Analysis of Crowded Degree of Emergency Evacuation at “Bottleneck” Position in Subway Station Based on Stairway Level of Service

The simulation software Simulex was adopted to study the emergency evacuation process of the island type subway elevated station and determine the “bottleneck” positions. The effects of the “bottleneck” positions on the personnel evacuation crowded degree of the subway station were studied by changing the evacuation conditions at “bottleneck” positions. Results show that staircases connecting platform and ticket hall, are identified as the “bottleneck” positions during evacuation, where crowd congestion appears easily. Moreover, the effects of the stair effective width on evacuation were evaluated by the combination of the total evacuation time and the stairway level of service, to obtain more objective evaluation. Effect of varying the stair width was studied by taking eight different values. Results show that with the decrease of the stairs effective evacuation width, the crowded degree in the stairway during the subway emergency evacuation process can be effectively relieved.