Extended floor field CA model for evacuation dynamics

TL;DR

This paper extends the floor field cellular automaton model to improve evacuation simulations by introducing methods for calculating static floor fields in complex geometries and modeling wall effects and bottlenecks for more realistic behavior.

Contribution

It presents new techniques for calculating static floor fields in arbitrary room geometries and models wall potentials and contraction effects at exits for enhanced realism.

Findings

Improved evacuation simulation accuracy in complex room layouts.

Realistic modeling of behavior near corners and bottlenecks.

Enhanced simulation of panic evacuation scenarios.

Abstract

The floor field model, which is a cellular automaton model for studying evacuation dynamics, is investigated and extended. A method for calculating the static floor field, which describes the shortest distance to an exit door, in an arbitrary geometry of rooms is presented. The wall potential and contraction effect at a wide exit are also proposed in order to obtain realistic behavior near corners and bottlenecks. These extensions are important for evacuation simulations, especially in the case of panics.