ENFE615-17S2 (C) Semester Two 2017

Human Behaviour in Fire

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 July 2017
End Date: Sunday, 19 November 2017
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 28 July 2017
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 13 October 2017

Description

Examination and interaction of the individual with the fire-created environment. Behaviour of building occupants relative to their awareness, actions and movements. How human behaviour issues are incorporated in building design.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course the students will have an understanding of how to calculate the movement of people during a fire emergency (or similar). The students will be familiar with building occupant load values, the concept of pre-evacuation time, the effect of congestion on movement, route choice decision making, people interaction and how smoke and/or lighting affects movement. The students will gain experience in using a Monte Carlo network egress model.

Prerequisites

Timetable Note

This course consists of a compulsory block visit to campus plus the online components. Dates and times for the block visit will be posted in Learn.

There will be a number of study guides posted on Learn. The guides will specify what readings you need to complete, any associated online quiz that needs to be taken and any assignment that is required. Readings will be taken from one or more of the course texts. It is expected that students who took ENGR403 (or their similar equivalent prior studies) remind themselves of that material.

Week
W1  Introduction (probability, uncertainty, computer simulations, setting up the EvacuatioNZ model)

W2 Travel distances; Unimpeded horizontal movement; Fixed pre-evacuation times

W3 Door flows; Congested movement

W4 Stair flows

W5 Pre-evacuation time distributions

W6 Occupant density / load and building types

W7 Effect of occupant characteristics on movement; Merging flows

W8 Escape route selection

W9 Environmental effects (smoke, lighting); Refuge floors

W10 Evacuation Decision Model; Group behaviour (following leaders, social groups etc.)

Course Coordinator

For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering Head of Department

This course will be organised and taught by Dr. Mike Spearpoint, Olsson Fire & Risk (UK) formerly of the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering. There may be some guest lecturers during the course to cover specific topics.

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Assignment (x3) 25%
final project 50%
block class test 25%


1. A student must achieve a minimum of 40% in the final project / test to pass the course.
2. Late submissions will lose 20% of the total mark per day or part of day.

Notes

As you are aware this is a full on programme. It is a big ask to expect so much learning to be crammed into a short period if you are a full-time student. Therefore, it is expected that you will be committed to the programme. This means that when classes are not in session that you will be spending your time studying your course work or working on your research. Think of the term breaks as study breaks and not holidays. It is a good idea to take some time off for relaxation but use the time wisely. During the term breaks there will be some block courses that do not fit into the normal course schedule. So if you plan to go away at any time please check with Mike, Charley or Tony, to avoid any conflicts with your travel plans. One final comment, it is not a good idea to plan a holiday when you are trying to finish your research project.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,038.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering .

All ENFE615 Occurrences

  • ENFE615-17S2 (C) Semester Two 2017