Human Centered Design and Analysis Model for Chemical Defense Shelters

Abstract

This paper presents a human centered computer simulation model for the ingress, egress, and bi-directional processing of personnel through the contamination control area (CCA) of a collective protection system. Collective protection systems are being developed by the Armed Forces to provide an area where individuals may rest, sleep, and eat without the need to wear individual protective clothing in a chemical warfare environment. Individuals enter these collective protection systems through a contamination control area by following a set of procedures for decontamination and removal of their protective clothing. The purpose for developing this computer model was to provide a means for detailed analysis and design of a CCA prior to actual prototype or operational test and evaluation. It can be used to analyze alternative operational scenarios for systems that have already been constructed. The program structure was developed as part of an iterative task analytical approach which was used to design a prototype collective protection system. The model generates a visual representation of the process on the computer monitor. It includes distributions of process times and arrival intervals. The model can be used to determine the effects of variations in process times, variations in process time distributions, training effects, and alternative hardware configurations. This model could be modified to analyze or design almost any process that is comprised of a series of sequential tasks or operations.