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The airEXODUS evacuation model and its application to aircraft safety

The airEXODUS evacuation model and its application to aircraft safety

Galea, E.R. ORCID: 0000-0002-0001-6665, Blake, S.J., Lawrence, P.J. ORCID: 0000-0002-0269-0231 and Gwynne, S. (2003) The airEXODUS evacuation model and its application to aircraft safety. In: RTO AVT (Research and Technology Organisation. Applied Vehicle Technology) Specialists' Meeting on "Fire Safety and Survivability",, 23-26 Sep 2002, Aalborg, Denmark.

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Abstract

Computer based mathematical models describing the aircraft evacuation process have a vital role to play in the design and development of safer aircraft, the implementation of safer and more rigorous certification criteria, in cabin crew training and post-mortem accident investigation. As the risk of personal injury and the costs involved in performing full-scale certification trials are high, the development and use of these evacuation modelling tools are essential. Furthermore, evacuation models provide insight into the evacuation process that is impossible to derive from a single certification trial. The airEXODUS evacuation model has been under development since 1989 with support from the UK CAA and the aviation industry. In addition to describing the capabilities of the airEXODUS evacuation model, this paper describes the findings of a recent CAA project aimed at investigating model accuracy in predicting past certification trials. Furthermore, airEXODUS is used to examine issues related to the Blended Wing Body (BWB) and Very Large Transport Aircraft (VLTA). These radical new aircraft concepts pose considerable challenges to designers, operators and certification authorities. BWB concepts involving one or two decks with possibly four or more aisles offer even greater challenges. Can the largest exits currently available cope with passenger flow arising from four or five aisles? Do we need to consider new concepts in exit design? Should the main aisle be made wider to accommodate more passengers? In this paper we discuss various issues evacuation related issues associated VLTA and BWB aircraft and demonstrate how computer based evacuation models can be used to investigage these issues through examination of aisle/exit configurations for BWB cabin layouts.

Item Type: Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Additional Information: [1] This paper was first presented at the RTO AVT Applied Vehicle Technology Specialists' Meeting on "Fire Safety and Survivability" held in Aalborg, Denmark from 23-26 September 2002, and published in RTO-MP-103. [2] NATO Reference: RTO-MP-103, (AVT-088)
Uncontrolled Keywords: airEXODUS, evacuation modelling, aircraft safety, computer software
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
T Technology > TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics
Pre-2014 Departments: School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Centre for Numerical Modelling & Process Analysis
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Centre for Numerical Modelling & Process Analysis > Fire Safety Engineering Group
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Department of Computer Science
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Department of Mathematical Sciences
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 14 Oct 2016 09:01
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/688

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