Simulation of pedestrian evacuation strategies under limited visibility

Evacuation process under limited visibility is different from that under good visibility. To investigate the evacuation efficiency under limited visibility, different evacuation strategies including walking along the wall (S1), following the average movement direction (S2) and following the average position (S3) are proposed in this paper. Performances of these strategies under different visibilities, densities and exit widths are compared based on a revised social force model. Simulation results show that strategy S1 is more effective at low densities while strategy S2 and S3 are more efficient at high densities. It is noted that strategy S2 outperforms S3 under the same condition. In addition, strategy S1 is not sensitive to the change of exit width due to the movement mode of walking along the wall, while the following strategies (S2 and S3) have a better performance under the wide exit condition. The evacuation time for different proportions of pedestrians adopting one strategy in the mixed strategy situation is investigated and the optimal mixture proportion is also discussed. This study provides a new insight into the effect of different evacuation strategies on pedestrian evacuation, which is helpful for evacuees or organizers of public events to make an efficient evacuation plan under limited visibility.     

Simulation of exit choosing in pedestrian evacuation with consideration of the direction visual field

A modified floor field model is proposed to simulate the pedestrian evacuation behavior in a room with multiple exits by considering the direction visual field. Direction visual field is used to describe the pedestrian’s prediction on the propagation of pedestrian flow along some directions. The proposed model outperforms most of the similar models developed so far in such scenario that pedestrians are initially distributed in a room’s specified zone. Simulation results show that the consideration of direction visual field can better reproduce the evacuation process and reduce evacuation time apparently. Sensitivity analyses of the model parameters are presented.     

Simulation of pedestrian evacuation with asymmetrical exits layout

A simulation of pedestrian evacuation from a room with asymmetrical exit layout is presented based on the improved Dynamic Parameter Model in this paper. A special technique is introduced to compute two basic dynamic parameters: Direction-parameter and Empty-parameter considering the effects of pedestrian jam around exits and the width of exits on evacuation path selection in order to reduce evacuation imbalance caused by the asymmetry of exits layout. Two new coefficients: cognition coefficient and imbalance coefficient are introduced to respectively describe pedestrian cognitive ability and the layout imbalance of exits. The simulation results of the improved and original models are compared and analyzed. Simulation results show that evacuation time depends on the cognition coefficient and imbalance coefficient under normal evacuation condition with reasonable pedestrian. It is also found that there are phase transitions and critical points in the simulation curves of evacuation time against cognition coefficient and that the pedestrian flow shows distinctive characteristics at different phases. The values of critical cognition coefficient points depend on the initial pedestrian density and imbalance coefficient.     

An extended model for describing pedestrian evacuation under the threat of artificial attack

An extended floor field model was proposed to investigate evacuation behaviors of pedestrians under the threat of artificial attack. In this model, pedestrian movement governed by the static and dynamic floor field, and the motion and assault of artificial attacker were involved simultaneously. Further, injuries with lower velocity and deaths of pedestrians caused by the attacker during evacuation were considered. And a new parameter $k_t$ was introduced. It is the sensitivity coefficient of attack threat floor field and could reflect quantitatively the extent of effect of attack threat on the decision-making of the individual. Moreover, effects of several key parameters such as the sensitivity coefficient, assault intensity and pedestrian density on evacuation dynamics were studied. Results show that pedestrian evacuation would display interesting phenomena transiting from rolling behavior to along-the-wall motion with aggravating extent of the impact of attackers on pedestrians, which refers $k_t$ in the model varying from 0.5 to 0.8. As assault intensity increases, more casualties would be caused and the available evacuation time would decrease, which means people have to flee the room in a shorter time period for survival. When the pedestrian density increases, more clogging at the exit would be generated and pedestrians would be more difficult to evacuate due to the limited capacity of egress and the reduction in the average speed of pedestrian flow caused by the injured. And the injured with limited motion capacity could hardly complete the evacuation owing to that they need more evacuation time and would retard the speed of the pedestrian flow.     

