What is ISO 20414 about?
ISO 20414 describes a protocol for the verification and validation of building fire evacuation models. ISO 20414 mostly addresses evacuation model components as they are in microscopic (agent-based) models. Nevertheless, it can be adopted (entirely or partially) for macroscopic models if the model can represent the components under consideration.
The area of application of the evacuation models discussed in ISO 20414 includes the performance-based design of buildings and the review of the effectiveness of evacuation planning and procedures.
The evacuation process is represented with evacuation models in which people's movement and their interaction with the environment make use of human behaviour in fire theories and empirical observations. The simulation of evacuation is represented using mathematical models and/or agent‑to‑agent and agent-to-environment rules. The area of application of ISO 20414 relates to buildings.
ISO 20414 is not intended to cover aspects of transportation systems in motion (e.g. trains, ships) since specific ad-hoc additional tests may be required for addressing the simulation of human behaviour during evacuation in these types of systems.
ISO 20414 includes a list of components for verification and validation testing as well as to a methodology for the analysis and assessment of accuracy associated with evacuation models. The procedure for the analysis of acceptance criteria is also included.
A comprehensive list of components for testing is presented in ISO 20414 since the scope of the testing has not been artificially restricted to a set of straightforward applications.
Who is ISO 20414 for?
ISO 20414 on fire safety engineering is relevant to:
- Conceptual fire evacuation model developers
- Software fire evacuation model developers
- The user of the fire evacuation model
- Fire safety engineer
Why should you use ISO 20414?
Fire Evacuation models are applied to establish the time for an evacuating population to reach a place of safety. Evacuation models are also used to examine evacuation dynamics of different scenarios and to evaluate the effectiveness of procedural solutions.
ISO 20414 provides procedures and requirements for verification and validation of calculation methods in fire safety engineering. Tests and methods for measuring attributes of the relevant model characteristics are outlined in ISO 20414.
As a user of ISO 20414, you can document the usefulness of a particular fire evacuation model for building applications, document the software features and capabilities and assure users that an appropriate testing protocol is followed to ensure the quality of the application tools by documenting the verification and validation of the model under ISO 20414. As an educator, you can use ISO 20414 to demonstrate the application and acceptability of evacuation models being taught. Overall ISO 20414 helps the user to predict human behaviour in case of a fire and assist him to investigate the safety conditions of a given building.