An evacuation model using cellular automata

In order to simulate evacuation from a room with multiple exits, a two-dimensional basic cellular automata (CA) model is proposed based on human behavior. In this model, two factors are taken into account, viz. spatial distance and occupant density. To make the simulation more reasonable, human behavior including inertial effect, group effect and unadventurous effect are considered in an extended model. Numerical results show that the proposed CA model is realistic and robust. A parametric study reveals the potential application of CA model in the assessment of fire safety.     

Cellular automata model for simulation of effect of guiders and visibility range

An extensive cellular automata (CA) model is proposed to simulate evacuations from a large smoke-filled compartment. To be more realistic, the proposed CA model takes account of human behavior by probabilistic analysis. In the numerical tests, the phenomenon of “flow with the stream” is simulated. The results show that visibility and number of guiders can affect an evacuation significantly. By using the proposed model, these two effects can be simulated through case study.     

Analyzing floor-stair merging flow based on experiments and simulation

In most situations, staircase is the only egress to evacuate from high-rise buildings. The merging flow on the stair landing has a great influence on the evacuation efficiency. In this paper, we develop an improved cellular automaton model to describe the merging behavior, and the model is validated by a series of real experiments. It is found that the flow rate of simulation results is similar to the drills, which means that the improved model is reasonable and can be used to describe the merging behavior on stairs. Furthermore, some scenarios with different door locations and building floor numbers are simulated by the model. The results show that(i) the best door location is next to the upward staircase;(ii) the total evacuation time and the building floor number are linearly related to each other;(iii) the pedestrians on upper floors have a negative influence on the evacuation flow rate.     

Evacuation behaviors at exit in CA model with force essentials: A comparison with social force model

The problem of emergent evacuation is of obvious importance in common life. However, many existing evacuation models are either computationally inefficient, or are missing some crucial human behaviors in crowds. In this paper, we improve a cellular automata (CA) model introduced recently, which quantifies evacuation process with three basic forces, and compare its performance with the social force model introduced by Helbing et al. in an 200-people evacuation of a single-exit square room. The main characteristics compared include arching, clogging and faster-is-slower behaviors, as well as the evacuation time. The results show that the two models are comparable in all calculations, indicating that the three forces, i.e., repulsion, friction and attraction, are basic reasons for complex behaviors emerged from evacuation. Furthermore, because of its simple rules and fast calculation speed, the discussed CA model is easily analyzed and is very helpful to the applications.     

Effects of evacuation assistant's leading behavior on the evacuation efficiency: Information transmission approach

Evacuation assistants are expected to spread the escape route information and lead evacuees toward the exit as quickly as possible. Their leading behavior influences the evacuees' movement directly, which is confirmed to be a decisive factor of the evacuation efficiency. The transmission process of escape information and its function on the evacuees' movement are accurately presented by the proposed extended dynamic communication field model. For evacuation assistants and eevacuees, their sensitivity parameter of static floor field(SFF), kL S, and kS, are fully discussed. The simulation results e indicate that the appropriate kL Sis associated with the maximum kSof evacuees. The optimal combinations of kL Sand e kSwere found to reach the highest evacuation efficiency. There also exists an optimal value for evacuation assistants' information transmission radius.     

双出口房间内疏散行人流的仿真和实验研究

为研究行人疏散过程中的路径选择行为, 提出了一个基于元胞自动机的行人微观模型, 并组织了三组双出口教室内的学生疏散实验. 模型中, 行人路径选择行为受其到出口距离、前方路径通行能力和行人间排斥力影响. 通过观察实验结果, 得到一些相关现象. 利用实验结果对模型参数进行校正. 利用校正模型对该教室内疏散学生流进行仿真, 结果表明 模型能有效地刻画教室内学生流的疏散特征, 疏散时间随学生人数线性增加. 该研究有助于类似场景中行人疏散策略和方案的制定. 关键词： 元胞自动机 行人疏散 仿真 实验     

三维空间行人疏散的元胞自动机模型

为了有效刻画行人在三维空间中的疏散状况,结合阶梯因素提出了一种新的三维元胞自动机模型,该模型首先基于位置吸引力和碰撞可能性给出了行人移动概率的计算公式,并通过定义元胞演化过程阐述其疏散策略,同时,利用建立的仿真平台进行实验,深入分析了疏散时间、出口流率、出口宽度、初始行人密度以及系统平均速度之间的关系,以此获得更加符合实际情况的行人流特征,结果表明,疏散时间、出口流率与初始行人密度呈现正相关,而与出口宽度呈现负相关,并且系统平均速度和出口宽度对于最优疏散时间存在一个理想阈值。     

Incorporating topography in a cellular automata model to simulate residents evacuation in a mountain area in China

