Simulation and optimization of fire safety emergency evacuation in university library

To ensure the safety and emergency evacuation of university library buildings and improve the efficiency of safe personnel evacuation after an emergency, this study considered the actual size and volume of university libraries. The library project of the main campus of Liaoning Technical University was modeled using the Pathfinder software. By considering the site personnel load, personnel attributes, evacuation speed, and personnel ratio, a simulation was conducted to analyze the effect of stacked items’ quantity and location and the effect of the number of items, such as tables, chairs, and bookshelves, and other factors on the time required for evacuation through an indoor evacuation passage. The results reveal that the bottleneck area of evacuation is the indoor corridor and exit of evacuation stairs. The stacking quantity and location planning of items in the reading area greatly influence the evacuation time. Restrictive measures should be taken when the number of personnel in each layer reaches a certain value. The results obtained by this study can provide a theoretical basis for the reasonable planning of evacuation pathways and the future safety management of university libraries.