Simulation study on cooperation behaviors and crowd dynamics in pedestrian evacuation

Pedestrian evacuation is actually a process of behavioral evolution. Interaction behaviors between pedestrians affect not only the evolution of their cooperation strategy, but also their evacuation paths-scheduling and dynamics features. The existence of interaction behaviors and cooperation evolution is therefore critical for pedestrian evacuation. To address this issue, an extended cellular automaton(CA) evacuation model considering the effects of interaction behaviors and cooperation evolution is proposed here. The influence mechanism of the environment factor and interaction behaviors between neighbors on the decision-making of one pedestrian to path scheduling is focused. Average payoffs interacting with neighbors are used to represent the competitive ability of one pedestrian, aiming to solve the conflicts when more than one pedestrian competes for the same position based on a new method. Influences of interaction behaviors, the panic degree and the conflict cost on the evacuation dynamics and cooperation evolution of pedestrians are discussed. Simulation results of the room evacuation show that the interaction behaviors between pedestrians to a certain extent are beneficial to the evacuation efficiency and the formation of cooperation behaviors as well. The increase of conflict cost prolongs the evacuation time. Panic emotions of pedestrians are bad for cooperation behaviors of the crowd and have complex effects on evacuation time. A new self-organization effect is also presented.     

Passenger management strategy and evacuation in subway station under Covid-19

Under the background of Covid-19 sweeping the world, safe and reasonable passenger flow management strategy in subway stations is an effective means to prevent the spread of virus. Based on the social force model and the minimum cost model, the movement and path selection behavior of passengers in the subway station are modeled, and a strategy for passenger flow management to maintain a safe social distance is put forward. Take Qingdao Jinggangshan Road subway station of China as the simulation scene, the validity of the simulation model is verified by comparing the measured value and simulation value of the time required for passengers from getting off the train to the ticket gate. Simulation results indicate that controlling the time interval between incoming passengers at the entrance can effectively control the social distance between passengers and reduce the risk of epidemic infection. By comparing the evacuation process of passengers under different initial densities, it is found that the greater the initial density of passengers is, the longer the passengers are at risk social distance. In the process of passenger emergency evacuation, the stairs/escalators and ticket gates are bottleneck areas with high concentration of passenger density, which should be strictly disinfected many times on the basis of strictly checking the health code of incoming passengers and controlling the arrival time interval. The simulation results of this paper verify the harmfulness of passenger emergency evacuation without protective measures, and provide theoretical support for the operation and management of subway station under the epidemic situation.     

Simulation of pedestrian evacuation based on an improved dynamic parameter model

An improved dynamic parameter model is presented based on cellular automata. The dynamic parameters, including direction parameter, empty parameter, and cognition parameter, are formulated to simplify tactically the process of making decisions for pedestrians. The improved model reflects the judgement of pedestrians on surrounding conditions and the action of choosing or decision. According to the two-dimensional cellular automaton Moore neighborhood we establish the pedestrian moving rule, and carry out corresponding simulations of pedestrian evacuation. The improved model considers the impact of pedestrian density near exits on the evacuation process. Simulated and experimental results demonstrate that the improvement makes sense due to the fact that except for the spatial distance to exits, people also choose an exit according to the pedestrian density around exits. The impact factors α, β, and γ are introduced to describe transition payoff, and their optimal values are determined through simulation. Moreover, the effects of pedestrian distribution, pedestrian density, and the width of exits on the evacuation time are discussed. The optimal exit layout, i.e., the optimal position and width, is offered. The comparison between the simulated results obtained with the improved model and that from a previous model and experiments indicates that the improved model can reproduce experimental results well. Thus, it has great significance for further study, and important instructional meaning for pedestrian evacuation so as to reduce the number of casualties.     

初始位置布局不平衡的疏散行人流仿真研究

行人初始位置布局不平衡的多安全出口疏散过程, 是行人疏散流仿真研究的热点. 利用行人流动态参数仿真模型, 在实际距离和假想距离"极大极小"路径选择机理的基础上, 改进假想距离的计算方法及其拥堵计算区域, 实现疏散过程的动态平衡; 提出行人位置布局的不平衡系数, 以描述疏散空间内行人初始位置布局的不平衡性. 从行人初始位置随机和固定布局的角度, 仿真研究正常疏散环境下行人布局的不平衡性对疏散时间的影响, 并将仿真结果与原始模型做对比分析. 研究表明, 模型能有效地实现行人流疏散过程的动态平衡, 行人疏散时间受行人位置或安全出口布局的影响较小, 而与安全出口总宽度、 行人的初始数量以及拥堵感知系数有关.     

