Theoretical analysis and simulation of pedestrian evacuation under invisible conditions

Abstract

We study a class of pedestrian evacuation process in rooms without visibility by analytical and simulative methods. First, the moving distance of pedestrians for leaving the rooms is analyzed using the mean and variance theory. A microscopic pedestrian model is then extended to simulate pedestrian evacuation in the rooms. By numerical examples, the distributions of single individual's evacuation efficiency in the rooms and the improvement by increasing the number of exits for the individual's evacuation efficiency are demonstrated. Pedestrians' moving distances obtained by analytical and simulative methods are also compared. The study is helpful for assessing the efficiency of evacuation and the safety of buildings under conditions of invisibility.

Simulation and Optimization of Pedestrian Regular Evacuation in Comprehensive Rail Transit Hub – A Case Study in Beijing

“…W. J. Yu et al [2] proposed a centrifugal force model based on pedestrian behavioural simulation and pedestrian dynamics to study the pedestrian traffic characteristics. In addition, some scholars analysed the path selection behaviour of pedestrians inside a large building [3], and then constructed a dispersive pedestrian microscopic simulation model [4,5].…”

Study on intelligent algorithm of guide partition for emergency evacuation of a subway station

“…The simulation results showed that, compared with blind random movement, blind following movement could reduce the blindness of moving targets and directions to a certain extent. Guo et al carried out the classroom evacuation experiment in the case of good visibility and zero visibility [4] and found several pedestrian walking characteristics without guidance [5]. Cao et al [6, 7] carried out the pedestrian evacuation experiment in the area without obstacles under the condition of a completely limited visual field and established the pedestrian walking model without guidance.…”

Simulation of pedestrian evacuation with blind herd mentality under adverse sight conditions

“…These behaviors are critical in reflecting the characteristics of the pedestrian evacuation process under adverse sight conditions. Based on the degree of the adverse sight condition, research in pedestrian evacuation has mainly been carried out from two aspects: pedestrians without visibility [15][16][17][18][19][20] and pedestrians with a sight radius. [21][22][23][24][25] Under the condition without visibility, since the visible scope of pedestrian evacuation is completely affected, blind and disoriented pedestrians cannot acquire and recognize the information from evacuation surroundings.…”

“…Nagai et al 17 studied the effect of the configuration of exits in a dark room without visibility on the evacuation process. Guo and Huang 18 investigated pedestrians' moving distances during evacuation from a room without visibility by analytical and simulative methods, in which the improvement of an individual's evacuation efficiency was demonstrated by increasing the number of exits. Guo et al 19 investigated the route choice of pedestrians evacuating from a classroom with internal obstacles and zero visibility using experiments and microscopic simulations, in which evacuation exercises were concluded to be helpful for improving the efficiency of pedestrian evacuation under the condition of zero visibility.…”