Passenger flow characteristics and its impact on personnel air conditioning load in underground railway stations

The passenger stay duration is a key calculation parameter required for personnel air conditioning load and outdoor air load in the air conditioning system design of underground railway stations. Generally, the static estimation value is taken as its value. This may make the calculated hourly personnel air conditioning loads of the station inaccurate, especially when they are used as the base of control strategy optimization of the air conditioning system. The movement situations of passengers in underground railway stations are investigated in the field, and it is found that the long passenger waiting time appears during peak times and the dwell time in the halls and platforms strongly depends on passenger flow and train departure interval. Pedestrian simulation method is adopted to simulate the passenger stay duration and passenger flow distributions in different cases of passenger flow and train departure interval. The calculation method of personnel air conditioning load is corrected. A case study illustrates that during the peak period of passenger flow, the calculation difference of personnel air conditioning load based on dynamic and static passenger stay time reaches 108.7 kW, and the relative difference reaches 79.5%.