In China, both the mountainous areas and the number of people who live in mountain areas occupy a significant proportion. When production accidents or natural disasters happen, the residents in mountain areas should be evacuated and the evacuation is of obvious importance to public safety. But it is a pity that there are few studies on safety evacuation in rough terrain. The particularity of the complex terrain in mountain areas, however, makes it difficult to study pedestrian evacuation. In this paper, a three-dimensional surface cellular automata model is proposed to numerically simulate the real time dynamic evacuation of residents. The model takes into account topographic characteristics (the slope gradient) of the environment and the biomechanics characteristics (weight and leg extensor power) of the residents to calculate the walking speed. This paper only focuses on the influence of topography and the physiological parameters are defined as constants according to a statistical report. Velocity varies with the topography. In order to simulate the behavior of a crowd with varying movement velocities, and a numerical algorithm is used to determine the time step of iteration. By doing so, a numerical simulation can be conducted in a 3D surface CA model. Moreover, considering residents evacuation around a gas well in a mountain area as a case, a visualization system for a three-dimensional simulation of pedestrian evacuation is developed. In the simulation process, population behaviors of congestion, queuing and collision avoidance can be observed. The simulation results are explained reasonably. Therefore, the model presented in this paper can realize a 3D dynamic simulation of pedestrian evacuation vividly in complex terrain and predict the evacuation procedure and evacuation time required, which can supply some valuable information for emergency management.     

A heterogeneous lattice gas model for simulating pedestrian evacuation

Based on the cellular automata method (CA model) and the mobile lattice gas model (MLG model), we have developed a heterogeneous lattice gas model for simulating pedestrian evacuation processes in an emergency. A local population density concept is introduced first. The update rule in the new model depends on the local population density and the exit crowded degree factor. The drift D, which is one of the key parameters influencing the evacuation process, is allowed to change according to the local population density of the pedestrians. Interactions including attraction, repulsion, and friction between every two pedestrians and those between a pedestrian and the building wall are described by a nonlinear function of the corresponding distance, and the repulsion forces increase sharply as the distances get small. A critical force of injury is introduced into the model, and its effects on the evacuation process are investigated. The model proposed has heterogeneous features as compared to the MLG model or the basic CA model. Numerical examples show that the model proposed can capture the basic features of pedestrian evacuation, such as clogging and arching phenomena.     

Evacuation from a classroom considering the occupant density around exits

An existing cellular automaton evacuation model is modified to simulate an evacuation experiment conducted in a classroom with obstacles. In the modified model, the impact of the occupant density around exits on human behavior in evacuation is considered. The simulation and experimental results prove that this improvement makes sense, because besides the spatial distance to exits, people may also choose the exit according to the occupant density around exits. The distribution of individual evacuation times as a function of initial positions and the dynamics of the evacuation process are studied. Comparison between the experimental and simulation results shows that the model can reproduce the experiment well. The improvement of the CA model is useful for further study.     

Logit-based exit choice model of evacuation in rooms with internal obstacles and multiple exits

A logit-based discrete choice model is proposed to study the exit choice behaviour of evacuees in rooms with internal obstacles and multiple exits. Several factors influencing the exit choice behaviour, including the information obtained by evacuees, the tendency of following others, the visibility and familiarity of exits and the physical conditions of nearby exits, are considered. Evacuees are allowed to re-select their target exits for minimizing the perceived disutility during evacuation process. Numerical results from applying the model to cellular automata simulation of evacuation are presented and the effects of some model parameters on evacuation time are investigated.     

Influences of exit and stair conditions on human evacuation in a dormitory

Evacuation processes of students are investigated by experiment and simulation. The experiment is performed for students evacuating from a dormitory with an exit and stairs. FDS+Evac is proposed to simulate the exit and stair dynamics of occupant evacuation. Concerning the exit and stair widths, we put forward some useful standpoints. Good agreement is achieved between the predicted results and experimental results. With the increase of exit width, a significant stratification phenomenon will be found in flow rate. Stratification phenomenon is that two different stable flow rates will emerge during the evacuation. And the flow rate curve looks like a ladder. The larger the exit width, the earlier the stratification phenomenon appears. When exit width is more than 2.0 m, the flow rate of each exit width is divided into two stable stages, and the evacuation times show almost no change. The judgment that the existence of stairs causes flow stratification is reasonable. By changing the width of the stairs, we proved that judgment. The smaller the width of BC, the earlier the stratification appears. We found that scenario 5 is the most adverse circumstance. Those results are helpful in performance-based design of buildings.     

Simulation of pedestrian flow based on cellular automata: A case of pedestrian crossing street at section in China

One of the purposes of pedestrian studies is to evaluate the effects of a proposed program on the pedestrian facilities before its implementation. In order to evaluate the level of service (LOS) of a pedestrian facility, a microscopic model is built to simulate the process of pedestrian crossing street. Most of the existing models focus on the occupant evacuation flow in buildings; however, they are not appropriate for pedestrians in the traffic. According to the characteristics of pedestrian crossing street at signalized crosswalks, we build a model based on cellular automata. Both of the system size and cell size are coordinate with the reality. Depending on the contrast of three parameters of pedestrian flow between simulation data and the reality data, we found that this model is analogous to the real process of pedestrian crossing street at signalized sections. Finally, simulation and its results can provide guidance for evaluating the effects of pedestrian facilities before their implementation.     

