Secondary Evacuation Systems for Skyscrapers: Post 9/11 Tall Building Safety Research

Abstract:

Skyscrapers are playing a more and more important role in modern life and definitely more and more tall buildings will be built in the future. But at the same time they are facing more threats from terrorists, fire, earthquake and other unforeseeable factors than before. This paper presents the idea of providing a secondary evacuation system in tall buildings, as a supplement to the existing primary means of evacuation especially when they are damaged or unusable in an extreme event. It illustrates the design flaws inherent in high-rise buildings today and the inadequacy of their primary evacuation systems and introduces some new mechanisms currently used as a secondary evacuation system. The paper thus serves as an introduction to this area and produces some useful advice for increasing the safety of tall buildings.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 250-253)
• Pages: 3263-3270
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.250-253.3263
• Online since: May 2011
• Authors: Chang An Liu, Ya Wei Kong, Ji Long Zhao
• Keywords: Emergency, Evacuation System, Secondary Evacuation System, Skyscraper, Tall Building Safety

References

[1] Arup, Thinking Strategically, Assessing Risks, Defining Needs, Creating a Foundation for the Future (2003). http://www.arup.com/_assets/_download/download251.pdf

[2] Federal Emergency Management Agency, World Trade Center Building Performance Study: Executive Summary (2002). http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_execsum.pdf

[3] J.Glancy, Reaching for the Sky, the Guardian, September 15, (2001)

[4] D.Cauchon, For Many on Sept. 11, Survival was no Accident, USA Today, December 20, 2001. http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/12/19/usatcov-wtcsurvival.htm

[5] A.Joshua and HaberkornHalm, Whitepaper on High-Rise Building Evacuation, www.ozonelink.com, August 2004.

[6] V.Dunn, High-Rise Fires, FDNY Homepage Newsletter, August 2000. http://vincentdunn.com/dunn/newsletters/august/FDNYHP_3.html

[7] J. Romano, Facade Emergency Exits Concept, the CIB-CTBUH Conference on Tall Buildings, pp.747-750 (2003)

[8] Information on http://www.basejumper.com/

[9] Information on http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1213739.htm

[10] Information on http://www.gizmo.com.au/go/1808/

[11] Information on http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/property-law-real-property-building-housing-codes/5983793-1.html

[12] Information on http://www.ozonelink.com/content/files/skyevac.pdf

[13] Information on http://www.hjcdesign.co.uk/

[14] A.Wood , W.K.CHOW, & D.McGRAIL, The Skybridge as an Evacuation Option for Tall Buildings in High-Rise Cities in the Far East, Journal of Applied Fire Science, Baywood Publishing Co. Vol. 13. Number 2. New York, USA. 2004-2005. pp.113-124 (2005)

DOI: 10.2190/1417-hh0k-1w74-170r

[15] F. Wainwright and P. Bressington, Extreme Events: The Arup View, Arup UK, May 2002.