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Article

Research on Safety Design Strategy of Evacuation Stairs in Deep Underground Station Based on Human Heart Rate and Ascending Evacuation Speed

by
Gao Pan
1,2,3,
Mingxi Peng
4,*,
Tiejun Zhou
1,2,3,
Zhanzhi Wan
5 and
Zheng Liang
6
1
Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
2
Smart Evacuation and Urban Safety Research Center, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
3
Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area, Chongqing 400045, China
4
Faculty of Smart Urban Design, Chongqing Jianzhu College, Chongqing 400072, China
5
School of Art and Design, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China
6
Shanghai Urban Construction Design and Research Institute (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200125, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10670; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310670
Submission received: 23 May 2023 / Revised: 30 June 2023 / Accepted: 4 July 2023 / Published: 6 July 2023
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Abstract

:
An effective evacuation staircase safety design strategy is an important measure to ensure the safe evacuation of personnel in deep underground stations, and its design is influenced by human heart rate (HR) and ascending evacuation speed. This study clarifies the relationship between the ascending evacuation speed and human HR in deep underground stations by simulating an emergency situation in a deep underground station and observing individuals evacuating via stairs. A mathematical model of the ascending evacuation speed and HR at different heights is then established. Through the identification and prediction of intelligent safety systems, a safety design strategy for the rest area of evacuation stairs in deep underground stations was proposed. Rest areas of the stairs allow people in a state of fatigue to pause their ascent, preventing tired people from causing congestion and affecting the evacuation of less-tired people. This improves the overall evacuation speed and ensures the safety of life and property.

