Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2012 - 20183

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    INCREASED INDIVIDUAL SIZE AND ITS POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON EMERGENCY EVACUATION SCENARIOS
    (2018) Ahrens, Katherine; Milke, James; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The increase in human body size due to obesity and overweight conditions is recognized as becoming more prevalent throughout the world. The effect which increased body size and weight has on movement has been examined from a kinesiological and physiological standpoint. Its effect on egress during emergency evacuation has largely remained unstudied. This study reviews current data on body size using modeling software to examine the potential impact an increase in body size has on evacuation times and whether that impact is significant enough to warrant potential changes to current code and regulatory requirements. The change in body size distribution is analyzed and tests are conducted at increasing body size intervals of 0.025 meters for six different scenarios. Results indicate that an increase of 0.225 meters to a body radius increases evacuation times in simple scenarios between 12% and 72%.
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    OBSERVED BEHAVIOR OF PLATOON DYNAMICS DURING HIGH-RISE STAIRWELL EVACUATIONS
    (2012) Baker, Matthew Daniel; Milke, James A; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This research analyzes the phenomena of grouping or platooning during the evacuation of seven stairwells within four different high-rise buildings. The purpose of this research is to investigate the changes occurring to platoons as they descend the stairs in order to incorporate the results into computer egress models. Platoons are found to travel in three distinct patterns: elongation, compression, and equilibrium. Also, platoons are found to remain unchanged, add new occupants, merge with other platoons, or fragment during their descent within a stairwell. The results demonstrate that a trend exists between patterns of platoon elongation leading to fragmentation and platoon compression leading to platoons merging. The majority of the platoons identified are found to consist of one person and remain unchanged as they descend between floors. Finally, a qualitative comparison between the platoons analyzed and the platoons identified in the behavioral computer egress model Pathfinder, is presented.
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    Occupant Merging Behavior During Egress From High Rise Buildings
    (2012) Campbell, Christopher Kelly; Milke, James A; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Occupant merging behavior on stairwell landings is analyzed through the study of evacuation videos. Both flow rate and transit time analyses are conducted. Data is compared to the hydraulic model, which is presented in Chapter 3 of the SFPE Handbook. It is found that the flow ratio, which is the actual outflow rate from a merging event divided by the expected outflow per the hydraulic model, is on average 75%. The transit ratio, which is the normal transit time of the stairwell landing divided by the merging transit time, is found to be 0.67 and 0.70 for the floor and stair flows, respectively. Empirical data is compared to data collected from the Pathfinder 2011 egress model. Causes and influencing factors of occupant merging are proposed.