Agent-Based Simulation of Crowd Evacuation Behavior (original) (raw)

Agent-Based Modeling of Emergency Evacuations Considering Human Panic Behavior

IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, 2018

During mass evacuations, many psychological and physical factors are responsible for stampedes and other life threatening situations. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of these factors are of high importance while devising optimal strategies for evacuations. In this work we present an agent-based model that considers psychological and physical factors that cause panic in such situations. We have also simulated some simple evacuation scenarios and presented a method to identify possible bottlenecks and shortcomings in the environments during emergency evacuations. Our method also helps in evaluation and analysis of different evacuation strategies. To enable this analysis we have used a rule-based roadmap approach, where critical nodes in the environment are identified by the evacuation planner and each node has a special rule according to the strategy of the planner. We evaluate different strategies on parameters such as evacuation time and physical discomfort caused to the agents.

Crowd Simulation Modeling Applied to Emergency and Evacuation Simulations using Multi-Agent Systems

2013

In recent years crowd modeling has become increasingly important both in the computer games industry and in emergency simulation. This paper discusses some aspects of what has been accomplished in this field, from social sciences to the computer implementation of modeling and simulation. Problem overview is described including some of the most common techniques used. Multi-Agent Systems is stated as the preferred approach for emergency evacuation simulations. A framework is proposed based on the work of Fangqin and Aizhu with extensions to include some BDI aspects. Future work includes expansion of the model's features and implementation of a prototype for validation of the propose methodology.

A multi-agent based framework for the simulation of human and social behaviors during emergency evacuations

AI & SOCIETY, 2007

Many computational tools for the simulation and design of emergency evacuation and egress are now available. However, due to the scarcity of human and social behavioral data, these computational tools rely on assumptions that have been found inconsistent or unrealistic. This paper presents a multi-agent based framework for simulating human and social behavior during emergency evacuation. A prototype system has been developed, which is able to demonstrate some emergent behaviors, such as competitive, queuing, and herding behaviors.

Agent-Based Evacuation Behavior Simulations and Evacuation Guidance

Journal of Information Processing, 2014

Building evacuation analysis has recently received increasing attention, as people are keen to assess the safety of occupants. Reports on past disasters indicate that human behavior characterizes evacuation during emergencies. The understanding and modeling of human behavior enable improved design of evacuation plans to better reflect the needs of occupants-for example, to reduce evacuation time, a composite of pre-movement time and travel time. In this paper, we demonstrate that information at the time of emergencies affects human behavior and that this behavior affects pre-movement time and the time it takes to move people to safe places. Information is shared with people via announcements and through interpersonal communication. We have modeled and simulated information transfer in an agent-based evacuation system, using BDI models that represent the diversity of human psychological states and using ACL-based communications that dynamically change people's beliefs. The model enables an evacuation simulation to consider the effect of information on human behavior and calculate evacuation time, including pre-movement time. The simulation results demonstrate that methods of guidance improve evacuation time, and they reveal phenomena in agent behaviors that have not been simulated by other methods.

Agent-Based Simulation and Analysis of Human Behaviortowards Evacuation Time Reduction

2008

Human factors play a significant part in the time taken to evacuate following an emergency. An agent-based simulation, using the Prometheus methodology (SEEP 1.5), has been developed to study the complex behavior of human (the 'agents') in high-rise buildings evacuations. In the case of hostel evacuations, simulation results show that pre-evacuation phase takes 60.4% of Total Evacuation Time (TET). The movement phase (including queuing time) only takes 39.6% of TET. From sensitivity analysis, it can be shown that a reduction in TET by 41.2% can be achieved by improving the recognition phase. Exit signs have been used as smart agents. Expanded Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) was used to determine the feasible evacuation routes. Both the 'familiarity of environment' wayfinding method, which is the most natural method, and the ACO wayfinding, have been simulated and comparisons made. In scenario 1, where there were no obstacles, both methods achieved the same TET. However, in scenario 2, where an obstacle was present, the TET for the ACO wayfinding method was 21.6% shorter than that for the 'familiarity' wayfinding method.

Simulation and Modelling the Human Crowd Evacuation

IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering

The operational research (OR) become one of emerging areas and significance and its relevance to be used in the simulation and modelling. To simulating and modelling the crowd evacuation, the most important elements to have in a realistic model is the appropriate simulation technique. To simulate the evacuee's movement in crowd is still in research and challenge because of the emergence and become a complex task and dangerous for the real and actual case. The computational simulation technique is required in order to model the crowd evacuation as one part of OR and become a solution to represent the fire crowd evacuation in the closed space e.g. Building relates to human movement and its states. The theories and concept of computational method allows for creating, analysing and experimentation. The techniques; Agent-Based Simulation (ABS), Social Force Model (SFM) and the hybrid SFM/ABS has been proposed for this research work. SFM is the well-known and popular technique for crowd evacuation while ABS is best-known, intelligent and appropriate to imitate the human movement. This paper provides a review of this research work from an OR perspective and the outcomes of a review of the computational simulation techniques literature are presented, using a proposed conceptual model will be valuable for future researchers, and modellers alike.

