberbox, type 300.

4. Click OK.

5. On the view toolbar, click Perspective View( ).

6. On the Viewmenu, click Reset View to All Objects.

To display occupants as people, on the Viewmenu, click Agentsand select Show as random

people. Your model should look similar to Figure 7.6.

Figure 7.6. Completed model with occupants after rotation

Select SFPE Mode

Pathfinder provides the option to select different simulation modes. The SFPE movement mode

is consistent with the assumptions used in the SFPE Engineering Guide - Human Behavior

in Fire([SFPE, 2003]). Assumptions include: (1) the occupants move toward the exits using

the shortest path, (2) the maximum occupant speed is a function of room density, (3) occupants

move independently and can occupy the same space as other occupants (see end of this section

on how to add collision avoidance), and (4) queues form at doors, with the flow rate through thedoor as specified by SFPE guidelines. To select the SFPE mode:


2. Click the Behaviortab.

3. In the Behavior Modebox, select SFPE. The SFPEoption means that the occupants will

move at a speed determined by the density in the current room. The occupants will not inter-


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act, but will queue at doors. The flow rate through doors will be calculated based on SFPE

guidelines using the boundary layer to modify the effective door width.

4. In the Door Boundary Layerbox, type 6 in.

5. Click OK.

Run Simulation

To run the simulation:

1. On the Simulationmenu, click Run Simulation.... This will start the simulation.

2. Save your document to a new folder. Use the name sfpe1_sfpe.

3. A summary report is provided in the analysis dialog. It provides First Inand Last Outtimes

for each room and door. The Total Usegives the maximum number of occupants either in a

room or in the door queue, Figure 7.7. This information will be saved in the summary.txt file.

Figure 7.7. Simulation summary data given on the run dialog (saved in summary.txt)

View Results

When the simulation is finished, the Pathfinder 3D results view will be launched. To view results:

1. Click the Playbutton. This will display the occupants as circles with their direction indicated

by a triangle.


3. To view occupants as people, click the Stopbutton, on the Agentsmenu, click Show as

People, then click the Playbutton, Figure 7.8.


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Figure 7.8. Animated display of movement

Detailed information for each room is provided in comma-separated value (CSV) files that can

imported to a spreadsheet.

Compare Results to SFPE Calculation

The SFPE solution to this problem is given in Figure 7.9.


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Figure 7.9. SFPE Example 1 Solution

The PathFinder solution gives the time to exit the stairs as 257.30 sec (Stair Left door 2) and

221.93 sec (Stair Right door 2), compared to the SFPE solution of 241.6 sec. The reason for the

differences is that the random distribution of people resulted in more occupants leaving through

the Stair Left door than the Stair Right door.


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Re-Run the SFPE Mode Simulation with Equal Door Loads

To more exactly match the SFPE calculation, we will split the room into two equal parts and

place 150 occupants in each room.

1. On theFile

menu, clickSave As...

and give the name assfpe1_sfpe_symmetric

.

2. Remove the existing occupants. Right-click the Occupant Group, then click Delete.

3. On the Viewmenu, click Edit Snap Grid.... Type 5.0 ft, then click OK.

4. In the Top View, click the Spliticon .

5. Click the center of the left edge of the room and the center of the right edge of the room to

split the room into two equal parts, Figure 7.10.


7. Add 150 occupants to each room.

8. Run the simulation.

Figure 7.10. SFPE Example 1 Simulation

In the new solution, the time to exit the stairs is 239.33 sec (Stair Left door 2) and 239.30 sec

(Stair Right door 2), compared to the SFPE solution of 241.6 sec, Figure 7.11.


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Figure 7.11. Solution for symmetric model

Run Using Steering Movement Mode

The more visually realistic movement option in Pathfinder is to use a steering movement mode.

In this mode, occupants move towards their exit goal, but avoid collisions with other occupants

and walls. In addition, there is no externally imposed limit on flow rates through doors, hallways,

or stairs. To run with this movement option:

1. Open the sfpe1_sfpemodel created above. Do not open the symmetric model; open the firstmodel with only one large room. On the Filemenu, click Save As...and give the name as

sfpe1_steering.



4. In the Behavior Modebox select Steering. Click OKto close the Simulation Parameters

dialog.



(Stair Right door 2), compared to the SFPE solution of 241.6 sec, Figure 7.11. It is typical that

the steering movement model predicts shorter exit times than the SFPE movement model.


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Figure 7.12. Occupant motion using steering movement

Adding Collision Avoidance to the SFPE Mode

The SFPE mode does not prevent multiple occupants from occupying the same space. A collision

handling option can be added to the SFPE. To run with this movement option:

1. Open the sfpe1_sfpemodel created above. Do not open the symmetric model; open the first

model with only one large room. On the Filemenu, click Save As...and give the name as

sfpe1_collision.


