Flying V and Reference Aircraft Evacuation Simulation and Comparison

TL;DR

This study compares evacuation times of the Flying V and Airbus A350-900 using a cellular automata simulation, highlighting the V shape's advantages and disadvantages in different evacuation scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a simple cellular automata simulation tool to compare evacuation times of novel and conventional aircraft designs.

Findings

V shaped cabin evacuates faster when passengers move towards front or back.

V shaped cabin has disadvantages when evacuating towards one side.

Simulation results comply with certification evacuation time regulations.

Abstract

A preliminary comparison of evacuation times of the Flying V and the Airbus A350-900 is presented in this study. A simple simulation tool based on the technique of cellular automata was created to model the evacuation process for different closed door configurations. Certification regulations state that the time to evacuate a civil aircraft in case of an emergency with half of all exit doors closed must be less than 90 seconds. The results of this study indicate that the shorter V shaped cabin has advantages over the longer conventional reference cabin for cases when passengers need to evacuate towards the front or the back of the aircraft. Disadvantages occur when the passengers in the V shaped cabin need to evacuate more towards one side (left or right wing) of the aircraft. A more detailed simulation model to further investigate these cases is currently created by the authors.