Abstract: The present study involves consideration of various factors influencing the determination of evacuation time of a theatre building which has a capacity of 450 people with seven internal exits. Factors like blockage of each exit as well as two adjacent exits and also human factors were considered in this study. Evacuation time in each scenario was determined both theoretically and using human movement simulation software called “path finder” and the results were compared. Based on the present study, it was observed that the theoretical calculation of evacuation time do not reflect the parameters that affect the evacuation time like blockage at the exits and human factors. However, this draw back could be improved to a certain extent with the help of appropriate software, wherein the above said parameters could be incorporated. The present study reveals that, there was an increase in the evacuation time when “path finder” was used as against the conventional method and this variation ranges from 25% to 40.5%. It is further observed that calculation of evacuation time using software based on human movement simulation helps to carry out various possibilities of evacuation strategy and hence helps to arrive at a better evacuation strategy. This study also included the Fire safety auditing of the theatre, which was done in reference to IS 4878 and NBC 2016 by adopting the methodology checklist. Emergency procedure and evacuation plan requirements has given to the theatre manager and also safety recommendation to improve the fire safety has provided.

Keywords: path finder, evacuation, theatre building.

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2022.9572