3. Click the Behaviortab.

4. In the Behavior Modebox select SFPE.

5. Click to select Collision Handling. Click OKto close the Simulation Parametersdialog.



(Stair Right door 2). These times are similar to the standard SFPE solution, but the appearanceof the solution is improved, since the occupants form queues at the doors.


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Figure 7.13. Occupant motion using SFPE movement with collision avoidance


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Chapter 8. SFPE Example 2

This is the second example in the SFPE Engineering Guide - Human Behavior in Fire([SF-

PE, 2003]). The example determines the total movement time for a 5-story building with the

following characteristics:

1. There are 200 people on each floor above the ground floor.

2. Each floor is served by two 44 inch (1.12 m) wide stairways. The doors leading into and from

the stairway are 32 inches wide (0.81 m). The stair design uses 7 inch/11 inch risers and treads.

3. The floor to floor distance is 12 feet. Floor to landing distance is 6 feet.

4. Landings between the floors are 4 x 8 feet (1.22 x 2.44 m).

5. Handrails are provided on both sides of the stairways 2.5 inches (64 mm) from the wall.

The model is sketched Figure 8.1. Obviously, a real building would have a different arrangementof landings, but this model captures the geometry as described in the example. Consistent with

the SFPE description of the problem, exits are provided on the first floor such that the flow of

400 people from the upper floors through each stairway is the controlling component.

Figure 8.1. Sketch of the model


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Figure 8.2. The PathFinder model

Create Problem Geometry

There are two ways to create the geometry for this model. The first will be by direct drawing

of the input. The second imports an FDS file and then the Extract Floortool to speed model

construction. Either approach will result in the same model.

Create Floors and Landings by Drawing

Use the following steps to define the floors:

1. On the Viewmenu, click Unitsand select ENto display measurements using the English

system.

2. On the Viewmenu, click Edit Snap Grid.... In the Specify snap grid spacingmenu, type

2.0. Click OK.

3. Create the first room at Z=0. In the view toolbar, click the Top View icon. In the tools

toolbar, click the Add a Rectangular Room icon. In the Z Planebox, type 0.0. In the

coordinate boxes enter the following values: X1:0.0, Y1:0.0, X2:60.0, Y2:40.0. ClickCreate.

4. Click the Zoom Fit icon to rescale the view.

5. Replicate the room to create the five floors. In the view toolbar, click the Selectiontool

icon. Select the room. In the tools toolbar, click the Move Objects icon. Select Copy

Mode. In the Countbox, type 4. In the Move Zbox, type 12.0. Click Copy/Move.


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Your model should now look like Figure 8.3

Figure 8.3. The floors in the model

Use the following steps to define the landings:

1. Create the first landing at Z=6.0 ft. In the view toolbar, click the Top View icon. In the

tools toolbar, click the Add a Rectangular Room icon. In the Z Planebox, type 6.0.

In the coordinate boxes enter the following values: X1:-13.5, Y1:16.0, X2:-9.5, Y2:

24.0. Click Create.

2. Replicate the landing. In the view toolbar, click the Selectiontool icon. Select the landing.

In the tools toolbar, click the Move Objects icon. Select Copy Mode. In the Countbox,

type 3. In the Move Zbox, type 12.0. Click Copy/Move.

3. Repeat for the landing on the opposite side. In the view toolbar, click the Top View icon.

In the tools toolbar, click the Add a Rectangular Room icon. In the Z Planebox, type

6.0. In the coordinate boxes enter the following values: X1:69.5, Y1:16.0, X2:73.5,

Y2:24.0. Click Create.

4. Replicate the landing. In the view toolbar, click the Selectiontool icon. Select the landing.

In the tools toolbar, click the Move Objects icon. Select Copy Mode. In the Countbox,

type 3. In the Move Zbox, type 12.0. Click Copy/Move.

Your model should now look like Figure 8.4


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Figure 8.5. Imported FDS File

Figure 8.6. Extracted Floors with FDS Geometry hidden

Create Stairs

To create the stairs:

1. Select the two-point stair tool( ) and enter 44 inches for the width, and 32 inches for both

the door1 and door2 widths.


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2. Click on the lower landing and position the stair towards the outer side of the landing. Click

on the lower floor to create the stair from the landing to the lower floor.

3. Use the Move Objects tool to make three copies of the stair, separated by 12 ft in the Z

direction.

4. Add the stairs the go up from the landing. Click on the lower landing and position the stairtowards the opposite outer side of the landing. Click on the second floor to create the stair

from the landing to the second floor.

5. Use the Move Objects tool to make three copies of the stair, separated by 12 ft in the Z

direction.

