Impact of evacuation design parameter on users' evacuation time using a multi-agent simulation

Abstract

• Evacuation from indoor environment with multi-structure was studied by both experimental and modeling methods. • An evacuation model predicting disturbance in evacuation flow is tested. • User capacity and path selection affect the time taken to evacuate users. Emergency management is a fundamental issue in building management. Therefore, this study was established to simulate the required times and movement conditions for user evacuation from Campus Infrastructure Building in a 3D environment. Eight simulations are carried out by a multi-agent evacuation simulator, Pathfinder, considering 100% and 70% users capacity with a combination of random, divide, zone 1 and zone 2 access selection. The users evacuated were handled by the A* algorithm in the steering mode of 3D evacuation simulation. The evacuation flow was investigated with the user density heat map and Fruin’s Level of Service (LOS). This study found the best path planning obtained from the divide access factor and the impact of the user's capacity is relying on total evacuation time. The critical space is caused by the access width fewer than 1.5 m for every floor, and by widening some spaces helped to improve the evacuation flow.