Performance-based evaluation of means of egress in a model shopping mall incase of fire with computer aided simulation softwares

Shopping malls are places where people of all types and ages can be found in the society with very different anthropometric values in terms of occupants. It is very difficult to carry out a real evacuation exercise and to obtain experimental results in these places using traditional methods and such studies have rarely been carried out until today. Examining the life safety performance of this type of buildings in detail by examining the fires experienced is not applicable for these types of buildings, which are built with architecturally creative ideas, which may not be very similar to each other. Today, computer aided programs can be used to examine the consequences of fires in such buildings. The subject of this study is to determine the life safety performance in a sample shopping mall fire with the help of computer aided programs for different fire scenarios and to examine the results. It is an experienced situation that shopping malls' fires, guests mostly try to get out of the path they entered the building in a panic. Because the users are not likely to receive prior information about building means of egress and because they have very different education levels and varying social statuses, the common education level on fire behavior is at the lowest possible level. In addition, as it is often encountered in our country as a result of economic concerns, shopping malls' security and technical personnel in numbers are kept to minimum and due to the low continuity of the personnel in the emergency planning, they cannot receive adequate training, the trainees change in a short time, and the newcomers are not retrained. This situation may cause that the personnel who will act as a guide for the evacuation in the fire cannot perform their duties properly. Legal regulations allow sizing fire evacuation possibilities in our country only with prescriptive methods. It is not a necessity to measure the building evacuation performance in a building designed with this method. In accordance with Turkish regulation on fire protection of buildings, evacuation drills must be performed at least once a year in all buildings, whereas full evacuation drills are never carried out in shopping mall buildings as it is not applicable, although it is included in the regulation. For these reasons, shopping mall buildings are not predictable or controllable structures in fire evacuation performance compared to ordinary buildings such as offices and factories. Testing a life safety system designed as a directive for different scenarios by using a performance-based measurement method, and examining the performance differences between scenarios will form the basis for the results that this study will put forward. As a result of the study, it was evaluated that the visibility limit in terms of smoke control system design in this type of building fires is a more conservative design data than the FED criterion. In addition, the thought that the use of the sprinkler system is a more effective life safety measure than the use of the smoke control system has been strengthened.