Agent Based Modelling and Simulation of Pedestrian Crowds in Panic Situations

Mohammed Alrashed,Jeff Shamma

doi:10.17815/cd.2020.100

Mohammed Alrashed, Jeff Shamma

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.17815/cd.2020.100

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Abstract

The increasing occurrence of panic stampedes during mass events has motivated studying the impact of panic on crowd dynamics. Understanding the collective behaviors of panic stampedes is essential to reducing the risk of deadly crowd disasters. In this work, we use an agent-based formulation to model the collective human behavior in such crowd dynamics. We investigate the impact of panic behavior on crowd dynamics, as a specific form of collective behavior, by introducing a contagious panic parameter. The proposed model describes the intensity and spread of panic through the crowd. The corresponding panic parameter impacts each individual to represent a different variety of behaviors that can be associated with panic situations such as escaping danger, clustering, and pushing. Simulation results show contagious panic and pushing behavior, resulting in a more realistic crowd dynamics model.

Highlights

The rising frequency of mass events has led to an increase in the risk of crowd stampedes
We develop an agent-based model that uses a panic parameter that can be contagious among pedestrians to influence their behaviors
Pedestrian crowd dynamics are generally predictable in high-density crowds where pedestrians cannot move freely

Summary

Introduction

The rising frequency of mass events has led to an increase in the risk of crowd stampedes. Despite the tremendous effort of authorities, critical situations keep recurring. The lack of understanding of panic within stampedes still causes hundreds of fatalities each year, not to mention the scarce methodical studies of crowd panic behavior. Panic is an essential factor that influences crowd behavior. Panic contagion is a type of herding behavior, where panicking individuals tend to cause social contagion and lead to jamming and life-threatening overcrowding [4, 5]. Biological studies indicate the role of panic in the change of human reactions, decision-making, and behaviors [2]

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