Parametric study on effects of operational characteristics of hypermarket on evacuation

• Main Author: Lee, Jarron Jun Hui
• Other Authors: Qian Shunzhi
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75526
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Given the high population density of Singapore, supermarkets and hypermarkets are usually packed with people especially during peak hours. The high occupant density within such a confined space poses a risk for the occupants should an emergency such as a fire happen. Furthermore, in the current state of world affairs, we must be vigilant and be prepared for the worst such as a terrorist attack. If occupants are not able to evacuate the space quickly enough, dire consequences such as injuries and deaths could occur during emergency situations. There are past studies on the evacuation process simulation in a supermarket using the Cellular Automata model that yielded meaningful results. However, little study has been done on how the operational characteristics of a hypermarket will affect the evacuation efficiency using the Agent Based model. This report uses the Agent Based model to conduct a parametric study on the operational characteristics of a hypermarket using a commercially available software, Massmotion. The operational characteristics that were studied include the layout of the products in the store and the spatial arrangement of the barriers, mainly the orientation of the shelves. The analysis of the results obtained from the simulation runs suggest that the by placing the general products adjacent to the emergency exits, the evacuation time improved than when the general products are placed at the center of the store, which is usually the case for most grocery shops that uses this marketing strategy in an attempt to maximize sales. However, the general products should not be placed next to the emergency exits adjacent to another zone that also has high occupant density as this may cause congestion and cause delay in the evacuation time. The simulation results also showed that when the barriers or obstacles are orientated such that they are parallel to the emergency exits, the evacuation time significantly improved from when they are perpendicular to the emergency exits. The observations and results obtained from this study will hopefully be useful for future works in helping to further the research on evacuation in grocery stores. It can also hopefully be useful to help retailers make operational decisions with consideration to the safety of the employees and customers within the space.