拥堵疏散的行人拥挤力仿真研究

基于元胞自动机仿真研究拥堵疏散条件下行人拥挤力的产生、传递、吸收、抵消、累积等过程, 以安全出口前拱形的拥挤疏散行人流为研究对象, 研究拥挤致伤的生成机理. 基于行人位置距安全出口的距离, 生成趋于安全出口方向的拥挤力; 引入拥挤力效果与合力参数, 分别描述外界拥挤力对个体行人的作用效果与作用合力; 引入吸收系数与抗死伤系数, 分别描述拥挤力传递过程中行人对外界拥挤力的吸收与抵抗能力. 研究表明, 随吸收系数或抗死伤系数的增加, 能有效预防疏散行人流的拥挤致伤; 存在临界吸收系数与抗死伤系数, 将系统区分为弱保护相位、强保护相位和完全保护相位; 拥挤的死伤数量随疏散行人数量的增加而增加; 而且, 拥挤致伤的危险区域在安全出口前以安全出口中心线为对称轴呈“倒钟”形分布.     

基于教室人群疏散实验的行人流建模和模拟

基于教室人群疏散实验, 从中归纳出疏散过程中行人的基本运动特征. 将桌椅分别视为不可穿越和可穿越的静态障碍物, 而行人则被当成可移动的障碍物, 这将导致背景场随人群的运动而动态更新, 因此可以更好地反映前方拥挤程度对后面人群路径选择行为的影响. 采用基于动态背景场的元胞自动机模型研究了不同桌椅排列和出口宽度的教室人群疏散过程, 给出了疏散时间的空间分布以及平均和最大疏散时间, 再现了实验中人群疏散的基本特征. 数值模拟结果表明, 疏散时间取决于桌椅的排列方式和教室出口的宽度. 对于同一种排列, 出口越小则疏散时间越长; 对于给定的出口宽度, 通常随着过道数的增加, 疏散时间随之减少; 当过道数增加且过道宽度不足以两人并行, 从两侧进入过道的行人会发生冲突, 使疏散效率有所降低; 靠近出口一侧墙壁设置过道有利于人群的疏散. 文中进一步分析了模拟与实验结果存在差异的原因.     

Exit selection strategy in pedestrian evacuation simulation with multi-exits

A mixed strategy of the exit selection in a pedestrian evacuation simulation with multi-exits is constructed by fusing the distance-based and time-based strategies through a cognitive coefficient, in order to reduce the evacuation imbalance caused by the asymmetry of exits or pedestrian layout, to find a critical density to distinguish whether the strategy of exit selection takes effect or not, and to analyze the exit selection results with different cognitive coefficients. The strategy of exit selection is embedded in the computation of the shortest estimated distance in a dynamic parameter model, in which the concept of a jam area layer and the procedure of step-by-step expending are introduced. Simulation results indicate the characteristics of evacuation time gradually varying against cognitive coefficient and the effectiveness of reducing evacuation imbalance caused by the asymmetry of pedestrian or exit layout. It is found that there is a critical density to distinguish whether a pedestrian jam occurs in the evacuation and whether an exit selection strategy is in effect. It is also shown that the strategy of exit selection has no effect on the evacuation process in the no-effect phase with a low density, and that evacuation time and exit selection are dependent on the cognitive coefficient and pedestrian initial density in the in-effect phase with a high density.     

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     

Modeling of pedestrian evacuation based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm

By applying the evolutionary algorithm of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), we have developed a new pedestrian evacuation model. In the new model, we first introduce the local pedestrian’s density concept which is defined as the number of pedestrians distributed in a certain area divided by the area. Both the maximum velocity and the size of a particle (pedestrian) are supposed to be functions of the local density. An attempt to account for the impact consequence between pedestrians is also made by introducing a threshold of injury into the model. The updating rule of the model possesses heterogeneous spatial and temporal characteristics. Numerical examples demonstrate that the model is capable of simulating the typical features of evacuation captured by CA (Cellular Automata) based models. As contrast to CA-based simulations, in which the velocity (via step size) of a pedestrian in each time step is a constant value and limited in several directions, the new model is more flexible in describing pedestrians’ velocities since they are not limited in discrete values and directions according to the new updating rule.     

