3D visual simulation of individual and crowd behavior in earthquake evacuation

Abstract

Simulation of behaviors in emergencies is an interesting subject that helps to understand evacuation processes and to give out warnings for contingency plans. Individual and crowd behaviors in the earthquake are different from those under normal circumstances. Panic will spread in the crowd and cause chaos. Without considering emotion, most existing behavioral simulation methods analyze the movement of people from the point of view of mechanics. After summarizing existing studies, a new simulation method is discussed in this paper. First, 3D virtual scenes are constructed with the proposed platform. Second, an individual cognitive architecture, which integrates perception, motivation, behavior, emotion, and personality, is proposed. Typical behaviors are analyzed and individual evacuation animations are realized with data captured by motion capture devices. Quantitative descriptions are presented to describe emotional changes in individual evacuation. Facial expression animation is used to represent individuals’ emotions. Finally, a crowd behavior model is designed on the basis of a social force model. Experiments are carried out to validate the proposed method. Results showed that individuals’ behavior, emotional changes, and crowd aggregation can be well simulated. Users can learn evacuation processes from many angles. The method can be an intuitional approach to safety education and crowd management.