Dynamics of pedestrians in regions with no visibility - a lattice model without exclusion

TL;DR

This paper models pedestrian evacuation in obscured environments using a lattice approach without exclusion, highlighting how cooperation influences evacuation efficiency and disaster risk.

Contribution

It introduces a lattice model that examines non-exclusion effects and buddying thresholds on crowd dynamics during evacuations in low-visibility conditions.

Findings

Higher buddying thresholds can decrease evacuation flux.

Cooperative behavior may increase disaster likelihood.

Model aligns with real emergency observations.

Abstract

We investigate the motion of pedestrians through obscure corridors where the lack of visibility (due to smoke, fog, darkness, etc.) hides the precise position of the exits. We focus our attention on a set of basic mechanisms, which we assume to be governing the dynamics at the individual level. Using a lattice model, we explore the effects of non-exclusion on the overall exit flux (evacuation rate). More precisely, we study the effect of the buddying threshold (of no-exclusion per site) on the dynamics of the crowd and investigate to which extent our model confirms the following pattern revealed by investigations on real emergencies: If the evacuees tend to cooperate and act altruistically, then their collective action tends to favor the occurrence of disasters.