1. Introduction

Since the establishment of the first underground railway system in London in 1863, underground rail transport has become a major part of contemporary public transport systems in medium and large cities. By the end of 2017, metro networks had been built in 178 cities across 56 countries, with an average daily passenger traffic of 168 million people [1]. Due to complex line network crossings, existing urban facilities, and land compensation, underground stations and rail networks are increasingly being constructed at deeper levels. Compared with shallow stations, deep underground stations have a more closed environment, greater internal depth, more levels, fewer entrances and exits, long evacuation routes, poor ventilation and lighting conditions, a single direction of safe escape, and difficulties in rescue and evacuation. Once a disaster occurs, major casualties and property damage can easily occur. Past accidents in underground stations include the 1986 fire at London’s King’s Cross station (a technical failure killed 32 people and injured more than 150), the 2003 fire in the Daegu underground in South Korea (killing at least 198 people and injuring 147) [2], and the 1995 sarin gas terrorist attack in the Tokyo underground in Japan (causing more than 5000 injuries, some of which were caused by evacuation and stampede) [3]. These tragedies have revealed that deficiencies in the evacuation infrastructure and management of underground stations have serious consequences. It is foreseeable that deep underground stations will face greater safety challenges than shallow or above-ground stations due to the long distances and increased time required to travel upwards during the emergency evacuation. At present, stairs and escalators are the only upward evacuation facilities at underground metro stations [4]. For safety and psychological reasons, when a station is deeper underground, more people choose to use the stairs to evacuate [5,6]. And the effective design of stairs can improve evacuation efficiency and reduce the number of disasters and accidents [7,8,9]. Therefore, exploring the evacuation safety design of staircases in deep underground stations and proposing safety optimization measures for evacuation staircases are of great significance in improving the safety efficiency of evacuation via staircases from deep underground stations.
Staircases are the most basic evacuation facility from underground stations. A study by the National Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Agency of Japan in 1991 found that the interior of underground halls and safety exits provide temporary evacuation safety areas, that is, there is still a possibility of danger occurring in these spaces. The “Code of Practice for Fire Protection in the Metro” [10] states that evacuation time calculations should start from the station platform and extend to the outdoors at ground level (calculated according to practical considerations). This code also states that sufficient stairs should be provided in the temporary safety zone (station hall level) of the metro station to cope with situations such as the fatigue of evacuees walking long distances upwards, and to ensure the efficiency and safety of the evacuation process and rescue of people. The basis for stairway evacuation safety comes from a series of studies on the dynamics of human movement in stairs by Henderson, Pauls, Fruin, and other scholars in the 1950s and 1980s [11,12,13,14]. Based on these studies, a series of models were established for the relationship between human movement and stairway engineering variables, such as speed [15,16], density/flow rate [17,18], load capacity, and design parameters (e.g., width [15], slope [19,20], handrail height [21]). These studies often used data obtained from downward stairs, as the early view was that downward movement was associated with a greater risk than upward movement [22]. However, with the continued development of crowded underground places, attention is gradually moving to the differences between upward and downward evacuation. Some recent studies have raised concerns about the safety of evacuation from deep spaces via staircases, the main point being the differences in the characteristics of people moving up and down long staircases, such as the obvious impact of fatigue on the evacuation speed of people during upward evacuation [23,24,25,26,27]. The oversimplified calculation models used to develop the current regulations of staircase design lack a factual basis, demonstrating that further in-depth research is needed in related areas.
Among them, research on the physical characteristics of personnel has found that human cardiorespiratory fitness limits the ability to evacuate upwards, and that changes in the heart rate (HR) of personnel during exercise are an important indicator of the degree of fatigue [28,29]. Ronchi et al. investigated the effect of fatigue on walking speed and physiological performance (HR data) in the context of long upward evacuations on a treadmill. The data showed an average maximum HR of 191 b/min (193 and 187 b/min for men and women, respectively). The maximum HR may be related to the development of fatigue, and the results suggest that physical work capacity affects walking speed during prolonged upward evacuation. This should be considered in engineering design [30]. Velasco [31] compared the change in HR over time between a person carrying no weight and a person carrying 8 kg to determine the metabolic rate and fatigue of people in different situations. In a 20-story residential building, Chen et al. [32] conducted an experimental study of individuals ascending parallel double-running staircases and found that the speed tended to decrease over the first 14 floors, with the mean HR increasing from 85.4 b/min to 135 b/min in men and from 88.7 b/min to 150 b/min in women. Mean relative HRs increased to 60% and 70% for men and women, respectively. Lam [24] investigated the ascending movement of individuals in a high-rise building in Hong Kong and found that the ascent speed was related to the age of the subject and that the difference in HR before and after the experiment was relatively large for older participants. In a study by Halder et al. [29], HRs showed an initial sharp increase followed by a gradual stabilization, with a mean maximum HR range of 162–174 b/min. Zhu et al. [33] conducted a long-distance upward experiment at Chongqing Redland underground station. Their results showed that HR changes sharply in the first 100 s and then remains stable (with stable values of 135 b/min for men and 150 b/min for women). After a short period of rapid increase, older women consistently displayed the highest average HR, indicating that older women exhibit the strongest physiological response to the same evacuation distance and became more fatigued. The above studies demonstrate that HR is related to a person’s ability to exercise and affects evacuation speed.
However, there is currently a lack of research on the correlation between heart rate and evacuation speed, as well as their impact on evacuation staircase design, and further research and supplementation are needed. Moreover, most scholars currently do not consider emergency panic states during evacuation in their research on heart rate and ascending speed values. At the same time, empirical research on stair evacuation in deep underground stations is relatively limited, with studies around HR and speed mainly based on stair climbing or evacuation stairs in high-rise buildings, which are more likely to be parallel double-running stairs, unlike metro stations, which are more likely to use straight-running stairs for evacuation.
Thus, the correlation between HR and evacuation speed and the impact on the design of evacuation staircases require further research. For this study, to further explore the correlation between HR and ascending evacuation speed, volunteers were recruited and field validations were conducted. Data and relationships relating to ascending evacuation speed and HR were obtained through observational experiments simulating the evacuation of a single person up a staircase in an emergency situation in a 56 m deep underground station. Based on the data obtained from these experiments, a predictive model for the variation of HR and ascending evacuation speed at different heights was developed. This model was then used to explore a safe design strategy for evacuation stairs in deep underground stations.

