Experimental study on egress capacity of key facilities in pressurized oxygen-supplement compartments

Abstract Pressurized buildings have emerged as a novel architectural solution to alleviate altitude illness in high-altitude regions. Unlike conventional buildings, evacuation from this kind of building has to experience a depressurization time, which results in air expansion and heat absorption, creating a dense fog and impairing sight within the buildings. Evacuation experiments were performed in a pressurized oxygen-supplement compartment to investigate the pedestrian motion properties. Based on the questionnaires, participants reported varying degrees of symptoms such as ear blockage, reduced environmental noise, and dizziness, which had a measurable impact on their mobility. We focus on the evacuation parameters through three basic building components: staircases, pressure transition cabins, and escape windows. As the visibility in the compartment decreases from high to low, the movement patterns of pedestrian shift from triangular to single-file with a significant decline in evacuation efficiency. It is found that there is a linear relationship between evacuation time and the number of evacuees through escape windows. The pressure transition cabin is a crucial evacuation route in emergencies, and evacuation time is recommended as the key metric for assessing its effectiveness. These findings offer valuable insights for emergency evacuation strategies in pressurized buildings.