Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of merges on crowds in a staircase and the ease of merging with variations in crowd density, directions of merge, and whether the door joining a hallway to a staircase was opened or closed. The results led to the following conclusions: 1) merging is easier at lower population density; 2) merging is easier if the direction of the merging crowd is same as the direction of the crowd in the staircase; and 3) merging is easier if the door is initially opened, and the evacuation speed is decreased by 30% when the door is initially closed.