How to Conduct Evacuation Analysis in Revit Models
By creating a building BIM model and importing it into specialized analysis software like Pathfinder, you can simulate the evacuation of people during emergencies. This process involves setting evacuation capabilities for different groups, allowing the entire building to simulate various pre-planned evacuation scenarios. The simulation results help optimize evacuation plans to identify the most effective strategy.
Simplifying existing BIM models is essential to generate a version that can be easily referenced and viewed in evacuation simulation software. The purpose of this simplification is to enable clear and intuitive browsing of the final animated evacuation video within the analysis software, providing an accurate representation of personnel movement during evacuation. Different simulation tools have varying requirements for model interfaces and formats. After extensive testing, it has been found that converting models to DXF format offers a straightforward approach with minimal errors. DXF models display correctly in evacuation software and support smooth 3D navigation. However, very large models may impact performance or fail to import altogether.
Once the 3D model is imported, necessary analyses are conducted to determine the optimal evacuation plan for occupants in emergency situations. During an emergency, people inside the building must find the nearest safe exit quickly. This requires guiding occupants to evacuate in a reasonable direction based on the building’s evacuation instructions.
There are various ways to add occupants to the simulation area. For example, peak occupancy values for different zones can be set directly when defining areas, which visually represents the number of people present.
Evacuation zones and routes are established based on the building model.
1-3 Setting Up Evacuation Areas
1-4 Selected Room Quantities
Flow Rates of 1-5 Selected Doors
Simulation analysis involves more than just these settings. It also requires detailed configuration of occupant attributes, such as height, body width, evacuation speed, simulation duration, reaction time, and behavior during emergencies. Each simulation software offers different parameter settings, so further research is necessary to optimize these variables.
1-6 Parameter Setting Panel
By adjusting these parameters according to the building’s actual conditions and occupant characteristics, detailed evacuation simulation analyses can be performed. This yields valuable data, charts, and 3D animations.
The animations provide a clear view of occupant movement and evacuation trajectories over time. They also show the number of people safely evacuated at various intervals, highlight exits that experience overcrowding, and identify those with fewer evacuees. This visual insight helps designers refine their plans more effectively.
Evacuation simulation analysis also generates charts that assist in planning evacuation routes. By analyzing the number of evacuees at each exit throughout the evacuation process, designers can monitor crowd flow across different zones.
Personnel distribution at the start of evacuation simulation 1-7
Occupant movement during 1-8 evacuation simulation process
Post-evacuation status 1-9
By studying these simulation animations and data, designers can adjust exit locations and evacuation widths to optimize building safety. This targeted design helps prevent overcrowding and uneven evacuation during emergencies, reduces evacuation time, and ultimately enhances occupant safety.
Data after evacuation from 1 to 10
Summary: Using Revit to build models and analyzing them with Pathfinder enables effective simulation of occupant evacuation. This process supports iterative adjustments to improve both the model and building design.
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