2. Methods

2.1. Experimental Methods

Current domestic and international studies of pedestrian levels and speeds in underground spaces have mostly used field observations at peak flows or live evacuation experiments in high-rise buildings [23,26,34,35]. However, observing pedestrian speeds in underground stations during peak flows does not ensure high-quality and accurate data. In this study, to obtain accurate upward evacuation experimental data, we conducted real-life upward evacuation observation experiments in a deep underground station and recorded the HRs of the evacuees in real time through the use of HR bands. The volunteers recruited for the upward experiments were mainly young people, which is conducive to the safety, ethics, and effective organization of the experiments.

2.2. Experimental Subjects

The experimental procedure was based on the experiments conducted by Ronchi et al. [23,30,34]. All 54 subjects (27 male, 27 female) were healthy university students (aged 18–29). A summary of the volunteers in terms of gender, age, height, and weight, derived from actual measurements taken on each experimental subject, is presented in Table 1.

2.3. Experimental Setup

2.3.1. Selection of Experimental Sites

The site chosen for this experiment is the Minan Avenue Station on the Chongqing Metro Circle Line in China. The station is a typical deep underground station, with a difference of 54.6 m between the station concourse level and ground level. The station has a total of five entrances, named 1A, 1B, 3A, 3B, and 4A, each consisting of a straight staircase and 2–3 sets of escalators. According to the code conditions, the typical form of the station concourse, and the underground evacuation staircase, the experimental site was selected as exit 4A at the concourse level. The experimental site is shown in Figure 1 and described in Table 2.

2.3.2. Experimental Equipment

The experimental equipment consisted of an HR belt and a digital video camera (Figure 2). Before the experiment started, the participants were fitted with HR belts, allowing the changes in HR throughout the experiment to be recorded (HR data recorded at 1 Hz). After completion of the experiment, the video and related data were collated and the changes in evacuation speed and HR were analyzed.

2.4. Experimental Procedure

The experiment to observe the upward evacuation procedure via stairs was carried out in a real metro station environment. Before the experiment started, the relevant staff in the station were contacted, and the experiment was carried out at the least-crowded time to ensure the smoothest experimental procedure possible. The participants were informed of the requirements and the evacuation area, i.e., that during the evacuation exercise, they could adopt relevant behaviors such as using handrails and stopping to rest if necessary. All participants wore an HR band and the final data were downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet. At the start of the experiment, the participants had been standing at the entrance to the staircase for 1 min to ensure their HR has stabilized. The staff gave instructions at the start of the experiment and started video recording. When the participants reached the designated exit position, the evacuation process ended and the data were recorded as a valid sample (Figure 3). Each participant rested for 1–2 h after the first round of the experiment, and then continued with the next round.

2.5. Data Collection

2.5.1. Ascending Evacuation Speed Calculation

The evacuation speed up a staircase is the main focus of this experiment. The method of calculating the speed has a significant impact on the data analysis. There are currently two methods of expressing the speed of people walking up a flight of stairs: the first method uses the speed along the stairs in an oblique direction, whereas the second method uses the speed along the vertical direction. We believe that the speed in the oblique direction better reflects changes in the ascending evacuation speed; additionally, the speeds currently specified in the relevant codes in China are all oblique speeds. Therefore, the ascending evacuation speed for this experiment was calculated as the ratio of the length of the sloping distance of the stair section to the evacuation time:
V = L/T
where V is the evacuation speed (m/s), L is the slope evacuation distance (m), and T is the evacuation time (s).
In this experiment, the total number of stairs is 22 runs. The measuring points of the stair ascending speed were positioned at intervals of 2–3 runs, with a total of 10 speed measuring points (H1–H10). The height of each speed measuring point is listed in Table 3.

