Emergency evacuation capability evaluation and optimization for an offshore airport: The case of Dalian Offshore Airport, Dalian, China

How to evacuate evacuees to safety from islands in disasters is an important issue for the emergency system design of an offshore airport. In this paper, a modeling framework was developed to evaluate and optimize the emergency evacuation capability of an offshore airport. With this framework, the emergency evacuation capability was evaluated and optimized in the context of the cross-sea bridge failure for Dalian International Airport, Dalian, China. With the combination of an evacuation demand analysis and a marine network analysis, a scheduling simulation was developed to evaluate the capability of the marine evacuation system plan under emergency. Based on the evaluation results, two optimization strategies were introduced to improve this plan. The evaluation results show that the emergency evacuation capability of an offshore airport is mainly limited by the marine traffic environment of the urban area in the condition of bridge failure. To improve the emergency evacuation capability, some vessels should be located at the offshore airport, and a wharf should be constructed in the nearby mainland. The current results of this study will be helpful in guiding the emergency evacuation system design of an artificial or a natural island.