Cybernetics Approach Using Agent-Based Modeling in the Process of Evacuating Educational Institutions in Case of Disasters

Abstract

In the context of an emergency, evacuating people from a location in the shortest possible time is essential, as is the high degree of safety that people should expect when evacuating. Lately, in Romania there have been more and more fire events generated by different causes. This article will use agent-based modeling to simulate an emergency evacuation model in NetLogo. The model has been used to perform and analyze various scenarios. With the help of NetLogo, we managed to perform 400 simulations with the evacuation of 180 people (students, teachers, and non-teaching staff) based on which we developed several recommendations to streamline the evacuation process in order to reduce the possibility of death. The present research will help to identify the evacuation times from a school, but it will also highlight certain aspects that may occur during the evacuation. The model that was used in this research took into account the individual particularities of the people taking part in the evacuation, emphasizing the effects that form in a crowd of people when evacuating; effects such as the funnel effect, which is caused by the formation of bottlenecks around narrow areas. All these things are part of the analysis of the measurement of entropy of the exhaust system, a problem that has captured all of the specialists’ attention. Finally, solutions have been proposed to improve evacuation time in case of disasters.

Evacuation in Buildings Based on BIM: Taking a Fire in a University Library as an Example

“…In case of fire, the smoke and fire spread present a vertical characteristic with a fast speed, which will increase the difficulty of safe evacuation, and due to the influence of many factors such as no smoke prevention and power failure, elevators will also be stopped. Therefore, it is of great significance to conduct research on personnel evacuation in public places in the field of public security [ 60 ]. However, the previous studies of scholars on the evacuation of public places mainly focus on performance-based fire prevention design, escape path planning based on an algorithm model, the influence of fire smoke spread law on personnel evacuation, and the changes of psychological characteristics and behavior of personnel during evacuation.…”

Students' evacuation behavior during an emergency at schools: A systematic literature review

“…Researchers from different majors have studied human behavior and the effectual factors on public emergency evacuation behavior. Some scholars believe that not only the imminent impacts of the disaster perceived by people could affect their behavior, but the built environment features also have considerable effects on the occupants' evacuation behavior [11,12]. Studies generally revealed that human behavior during an emergency varies based on risk perception [11,13].…”

“…Some scholars believe that not only the imminent impacts of the disaster perceived by people could affect their behavior, but the built environment features also have considerable effects on the occupants' evacuation behavior [11,12]. Studies generally revealed that human behavior during an emergency varies based on risk perception [11,13]. People's risk perception can be affected by many factors, including individual characteristics and environmental factors.…”

Dual disasters: Seismic evacuation decision-making during COVID-19 lockdown: A case study of Luding earthquake, Sichuan Province

“…Raphael mentioned that human behavior during a disaster depends on “ preexisting social grouping and, level of perceived physical threat or damage, attachment to the family ” ( Raphael, 2005 ). Experience and the results of pivotal studies revealed that human behavior during an emergency varies based on risk perception ( Xenidis and Kaltsidi, 2022 ; Ștefan Ionescu et al, 2021 ). People's risk perception can be affected by many factors, including individual characteristics and environmental factors ( Verdière et al, 2015 ; Bahmani et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Wu et al explored the impact of public knowledge on disaster avoidance before, during, and after the disaster ( Wu et al, 2022 ), showing that the residents' disaster knowledge can positively affect their evacuation choice. Studies in the field of earthquake risk perception and preparedness manifested socio-demographic characteristics of residents such as age, education, borning place, and disaster experience and loss have significant impacts on earthquake preparedness ( Ao et al, 2020 ; Ao et al, 2021 ) Considering the environmental impact on people's behavior during an emergency, the built environment features considerably affect the occupants' evacuation behavior ( Ștefan Ionescu et al, 2021 ; Ao and Martek, 2020 ).…”