2.5.2. HR Measurement

In the process of upward evacuation, speed is governed by physical characteristics, fatigue, and physical exertion. Current research suggests that the main indicators for measuring physical exertion and fatigue are exercise HR and blood pressure. Some scholars use exercise HR to measure the degree of exercise fatigue [29]. This method of calculation is used here. The exercise HR was measured at the same 10 points as the speed measurements. Both the resting HR and the maximum HR at the completion of the exercise were also measured.

3. Results

3.1. HR in Relation to Evacuation Speed

Table 4 compares the data and Pearson correlation coefficients for each of the experimental subjects. HR is significantly correlated with ascending evacuation speed (p < 0.01). Males and females exhibit a similar gradual upward relationship in terms of HR change with respect to ascending evacuation speed. The mean upward HR is 145.99 b/min for males and 151.48 b/min for females. The mean upward ascending speed is 0.82 m/s and 0.71 m/s for males and females, respectively, with a range of 0.56–1.18 m/s for males and 0.52–1.06 m/s for females. HR is significantly correlated with evacuation time (p < 0.01), with men requiring significantly less time to evacuate than women.

3.2. Analysis of HR and Ascending Evacuation Speed at Different Heights

Table 5 presents the parameters of ascending evacuation speed with height and the correlation with HR. The maximum HR values during the upward evacuation for men and women do not differ significantly, with a maximum of 180 b/min reached after 27.1 m for men and 22 m for women. The HR values for evacuees are above 150 b/min, i.e., the evacuees are already significantly fatigued. The average ascending evacuation speed gradually decreases with increasing upward height. The mean ascending evacuation speed for males decreases from 1.12 m/s at 5.1 m to 0.63 m/s at 54.6 m. The mean ascending evacuation speed for females decreases from 0.92 m/s at 5.1 m to 0.57 m/s at 54.6 m. When the height parameter is included, the ascending evacuation speed is significantly correlated with HR from the outset for both males and females. In contrast, for females, speed and HR display some correlation from 5.1 to 22 m and are significantly correlated from 27.1 to 54.6 m. For males, speed is significantly correlated with HR from 10.2 to 46.9 m, but is not correlated after 54.6 m. Thus, the overall correlation between HR and ascending evacuation speed becomes insignificant for male subjects after a certain height, whereas the correlation between HR and ascending evacuation speed remains significant for females. For males, after evacuation to 54.6 m, HR is no longer the main factor influencing ascending evacuation speed.

