Modeling and assessment of civil aircraft evacuation based on finer-grid

•The internal structure of aircraft can be well reproduced for the finer-grid.•The effect of seat area and others on escape process is considered.•The model takes into account pedestrian’s hesitation before leaving exits.•An optimized rule of exit choice is defined.•An assessment procedure of aircraft evacuation safety is presented.

Studying civil aircraft emergency evacuation process by using computer model is an effective way. In this study, the evacuation of Airbus A380 is simulated using a Finer-Grid Civil Aircraft Evacuation (FGCAE) model. In this model, the effect of seat area and others on escape process and pedestrian’s “hesitation” before leaving exits are considered, and an optimized rule of exit choice is defined. Simulations reproduce typical characteristics of aircraft evacuation, such as the movement synchronization between adjacent pedestrians, route choice and so on, and indicate that evacuation efficiency will be determined by pedestrian‘s “preference” and “hesitation”. Based on the model, an assessment procedure of aircraft evacuation safety is presented. The assessment and comparison with the actual evacuation test demonstrate that the available exit setting of “one exit from each exit pair” used by practical demonstration test is not the worst scenario. The half exits of one end of the cabin are all unavailable is the worst one, that should be paid more attention to, and even be adopted in the certification test. The model and method presented in this study could be useful for assessing, validating and improving the evacuation performance of aircraft.