Human relationship modeling in agent-based crowd evacuation simulation

Abstract

Crowd evacuation simulations are becoming a tool to analyze and assess the safety of occupants in buildings. Agent-based simulation provides a platform on which to compute individual and collective behaviors that occur in crowds. We propose a human behavior model in evacuation based on the Belief-Desire- Intention (BDI) model and Helbing's agent behavior model. Human relationships affect the states of BDI at each simulation step, and altruism forces among agents are introduced in Helbing's model to affect agents' intentions in calculating agent movements. Two evacuation scenarios are examined so that the results match quantitatively and qualitatively with past disasters. The simulations reveal typical behaviors in a crowd evacuation; for example, family-minded human behaviors that lead to interactions in the crowd and other behaviors. The simulation indicates that due to the interaction it takes a longer time to evacuate from buildings in actual situations. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.