Simulation based on a modified social force model for sensitivity to emergency signs in subway station

Abstract

The subway is the primary travel tool for urban residents in China. Due to the complex structure of the subway and high personnel density in rush hours, subway evacuation capacity is critical. The subway evacuation model is explored in this work by combining the improved social force model with the view radius using the Vicsek model. The pedestrians are divided into two categories based on different force models. The first category is sensitive pedestrians who have normal responses to emergency signs. The second category is insensitive pedestrians. By simulating different proportions of the insensitive pedestrians, we find that the escape time is directly proportional to the number of insensitive pedestrians and inversely proportional to the view radius. However, when the view radius is large enough, the escape time does not change significantly, and the evacuation of people in a small view radius environment tends to be integrated. With the improvement of view radius conditions, the escape time changes more obviously with the proportion of insensitive pedestrians. A new emergency sign layout is proposed, and the simulations show that the proposed layout can effectively reduce the escape time in a small view radius environment. However, the evacuation effect of the new escape sign layout on the large view radius environment is not apparent. In this case, the exit setting emerges as an additional factor affecting the escape time.