基于元胞传输模型的楼梯区域行人运动

针对楼梯区域行人运动进行观测实验,获得行人上下楼过程中的运动数据,通过对数据进行整理与分析,绘制不同过程中流量-密度变化关系图.通过对流密关系图进行定量分析,掌握楼梯区域行人运动特征,并改进原有元胞传输模型,提出楼梯行人运动模型,仿真模拟行人运动过程.模型中,引入势能修正系数,利用异向行人对元胞势能的影响来改变行人的路径选择;引入流量修正系数,描述不同的物理参数对元胞边界最大流量的影响;引入偏移系数,修正移动规则,增强优先方向对行人路径选择行为的影响.然后,通过比较仿真结果与实验数据,对模型及引入参数进行验证和校准.最后,利用校正模型,模拟研究楼梯区域对向行人运动过程,并对势能修正参数进行了灵敏度分析,进一步研究模型参数对行人运动的影响.研究表明,该模型可以模拟刻画楼梯区域行人运动过程,同时验证了楼梯区域行人集散效率跟行人到达率与行人路径选择有关.     

基于元胞自动机的行人疏散流仿真研究

基于元胞自动机对行人疏散流进行仿真研究.模型利用两个动态参数反映行人移动区域内的疏散情况,从而决定行人的行为选择.模型中行人可以根据自身周围的情况选择移动、等待行为.本文仿真研究了行人在正常疏散环境下,系统规模、疏散人数、安全出口宽度、多个安全出口布局对行人疏散时间的影响.研究结果表明,行人疏散时间随行人数量呈线性增加;随安全出口宽度呈负指数性减少;同时,多个安全出口布局的不平衡也会对行人的疏散过程和疏散时间产生一定的影响. 关键词： 元胞自动机 行人疏散流 动态参数 疏散时间     

A novel algorithm of simulating multi-velocity evacuation based on cellular automata modeling and tenability condition

A cellular automata (CA) model, which adopts the findings of tenability analysis, is proposed to simulate the evacuation from a smoke-filled room. Two algorithms, viz., direct algorithm and indirect algorithm, are used to model the behavior of a crowd consisting of people with different movement velocities. In the indirect algorithm, the movement velocity is related to probability so that the CPU time is greatly reduced. Another novelty is that an experimental formula for estimating the survival duration when exposed to constant concentration of toxic gases in a static environment is extended to one that involves varying degree of toxic gases. This has been incorporated into the CA model.     

Small-grid analysis of discrete model for evacuation from a hall

 In this paper, small-grid analysis of discrete model is described, and simulation that some walkers leave a hall is carried out to check the effects of different desired walk velocities with the same walk time at a time step, and different numbers of small grid at a time step with the same desired walk velocity, on the evacuation time. The simulation results show that small-grid analysis have reproduced some typical phenomena of evacuation, including jam, block and faster-is-slower, etc. as good as the continuum model, i.e., the social force model, but with high simulation efficiency. In addition, the power-law distribution of evacuation flow duration and block duration with the different desired walk velocities is found. The block duration with different numbers of small grid at a time step also takes on power-law characteristics, only their intercepts in log–log coordinates are different.     

Experiment and modeling of paired effect on evacuation from a three-dimensional space

A novel three-dimensional cellular automata evacuation model was proposed based on stairs factor for paired effect and variety velocities in pedestrian evacuation. In the model pedestrians' moving probability of target position at the next moment was defined based on distance profit and repulsive force profit, and evacuation strategy was elaborated in detail through analyzing variety velocities and repulsive phenomenon in moving process. At last, experiments with the simulation platform were conducted to study the relationships of evacuation time, average velocity and pedestrian velocity. The results showed that when the ratio of single pedestrian was higher in the system, the shortest route strategy was good for improving evacuation efficiency; in turn, if ratio of paired pedestrians was higher, it is good for improving evacuation efficiency to adopt strategy that avoided conflicts, and priority should be given to scattered evacuation.     

The effects of group and position vacancy on pedestrian evacuation flow model

In order to reduce the simulation error of pedestrian evacuation model, a novel three-dimensional cellular automata model was proposed with ladder factor. The calculation formula for transition probability was given in the model based on floor field, position vacancy degree and group attraction, and the evacuation strategy was presented. Meanwhile, the experiment studied the relationships of evacuation time, mean system velocity as well as pedestrian density. The result showed that the evacuation time could be reduced effectively when the mean system velocity and position vacancy had proper degree, and the bigger group had negative effect with the evacuation time, so the bigger group should be avoided in actual evacuation process.     

Evacuation dynamics with fire spreading based on cellular automaton

This paper investigates the dynamics of pedestrian evacuation with the influence of the fire spreading. An extended floor field model is proposed. In the new model, the effect of fire on the evacuation is considered by introducing the fire floor field. Thus, the floor field intensity is weighted by static, dynamic and fire floor fields. Numerical simulations are carried out to study the dynamics in the process of the evacuation. The influence of the parameters–weight of fire floor field, fire spread rate–on the evacuation efficiency is analyzed in detail. The simulation results show that the number of pedestrians evacuated out of the room is highly related to both the original location of the fire and the configuration of the room. Those results can bring some guidance to design the evacuation strategy in panic situation.