Research Evacuation Route Search in Case of Fire Using the F_A* Algorithm Based on the A* Algorithm

This study proposes the F_A* algorithm, which integrates the A* algorithm with the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The conventional A* algorithm struggles to reflect fire dynamics such as flame spread, temperature changes, and smoke concentration. To address this issue, the F_A* algorithm dynamically adjusts the path weights using FDS data. The experimental results show that F_A* provides more accurate evacuation time calculations and offers new insights into evacuation success rates and pathfinding performance. The evacuation success rate remained at 100% for 2 min, but dropped after 3 min, with one fatality. The first evacuee escaped in 12 s and the final evacuee escaped in 23 s. The pathfinding speed of the F_A* algorithm ranged from 2 to 5 s, which was significantly faster than the 32 s required by the conventional A* algorithm. The proposed F_A* algorithm effectively estimates the evacuation times based on fire damage, which is difficult to achieve using the conventional A* algorithm.