If evacuation from a multi-storey building is going to be simulated, then the floors have to be connected to each other by stairs. Staircases are created within Simulex. Add a staircase using the Menu Item: Building > Add Staircase. A maximum of 200 staircases can be used in the current version of Simulex.
The staircase can be assigned a name in the Input Staircase Name dialogue box. Also add the correct length and width of the staircase. The length to be inserted is the true length of the stair measured as the slope length. Stairs with landings have a total length represented by the sum of the sloping parts and the landing.
Spiral stairs are treated in the same way. The width of spiral stairs should be so narrow that overtaking cannot take place. People do not normally overtake on spiral stairs but instead normally walk behind each other. All the simulated stairs are presented as straight stairs independent of their actual appearance in the real building.
By double-clicking on the staircase, the size of the border around the staircase can be changed. Normally this border size should be 0.5 m in all directions where occupants are likely to enter the staircase. This is to give people enough space, so that they don’t try to ‘step-off’ the distance map space.