Simulation study of pedestrian flow in a station hall during the Spring Festival travel rush

The Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. How can passengers go home smoothly and quickly during the Spring Festival travel rush, especially when emergencies of terrible winter weather happen? By modifying the social force model, we simulated the pedestrian flow in a station hall. The simulation revealed casualties happened when passengers escaped from panic induced by crowd turbulence. The results suggest that passenger numbers, ticket checking patterns, baggage volumes, and anxiety can affect the speed of passing through the waiting corridor. Our approach is meaningful in understanding the feature of a crowd moving and can be served to reproduce mass events. Therefore, it not only develops a realistic modeling of pedestrian flow but also is important for a better preparation of emergency management.     

基于元胞自动机的行人视线受影响的疏散流仿真研究

基于元胞自动机对视线受影响的行人疏散流进行仿真研究.模型根据行人视野半径将疏散空间划分为可见安全出口区域、可见墙壁区域和盲目区域;利用两个动态参数描述行人在不同移动区域内的疏散特征,从而决定行人的行为选择,包括行人定向移动、沿墙移动和正常疏散移动等行为.仿真研究了行人在墙壁上存在疏散指示标志的疏散空间内,视线受影响时采用随机定向寻墙沿墙移动疏散策略的情况下,行人视野半径对行人疏散时间的影响.研究表明,行人疏散时间不仅受行人视野半径的影响,而且还与安全出口的宽度和安全出口利用率有关.     

Experiment and modeling of exit-selecting behaviors during a building evacuation

The evacuation process in a teaching building with two neighboring exits is investigated by means of experiment and modeling. The basic parameters such as flow, density and velocity of pedestrians in the exit area are measured. The exit-selecting phenomenon in the experiment is analyzed, and it is found that pedestrians prefer selecting the closer exit even though the other exit is only a little far. In order to understand the phenomenon, we reproduce the experiment process with a modified biased random walk model, in which the preference of closer exit is achieved using the drift direction and the drift force. Our simulation results afford a calibrated value of the drift force, especially when it is 0.56, there is good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental results on the number of pedestrians selecting the closer exit, the average velocity through the exits, the cumulative distribution of the instantaneous velocity and the fundamental diagram of the flow through exits. According to the further simulation results, it is found that pedestrians tend to select the exit with shorter distance to them, especially when the people density is small or medium. But if the density is large enough, the flow rates of the two exits will become comparable because of the detour behaviors. It reflects the fact that a crowd of people may not be rational to optimize the usage of multi-exits, especially in an emergency.     

Simulation of crowd dynamics in pedestrian evacuation concerning panic contagion: A cellular automaton approach

The study of the panic evacuation process is of great significance to emergency management. Panic not only causes negative emotions such as irritability and anxiety, but also affects the pedestrians decision-making process, thereby inducing the abnormal crowd behavior. Prompted by the epidemiological SIR model, an extended floor field cellular automaton model was proposed to investigate the pedestrian dynamics under the threat of hazard resulting from the panic contagion. In the model, the conception of panic transmission status (PTS) was put forward to describe pedestrians' behavior who could transmit panic emotions to others. The model also indicated the pedestrian movement was governed by the static and hazard threat floor field. Then rules that panic could influence decision-making process were set up based on the floor field theory. The simulation results show that the stronger the pedestrian panic, the more sensitive pedestrians are to hazards, and the less able to rationally find safe exits. However, when the crowd density is high, the panic contagion has a less impact on the evacuation process of pedestrians. It is also found that when the hazard position is closer to the exit, the panic will propagate for a longer time and have a greater impact on the evacuation. The results also suggest that as the extent of pedestrian's familiarity with the environment increases, pedestrians spend less time to escape from the room and are less sensitive to the hazard. In addition, it is essential to point out that, compared with the impact of panic contagion, the pedestrian's familiarity with environment has a more significant influence on the evacuation.     

双出口房间人群疏散的实验研究和数学建模

本文设计了一个双出口房间内人群疏散的实验方案,通过不同条件下疏散过程的实况录像及视频检测,得到不同人数疏散时间的许多定量结果.提出了双出口房间吸引区间的概念,证明了较小出口吸引区间的边界总是一段圆弧,可以解释行人流出口处的圆形成拱现象.通过类比地铁候车厅内人群疏散过程,建立了双出口房间内疏散时间的二次函数模型,成功拟合不同条件下的实测数据.疏散人数较少时,疏散时间随着人数增加而线性增长;人数较多,在出口附近出现待行区域时,疏散时间则呈二次函数增长.与一些已知疏散时间数学模型相比,本文模型对出口宽度变化的反应更敏感.     

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。