Emergency evacuation dynamics in complex configurations

• Published in: Physics letters. A 2022-12, Vol.454, p.128505, Article 128505
• Main Authors: Li, Kun, Li, Jiaojiao, Cong, Rui, Xu, Qin, Zhang, Jianlei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Double exit; Emergency evacuation; Evacuation dynamics; Improved social force model; Multi-obstacle
• ISSN: 0375-9601; 1873-2429
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physleta.2022.128505

Despite the fact that proper placement of obstacles can reduce evacuation time has been reproduced in numerous studies, there is relatively rare research on how to arrange multiple obstacles in multi-exit rooms to facilitate evacuation efficiency of pedestrians. In this letter, we investigate how the number of obstacles and their layout in a complex configuration influence evacuation time using the improved social force model. Results show that compared with one obstacle, placing two obstacles in front of the exits takes full advantage of evacuation space, thereby substantially reducing total evacuation time, especially for high pedestrian density combined with large desired velocity. We find that appropriate layout of two obstacles does not only help to remove the bottleneck near the exits, but also controls the pedestrian speed to achieve the best global evacuation efficiency. However, when obstacles are placed asymmetrically, inappropriate offset parameter may seriously hinder the evolution of evacuation dynamics. •Appropriate layout of multiple obstacles can further promote evacuation compared with one obstacle scenario.•Symmetric arrangement of multiple obstacles may achieve optimal evacuation efficiency in complex configurations.•Multiple obstacles placed asymmetrically might seriously hinder the evolution of evacuation dynamics.