3.3. Mathematical between HR and Ascending Evacuation Speed

Five intervals were delineated according to the amount of exercise, HR, and physical fatigue of the personnel: ultra-low exercise (HR ≤ 120), no fatigue; low exercise (120 < HR ≤ 140), slight fatigue; medium exercise (140 < HR ≤ 160), moderate fatigue; high exercise (160 < HR ≤ 180), severe fatigue; and extra-high exercise (HR > 180), extreme fatigue. Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8 depict the speed of upward evacuation for men and women in different HR groups as a function of the height of upward evacuation. Regression lines have been fitted using the relevant data. Comparing the regression lines in each graph shows that the two gender curves generally have a similar trend, with the speed decreasing with increasing upward height and HR. The curve is higher for male subjects than for females in all five HR groups, and there is a more significant difference in the slope of the curve for males than for females (Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8). In the intervals 120 < HR ≤ 140 (Figure 5) and 140 < HR ≤ 160 (Figure 6), there is a strong similarity between the two genders, but in the other three groups, HR ≤ 120 (Figure 4), 160 < HR ≤ 180 (Figure 7), and HR > 180 (Figure 8), there are more significant differences. Although some correlation between ascending evacuation speed and gender exists at different levels of significance, the trend is more dependent on HR. In addition, after evacuation to a certain height, the ascending evacuation speed tends to be equal and stable for both males and females, and HR no longer affects the ascending evacuation speed.
The following is a prediction numerical model for the ascending evacuation speed (m/s) based on the upward movement HR grouping.
  • when HR ≤ 120:
    Ymale = 0.89 − 0.41/[1 + (x/5.47)3.2]     R2male = 0.8297
    Yfemale = 0.73 − 0.27/[1 + (x/7.85)1.6]     R2female = 0.83907
    when 120 < HR ≤ 140,
    Ymale = 0.69 − 0.36/[1 + (x/19.41)3.03]    R2male = 0.87447
    Yfemale = 0.72 − 0.3/[1 + (x/9.32)1.92]     R2female = 0.91333
    when 140 < HR ≤ 160,
    Ymale= − 15.3 + 16.68/[1 + (x/2190.67)0.77]  R2male = 0.93633
    Yfemale = 0.53 − 0.44/[1 + (x/20.94)3.5]    R2female = 0.92236
    when 160 < HR ≤ 180,
    Ymale = 0.58 − 0.69/[1 + (x/25.64)4.06]    R2male = 0.93461
    Yfemale = 0.53 − 0.29/[1 + (x/31.24.96)4.15]   R2female = 0.92586
    when HR > 180,
    Ymale = 0.63 − 0.19/[1 + (x/40.53)10.61]    R2male = 0.84344
    Yfemale = 0.59 − 0.07/[1 + (x/44.91)19.51]   R2female = 0.85635
    where R2male is the male variance, R2female is the female variance, x represents the upward evacuation height of the stairs (m), and y represents the upward heart rate (b/min).

4. Discussion

4.1. Mathematical Relationship between HR and Ascending Evacuation Speed for Safe Evacuation Design of Stairs in Deep Underground Stations

This study has found that the HR during evacuation from deep underground stations shows an initial sharp increase and then gradually stabilizes at the highest HR, which is consistent with previous findings [29,33]. At the same time, this study has confirmed that the ascending evacuation speed from deep underground stations is significantly correlated with HR (p < 0.01), confirming the findings of previous studies.
The findings of this study may differ from those of previous research for several reasons, such as the use of a treadmill as the experimental apparatus by Ronchi et al. [30] and the parallel double-running staircase in the experiment by Chen et al. [32]. The type of evacuation staircase and the realism of the experimental scenario will clearly influence the experimental results. In the study by Zhu Kongjin [33] et al., the demographic characteristics and level of effort of the experimental population are possible reasons. In addition, the correlation between male ascending speed and HR is significantly different from that of females, thus proving the impact of gender on ascending speed.
Another important finding of this study is that the correlation between ascending evacuation speed and HR increases and then decreases as the evacuation height increases. For males, HR is no longer a major factor in evacuation speed at a height of 54.6 m, with the male ascending evacuation speed remaining consistent at 0.63 m/s. For females, the correlation between ascending evacuation speed and HR remains constant, with ascending evacuation speed maintained at around 0.57 m/s at a height of 54.6 m. For males, the stair speed distribution ranges from 0.56 to 1.18 m/s, while for females the range is 0.52–1.06 m/s.
This study used individuals as the experimental subjects and did not consider the influence of age differences. The evacuation speed during the upward movement along the evacuation staircase was chosen as the subject of the study as this is consistent with the general characteristics of upward evacuation from deep underground stations. In addition, the ascending evacuation speed provides an overall understanding of the evacuation behaviors of people of different genders and HRs and their physical functions decline during the upward movement. To enhance the generalizability of the study results, the most common straight-running staircase found in deep underground stations was used.
Overall, these findings provide new insights into the relationship between HR and ascending evacuation speed, i.e., HR provides a good indicator of ascending evacuation speed. Thus, the relationship between ascending evacuation speed and HR can be used as a basis for the safe design of evacuation stairs in deep underground stations.

