People emergency evacuation and especially evacuation time in a
disastrous condition such as an earthquake and fire are of great
importance. Here we observed evacuation behavior of Assembly Hall of
Faculty of Basic Sciences of Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University (ASMU).
Simulations are done by using distinct element method (DEM). In DEM,
people are considered as circular elements and analysis can compute the
position of each person (element) step by step by solving the equations
of motion. Four cases with different number and arrangement of people
are considered in which the number of people were 350, 400, 450 and 500
for Cases 1 to 4, respectively. As the evaluation criteria, Chapter
three of National Building Codes “Protection of Buildings against Fire”
is adopted in which the nominal evacuation time limit for this kind of
confined space is considered to be 200 sec. Evacuation simulations are
done for considered cases and evacuation behavior and time are
calculated quantitatively. Evacuation times are determined to be 173,
174, 184 and 184 sec for Cases 1 to 4, respectively. As results show, in
all considered cases, evacuation time is below the code limit and
evacuation behavior of the assembly hall by considering this criterion
is acceptable
