Effect of door delay on aircraft evacuation time

TL;DR

This paper introduces a computational agent-based model to simulate aircraft evacuations, specifically analyzing how door delays impact total evacuation time for the Airbus A380, highlighting safety concerns and mitigation strategies.

Contribution

It presents a novel, cost-effective simulation framework for aircraft evacuation, focusing on door delay effects in large aircraft like the Airbus A380.

Findings

Moderate door delays significantly increase evacuation time.

Evacuation times can exceed safety certification limits due to delays.

Practical strategies can reduce evacuation time.

Abstract

The recent commercial launch of twin-deck Very Large Transport Aircraft (VLTA) such as the Airbus A380 has raised questions concerning the speed at which they may be evacuated. The abnormal height of emergency exits on the upper deck has led to speculation that emotional factors such as fear may lead to door delay, and thus play a significant role in increasing overall evacuation time. Full-scale evacuation tests are financially expensive and potentially hazardous, and systematic studies of the evacuation of VLTA are rare. Here we present a computationally cheap agent-based framework for the general simulation of aircraft evacuation, and apply it to the particular case of the Airbus A380. In particular, we investigate the effect of door delay, and conclude that even a moderate average delay can lead to evacuation times that exceed the maximum for safety certification. The model suggests practical ways to minimise evacuation time, as well as providing a general framework for the simulation of evacuation.