4.2. Safety Design Strategy of Evacuation Stairs Rest Area

Following the above discussion, we now propose a safety design strategy for evacuation staircases in deep underground stations based on a mathematical and theoretical model of ascending evacuation speed and HR. The design is based on predictions of the upward travel speed and HR fatigue of each person in the staircase, enabling the location and height range of congested areas to be calculated. One or more scattered rest areas can then be placed at the side of the evacuation staircase, providing evacuees with appropriate zones to recover while evacuating from a deep underground station. This avoids fatigued people creating unnecessary congestion on the stairs and affecting the evacuation of non-fatigued people, thus increasing the overall speed of evacuation and safeguarding life and property.
The design consists of evacuation stairs, pedestrian recognition devices, HR sensors, a central manager, evacuation signs, cameras, and rest areas(Figure 9). The evacuation staircase is the main route for ascending evacuation from the deep underground station, and its layout is designed in accordance with the requirements of various national codes for deep underground spaces. Pedestrian recognition devices and HR sensors are installed in the same spatial area at the entrance to the evacuation staircase, allowing HR detection and real-time recognition of external attributes of the evacuees, as well as the detection and collection of personnel characteristics. The central manager is installed in the control center of the deep underground station, and collects, stores, and analyzes information. The rest areas are located at the side of the stairs and are connected to the platform. The rest areas are closed off during normal station use to avoid situations where the rest area space is occupied and cannot function during an emergency evacuation, and to prevent the use and damage of the life-saving equipment placed within them. Each rest area is equipped with an access control module, which opens the rest area upon receipt of an emergency alarm signaling that people are tired or when the density of people is close to the maximum. People are directed to the rest areas through signs on the evacuation stairs, effectively solving the problem of congestion. At the same time, the rest areas are equipped with cameras that are connected to the control center for communication. In the case of emergency evacuation, the camera can view the people in the rest areas and dynamically guide them to evacuate.
The most important point of this safe design is that it can be applied in new deep underground stations to improve evacuation safety efficiency and employed during the renovation of existing deep underground stations to reduce the need to adjust the building structure and layout. Multiple rest areas can be located on the same side of the stairway platform, thus reducing the space required for evacuation routes in the underground station and lowering construction costs. At the same time, the locations of the rest areas are designed to correspond with the minimum upward fatigue HR height and the crowd density at different heights. This accounts for differences in the physical ability of different categories of pedestrians, making the designed rest areas more humane, scientific, and of practical application value. The timely diversion of fatigued people and the avoidance of congestion on the stairs are expected to greatly improve the safety level of underground spaces.

5. Conclusions

Through real-life experiments, a significant correlation (p < 0.01) was demonstrated between ascending evacuation speed and HR in deep underground stations. Furthermore, the degree of the correlation between HR and ascending evacuation speed was observed to vary with height. For males, HR is no longer a major factor affecting the ascending evacuation speed at a height of 54.6 m, whereas for females, HR still influences the ascending evacuation speed. Based on the experimental results, mathematical models describing the effect of male and female HR on the upward movement speed was developed for evacuation from a 54.6 m deep station.
The same points and different points between the results of this study and those of previous studies have been discussed. HR has important implications for evaluating the ascending evacuation speed in deep underground spaces. On this basis, a safety design strategy for evacuation staircases in deep underground station was proposed. The safety system can calculate the ascending evacuation speed of each person in the evacuation staircase based on HR data from a detector, predict potentially crowded locations and height ranges along the evacuation staircase, and dynamically determine the best rest area and evacuation path for deep underground stations. With further advances in this safe staircase design, the sustainable construction and development of deep underground stations will be enhanced.

6. Limitations and Prospects

This study proposes a safety design strategy for evacuation stairs in deep underground stations based on heart rate and ascending evacuation speed. Nevertheless, there are still some areas that need improvement in this study. Firstly, this study only analyzed the relationship between heart rate and speed between men and women, without considering the impact of physical differences in individuals of the same sex, such as their height, weight, and other factors. Secondly, the experimental participants in this study were young people and did not consider the different effects of heart rate brought by other age groups, such as adolescents, middle-aged people, and older people.
Based on the limitations of this study, future work may be directed towards: (1) studying the relationship between elements such as height and weight of personnel under the same type on heart rate and evacuation speed; and (2) studying the relationship between different ages on heart rate and evacuation speed.

