Currently, many large cities are closed as governments and public agencies tackle the ongoing pandemic and try to understand how to safely reopen. As people stay at home, we see a drastic reduction in transit usage. However, we also know this is temporary. We anticipate that once we begin returning to work that ridership will increase and with that will come new challenges for mitigating the risks associated with large groups and people being in close proximity. Pedestrian modelling is a valuable tool that will allow owners and operators of infrastructure or buildings to test their mitigation strategies and quantify the impact it has on people movement and the density of people. This presentation will outline various ways that pedestrian modelling is being used to efficiently test and inform scenarios as we collectively seek to reopen our cities. Attendees will learn the following:
Matthew Smith, P.Eng., is an Associate at Entuitive in Toronto, Canada and leads Entuitive’s resilience group providing performance-based design services for fire, blast, seismic, and other building threats. He received his Masters in Applied Science from Carleton University in Fire Safety Engineering and his Masters in Engineering from the University of Toronto with a focus on structural resilience. He has experience in full-scale blast testing in the UK and Middle East and has designed a range of complex structures in Canada and the United States. He is currently a member of the ASCE Fire Protection Committee, the CSCE Fire Behaviour and Safety of Structures Committee, and a member of the working group for Annex K, Structural Design for Fire Conditions, in CSA S16.
Currently, many large cities are closed as governments and public agencies tackle the ongoing pandemic and try to understand how to safely reopen. As people stay at home, we see a drastic reduction in transit usage. However, we also know this is temporary. We anticipate that once we begin returning to work that ridership will increase and with that will come new challenges for mitigating the risks associated with large groups and people being in close proximity. Pedestrian modelling is a valuable tool that will allow owners and operators of infrastructure or buildings to test their mitigation strategies and quantify the impact it has on people movement and the density of people. This presentation will outline various ways that pedestrian modelling is being used to efficiently test and inform scenarios as we collectively seek to reopen our cities. Attendees will learn the following:
