Experimental investigation on the evacuation performance of pedestrians in an underwater shield tunnel with evacuation stairs in a fire scenario

This paper presents the findings of a field evacuation experiment conducted in an underwater shield tunnel, which involved a random sample of 188 participants of various ages and genders. The experiment utilized an evacuation staircase, and the study employed both the field experiment and a questionnaire to obtain data. The participants’ behavior in the driveway, evacuation staircase, and secure channel was recorded, and various factors, including exit choice, route and track, evacuation time, crowd density, horizontal speed, and staircase descending speed were analyzed and compared with other evacuation cases. The study also considered human factors such as gender, age, and psychology of the participants. Furthermore, the study analyzed the utility of technical installations and their impact on human behavior. The results of this study provide valuable technical guidance for the development of evacuation designs and strategies in underwater shield tunnels. Additionally, the study offers realistic data on human movement and evacuation behavior during tunnel evacuations, which can be utilized to validate and enhance evacuation calculations and numerical simulations.