Using agent-based simulation of human behavior to reduce evacuation time

Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agent …, 2008

Human factors play a significant part in the time taken to evacuate due to an emergency. An agent-based simulation, using the Prometheus methodology (SEEP 1.5), has been developed to study the complex behavior of human (the 'agents') in high-rise building evacuations. In the case of hostel evacuations, simulation results show that pre-evacuation phase takes 60.4% of Total Evacuation Time (TET). The movement phase (including queuing time) only takes 39.6% of TET. From sensitivity analysis, it can be shown that a reduction in TET by 41.2% can be achieved by improving the recognition phase. Emergency exit signs have been used as smart agents. Modified Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) was used to determine the feasibility of the evacuation routes. Both wayfinding methods, the 'familiarity of environment', which is the most natural method, and the ACO method have been simulated and comparisons were made. In scenario 1, where there were no obstacles, both methods achieved the same TET. However, in scenario 2, where an obstacle was present, the TET for the ACO wayfinding method was 21.6% shorter than the one for the 'familiarity' wayfinding method.

Analyzing Emergency Evacuation Strategies for Mass Gatherings using Crowd Simulation And Analysis framework

Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGSIM Conference on Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation

Hajj is one of the largest mass gatherings where Muslims from all over the world gather in Makah each year for pilgrimage. A mass assembly of such scale bears a huge risk of disaster either natural or man-made. In the past few years, thousands of casualties have occurred while performing different Hajj rituals, especially during the Circumambulation of Kaba (Tawaf) due to stampede or chaos. During such calamitous situations, an appropriate evacuation strategy can help resolve the problem and mitigate further risk of causalities. It is however a daunting research problem to identify an optimal course of action based on several constraints. Modeling and analyzing such a problem of real-time and spatially explicit complexity requires a microscale crowd simulation and analysis framework. Which not only allows the modeler to express the spatial dimensions and features of the environment in real scale, but also provides modalities to capture complex crowd behaviors. In this paper, we propose an Agent-based Crowd Simulation & Analysis framework that incorporates the use of Anylogic Pedestrian library and integrates/interoperate Anylogic Simulation environment with the external modules for optimization and analysis. Hence provides a runtime environment for analyzing complex situations, e.g., emergency evacuation strategies. The key features of the proposed framework include: (i) Ability to model large crowd in a spatially explicit environment at real-scale; (ii) Simulation of complex crowd behavior such as emergency evacuation; (iii) Interoperability of optimization and analysis modules with simulation runtime for evaluating evacuation strategies. We present a case study of Hajj scenario as a proof of concept and a test bed for identifying and evaluating optimal strategies for crowd evacuation CCS Concepts • Computing methodologies ➝ Modeling and simulation ➝Simulation types and techniques ➝ Agent / discrete models. • Computing methodologies ➝ Modeling and simulation ➝ Simulation support systems ➝ Simulation tools. • Computing methodologies ➝ Machine learning ➝ Machine learning approaches ➝ Bio-inspired approaches ➝ Genetic algorithms. • Computing methodologies ➝ Modeling and simulation ➝ Model development and analysis ➝ Modeling methodologies.

Parallel Simulation of Complex Evacuation Scenarios with Adaptive Agent Models

IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 2000

Simulation study on evacuation scenarios has gained tremendous attention in recent years. Two major research challenges remain along this direction: (1) how to portray the effect of individuals' adaptive behaviors under various situations in the evacuation procedures and (2) how to simulate complex evacuation scenarios involving huge crowds at the individual level due to the ultrahigh complexity of these scenarios. In this study, a simulation framework for general evacuation scenarios has been developed. Each individual in the scenario is modeled as an adaptable and autonomous agent driven by a weight-based decision-making mechanism. The simulation is intended to characterize the individuals' adaptable behaviors, the interactions among individuals, among small groups of individuals, and between the individuals and the environment. To handle the second challenge, this study adopts GPGPU to sustain massively parallel modeling and simulation of an evacuation scenario. An efficient scheme has been proposed to minimize the overhead to access the global system state of the simulation process maintained by the GPU platform. The simulation results indicate that the "adaptability" in individual behaviors has a significant influence on the evacuation procedure. The experimental results also exhibit the proposed approach's capability to sustain complex scenarios involving a huge crowd consisting of tens of thousands of individuals.

Agent-Based Crowd Simulation Considering Emotion Contagion for Emergency Evacuation Problem

The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2015

During emergencies, emotions greatly affect human behaviour. For more realistic multi-agent systems in simulations of emergency evacuations, it is important to incorporate emotions and their effects on the agents. In few words, emotional contagion is a process in which a person or group influences the emotions or behavior of another person or group through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotion states and behavioral attitudes. In this study, we simulate an emergency situation in an open square area with three exits considering Adults and Children agents with different behavior. Also, Security agents are considered in order to guide Adults and Children for finding the exits and be calm. Six levels of emotion levels are considered for each agent in different scenarios and situations. The agent-based simulated model initialize with the random scattering of agent populations and then when an alarm occurs, each agent react to the situation based on its and neighbors current circumstances. The main goal of each agent is firstly to find the exit, and then help other agents to find their ways. Numbers of exited agents along with their emotion levels and damaged agents are compared in different scenarios with different initialization in order to evaluate the achieved results of the simulated model. NetLogo 5.2 is used as the multi-agent simulation framework with R language as the developing language.