Analyzing Emergency Evacuation Strategies for Large Buildings Using Crowd Simulation Framework

Abstract

With the ever-increasing advent of man-made or naturally occurring disasters, the safety of individuals is not given the right amount of importance as it should be especially in Pakistan. Focusing on preventative measures for such accidents is one thing but devising and implementing emergency plans in case of such scenarios is just as important. Many precious lives have been lost due to ill planning of emergency evacuations. The occurrence of natural or man-made emergencies can be quite complex and demand flawless preparedness, through tested strategies, in order to ensure the safety of the individuals. For large-scale infrastructures, whether commercial or residential, having a reliable evacuation strategy is crucial. Formulation and evaluation of these evacuation strategies is however a daunting challenge. A Crowd Simulation and Analysis framework based on bottom-up agent-based modeling and simulation using real-scale building structures has been proposed. A dynamic emergency evacuation simulation model has been developed in which the primary goal being an algorithm proposed to devise the most optimal evacuation strategy for the occupants of a building based on their locations. The individual occupants in the simulation have been modelled as agents enabling us to understand the collective behavior of the agents as a crowd in the simulated environment. Furthermore, the formulation and evaluation of effective evacuation strategies in large buildings is discussed. The functionality of algorithm is demonstrated using a simplistic example and then applied in a campus evacuation case study using three scenarios. Validation of the proposed algorithm and its performance has also been conducted, the details of which are mentioned later on in the study. The main goal of this research is to assist regulatory authorities in developing effective disaster management plans through the use of M&S methods and tools