6. Repeat on the other side of the model.

7. Add the exit doors. Select the door tool( ) and in the Max Widthbox, type 120.0 in .

Place a door adjacent to both stairs on the lowest floor. These doors are wide enough that exit

from the first floor does not affect the egress time. Set the names to Exit Rightand Exit

Leftto aid in later plotting of the exit rates through each door, Figure 8.7.

Figure 8.7. The right exit door on the bottom floor

Define Profiles

Profiles describe the characteristics of the occupants, including the walking speed, delay times

before movement, size, display image, and base color. We will use a different color for each floor,

so that we can identify occupants in the graphical display of their egress. To define the profiles:

1. On the Modelmenu click Edit Profiles. Click Renameand change the name of the default

profile to Floor 1.

2. Click the Colorbox, click the Palettetab, and select a red color. Click OK. Click Apply.

3. Click Newto create a new profile, give it the name Floor 2, and give it an orange color.


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4. Repeat for floors 3, 4, and 5, giving colors yellow, green, and blue .

Add Occupants

To add occupants:

1. Select the first floor. On the Modelmenu click Add Occupants. For the Profileselect Floor1. For the Exitselect nearest. For the Placementselect Random. For Occupant Countselect

By Numberand enter 200. Click OK.

2. Repeat for each floor, selecting the corresponding profile for each floor.

A model made using this approach is shown in Figure 8.8

Figure 8.8. PathFinder model

Select Behaviors

PathFinder provides the options for different behaviors during egress. The most basic is behavior

that is consistent with the SFPE assumptions. To select the SFPE behavior



3. In the Behavior Modeselect SFPE.

4. In the Door Boundary Layerbox, type6 in.

5. Under Door Flow Rate Calculation, select theUse Max Flowradio button.

6. Click OK.

The SFPEoption means that the occupants will move to the nearest exit at a speed determined by

the occupant density in the room. The occupants will not interact, but will queue at the door. The


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flow rate through the door will be calculated based on SFPE guidelines with the flow reduced

by the boundary layer.

Run Simulation

To run the simulation

1. On the Simulationmenu, click Run Simulation.... This will start the simulation. Save the

model with the name sfpe2_sfpe.pth.

2. A summary report is provided in the analysis dialog. It provides First Inand Last Outtimes

for each room and door.

View Results

When the simulation is finished, the PathFinder post-processor (Behemoth) will be launched.

To view results

1. On the Scenemenu, select View Navigation Meshto view the Pathfinder geometry and hidethe FDS geometry.

2. Click the Playbutton. This will display the occupants as circles with their direction indicated

by a line.


4. To view people, click the Stopbutton, on the Agentsmenu, click Show as People, click the

Playbutton.

You will notice that in SFPE mode, occupants can overlap in space when they form queues at

the doors, Figure 8.9.

Figure 8.9. Display of results for SFPE mode. Note that occupants can overlap in space.


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Another useful way to view the data is to plot either floor occupancy or door flow rates. These

options are available under the Resultsmenu. Figure 8.10 shows a graph of floor occupancy as

a function of time.

Figure 8.10. Display of floor occupancy results for SFPE mode.

Detailed information for each room is provided in the comma-separated value (csv) files that can

be imported to a spreadsheet.

Compare Results to SFPE Calculation

The SFPE solution to this problem is given in Figure 8.11.


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Figure 8.11. SFPE Example 2 Solution

The PathFinder solution gives the time for the last occupant to exit as 638 seconds, compared

to the SFPE solution of 617 seconds. The primary reason for the difference is the initial random

locations of the occupants. As a result, 522 occupants exit from the left exit in 638 seconds and

478 from the right exit in 573 seconds. For a symmetric model, the total exit time is 606 seconds,

which is 10 seconds faster than the given SFPE solution.

The difference is due to how the landings and walking speeds on the stairways are calculated. The

SFPE solution calculates 17 seconds to travel one landing (8 feet) and the stair length between the


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floors (22.3 feet). The SFPE solution assumes the speed is that corresponding to the maximum

flow rate density (106 ft/min). The Pathfinder solution uses the unimpeded speed and the stair

k factor which gives a speed of 180 ft/min. In addition, the length of the path on the landing in

Pathfinder is approximately 2/3 foot. Thus, the Pathfinder distance is 23 feet (22.3 ft + 0.6 ft),

giving a time of 7.6 seconds. The expected Pathfinder time is then 600 seconds for the queue and

7 seconds for the stairway and landing, or 607 seconds total.

The PathFinder solution gives the time for the last occupant to exit as 638 seconds, compared to

the SFPE solution of 617 seconds. The reason for the difference is the initial random locations

of the occupants. As a result, 522 occupants exit f

podręcznik przykładów pathfinder eng

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