Experimental study on human evacuation onboard passenger ships considering heeling angle and opposite directions

It is crucial to understand the movement characteristics and behaviour of individuals during ship emergencies for successful human evacuation on board ships. This study aimed to analyse the effect of heeling angles on human movement characteristics and comprehensive evacuation efficiency on passenger ships through the development of a new experimental dataset of human evacuation. To achieve this, a series of tests were conducted using an experimental simulator closely resembling the evacuation scenarios recommended by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). It is revealed that a heeling angle significantly reduces both walking and running speeds of participants. Notably, when the heeling angle is 16°, males demonstrated better adaptability as their speed was less affected compared to females. Additionally, height is found to be positively correlated with movement speed across different scenarios. In counter flow tests, a comprehensive evacuation experiment was systematically quantified. The results showed that evacuation time increased with higher heeling angles. Furthermore, participants tended to maintain a larger personal space in a heeling ship, resulting in lower density when the heeling angle reached 16° compared to other scenarios. The outcomes of this study offer valuable insights for validating evacuation models and developing guidelines for human evacuation from passenger ships.