Author Contributions

G.P.: conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, writing—original draft, formal analysis, visualization, project administration; M.P.: conceptualization, methodology, validation, writing—review and editing, supervision; T.Z.: methodology, validation, data curation, investigation, supervision; Z.W.: software, validation, data curation, investigation; Z.L.: software, validation, data curation, investigation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51878082 and 52278005.

Institutional Review Board Statement

All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Chongqing University.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their comments and nice suggestions, which greatly improved the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors have no competing interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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Sustainability 15 10670 g001 550
Figure 1. Staircase plan diagram.
Figure 1. Staircase plan diagram.
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Figure 2. Polar HR band experimental equipment and specific wearing mode.
Figure 2. Polar HR band experimental equipment and specific wearing mode.
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Figure 3. On-site experimental record of ascending staircase during the experiment.
Figure 3. On-site experimental record of ascending staircase during the experiment.
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Figure 4. Relationship between HR (HR ≤ 120) and ascending speed and height.
Figure 4. Relationship between HR (HR ≤ 120) and ascending speed and height.
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Figure 5. Relationship between HR (120 < HR ≤ 140) and ascending speed and height.
Figure 5. Relationship between HR (120 < HR ≤ 140) and ascending speed and height.
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Figure 6. Relationship between HR (140 < HR ≤ 160) and ascending speed and height.
Figure 6. Relationship between HR (140 < HR ≤ 160) and ascending speed and height.
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Figure 7. Relationship between HR (160 < HR ≤ 180) and ascending speed and height.
Figure 7. Relationship between HR (160 < HR ≤ 180) and ascending speed and height.
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Figure 8. Relationship between HR (HR > 180) and ascending speed and height.
Figure 8. Relationship between HR (HR > 180) and ascending speed and height.
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Figure 9. Staircase safety design strategy diagram.
Figure 9. Staircase safety design strategy diagram.
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Table
Table 1. General information of participants.
Table 1. General information of participants.
GenderNumber of PeopleAverage AgeAverage Height (cm)Average Weight (kg)
Female2723.151.6353.48
Male2723.521.7471.96
Total5423.331.6962.72
Table
Table 2. General information of experimental site.
Table 2. General information of experimental site.
No.Stairs
Width (Clear Width, mm)		Number of StepsTread Depth
(mm)		Flight Length
(m)		Step Height
(mm)		Flight Height
(m)		Total Rise Height (Along the Stair Height, m)
T1150017300.004.80150.002.552.55
T2150017300.004.80150.002.555.10
T3150017300.004.80150.002.557.65
T4150017300.004.80150.002.5510.20
T5150017300.004.80150.002.5512.75
T6150017300.004.80150.002.5515.30
T7150011300.003.00145.451.6016.90
T8150017300.004.80150.002.5519.45
T9150017300.004.80150.002.5522.00
T10150017300.004.80150.002.5524.55
T11150017300.004.80150.002.5527.10
T12150017300.004.80150.002.5529.65
