Evacuation Dynamics: Empirical Results, Modeling and Applications

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive review of pedestrian evacuation dynamics, covering empirical data, modeling approaches, especially cellular automata, and practical safety applications in public spaces.

Contribution

It offers an extensive synthesis of empirical findings, modeling techniques, and real-world applications in evacuation scenarios, serving as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners.

Findings

Empirical data critically inform model calibration.

Cellular automata are a key modeling approach.

Applications include safety analysis in public buildings.

Abstract

This extensive review was written for the ``Encyclopedia of Complexity and System Science'' (Springer, 2008) and addresses a broad audience ranging from engineers to applied mathematicians, computer scientists and physicists. It provides an extensive overview of various aspects of pedestrian dynamics, focussing on evacuation processes. First the current status of empirical results is critically reviewed as it forms the basis for the calibration of models needed for quantitative predictions. Then various modeling approaches are discussed, focussing on cellular automata models. Finally, some specific applications to safety analysis in public buildings or public transport are presented.