The Impact of Corridor Directional Configuration on Wayfinding Behavior during Fire Evacuation in Underground Spaces: An Empirical Study Based on Virtual Reality

Abstract

This study employed Virtual Reality (VR) technology to investigate the influence of corridor directional configuration on evacuation wayfinding behavior in underground spaces. The study designed two virtual underground space fire evacuation scenarios with different forms of intersections, and recruited 115 volunteers to participate in the experiment.The results indicated that corridor directional configuration significantly affected participants’ fire evacuation wayfinding behavior. At Y-shaped and T-shaped intersections with left and right turning options, participants showed a preference for choosing the right-side corridor. At ┡-shaped and ┩-shaped intersections with straight and turning options, participants tended to choose the straight path. Individual factors (such as gender, evacuation experience, and professional background) did not demonstrate significant effects on wayfinding choices in this study, though they may produce different evacuation outcomes in various scenarios. In practical evacuation design, corridor directional configuration should be organically integrated with other environmental factors to reinforce directional preferences and more effectively guide evacuation. The findings provide scientific evidence for underground space evacuation route design, which can be used to optimize evacuation signage and path configuration, thereby improving evacuation efficiency and safety. Future research could be conducted in more complex environments, considering additional variables to gain a more comprehensive understanding of evacuation behavior.

Keywords

• fire evacuation in underground spaces
• virtual reality
• wayfinding behavior
• corridor directional configuration
• evacuation route choice