We have used the BIM (building information model) to extract the building’s spatial and physical properties and have applied co-simulation of fire, through computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and occupants’ evacuation behavior, through agent-based modeling (ABM) to estimate the average and maximum required safe egress time for various construction sequencing alternatives. In this paper, we propose simulation as a tool to introduce safety under structural fire, as a decision criterion, to be mixed with time and budget for selecting the best construction schedule alternative.

While safety is considered paramount and is meant to be applied as a hard constraint in the scheduling stage, in practice, safe evacuation considerations are reduced to rules of thumb and general code guidelines. Most construction projects are, however, planned and scheduled merely based on the time and budget criteria. In particular, when the building remains operational during such projects, the redistribution of occupants and interruptions with access corridors/exit egress can exponentially increase the risk for the occupants. Construction renovation projects increase the risk of structural fire, mostly due to the accumulation of combustible construction materials and waste.

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