T13150017300.004.80150.002.5532.20
T14150015300.004.20150.002.2534.45
T15150015300.004.20150.002.2536.70
T16190017300.004.80150.002.5539.25
T17190017300.004.80150.002.5541.80
T18190017300.004.80150.002.5544.35
T19190017300.004.80150.002.5546.90
T20190017300.004.80150.002.5549.45
T21190017300.004.80150.002.5552.00
T22190018300.005.10144.442.6054.60
Table
Table 3. Heights of speed measuring points (m).
Table 3. Heights of speed measuring points (m).
H1H2H3H4H5H6H7H8H9H10
5.1010.2016.9022.0027.1032.2036.7041.8046.9054.60
Table
Table 4. Pearson correlation coefficients of HR and ascending speed.
Table 4. Pearson correlation coefficients of HR and ascending speed.
Total (N = 54)CorrelationMale (N = 27)CorrelationFemale (N = 27)Correlation
Age, years23.33
(1.59)		−0.20023.52
(1.52)		−0.498 **23.15
(1.63)		0.392 *
Height, m1.69
(0.06)		0.591 **1.74
(0.03)		−0.2141.63
(0.02)		−0.320
Weight, kg62.72
(9.97)		0.654 **71.96
(4.32)		−0.05053.48
(3.06)		−0.270
Resting HR, b/min76.39
(7.17)		−0.404 **71.81
(5.61)		0.08680.96
(5.42)		0.185
Average HR, b/min150.36
(6.24)		0.042 **145.99
(5.27)		0.792 **151.48
(5.52)		0.536 **
Maximum HR, b/min180.00
(4.95)		0.377 **180.00
(5.86)		0.678 **180.00
(3.83)		0.509 **
Ascending speed, m/s0.76
(0.07)		0.042 **0.82
(0.04)		0.792 **0.71
(0.05)		0.536 **
Evacuation time, s182.69
(16.09)		−0.955 **170.19
(7.08)		−0.725 **195.19
(12.45)		−0.506 **
* Values are mean. SD: Standard deviation. Pearson correlation coefficients.* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.
Table
Table 5. Association between HR and ascending speed at different heights.
Table 5. Association between HR and ascending speed at different heights.
Hi
(m)		 Male Female
Mean Ascending Speed (SD)HR (SD)CorrelationMean Ascending Speed (SD)HR (SD)Correlation
54.60.63 (0.04)180.00 (5.86)0.3740.57 (0.04)180.00 (3.83)0.559 **
46.90.65 (0.04)178.00 (5.45)0.492 **0.59 (0.04)178.00 (4.85)0.508 **
41.80.67 (0.04)174.00 (4.97)0.645 **0.61 (0.05)176.00 (5.45)0.628 **
36.70.72 (0.03)170.00 (6.03)0.604 **0.63 (0.05)173.93 (5.51)0.591 **
32.20.76 (0.04)161.92 (7.73)0.575 **0.66 (0.06)169.11 (6.19)0.525 **
27.10.85 (0.05)155.00 (6.36)0.517 **0.71 (0.06)164.67 (6.63)0.506 **
22.00.88 (0.06)145.69 (6.11)0.618 **0.74 (0.06)156.38 (7.38)0.473 *
16.90.93 (0.06)134.00 (6.98)0.677 **0.82 (0.06)143.00 (5.48)0.412 *
10.20.97 (0.06)120.38 (7.61)0.663 **0.87 (0.07)128.00 (9.28)0.475 *
5.11.12 (0.06)105.00 (7.29)0.447 *0.92 (0.07)109.00 (6.84)0.383 *
* Values are mean. SD: Standard deviation. Pearson correlation coefficients.* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.
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MDPI and ACS Style

Pan, G.; Peng, M.; Zhou, T.; Wan, Z.; Liang, Z. Research on Safety Design Strategy of Evacuation Stairs in Deep Underground Station Based on Human Heart Rate and Ascending Evacuation Speed. Sustainability 2023, 15, 10670. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310670

AMA Style

Pan G, Peng M, Zhou T, Wan Z, Liang Z. Research on Safety Design Strategy of Evacuation Stairs in Deep Underground Station Based on Human Heart Rate and Ascending Evacuation Speed. Sustainability. 2023; 15(13):10670. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310670

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pan, Gao, Mingxi Peng, Tiejun Zhou, Zhanzhi Wan, and Zheng Liang. 2023. "Research on Safety Design Strategy of Evacuation Stairs in Deep Underground Station Based on Human Heart Rate and Ascending Evacuation Speed" Sustainability 15, no. 13: 10670. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310670

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