Understanding human queuing behaviour at exits: an empirical study

Abstract

The choice of the exit to egress from a facility plays a fundamental role in pedestrian modelling and simulation. Yet, empirical evidence for backing up simulation is scarce. In this contribution, we present three new groups of experiments that we conducted in different geometries. We varied parameters such as the width of the doors, the initial location and number of pedestrians which in turn affected their perception of the environment. We extracted and analysed relevant indicators such as distance to the exits and density levels. The results put in evidence the fact that pedestrians use time-dependent information to optimize their exit choice, and that, in congested states, a load balancing over the exits occurs. We propose a minimal modelling approach that covers those situations, especially the cases where the geometry does not show a symmetrical configuration. Most of the models try to achieve the load balancing by simulating the system and solving optimization problems. We show statistically and by simulation that a linear model based on the distance to the exits and the density levels around the exit can be an efficient dynamical alternative.

Simulating multi‐exit evacuation using deep reinforcement learning

“…Nevertheless, the choice of exits in this direction also remains a great challenge, especially when dealing with complex environments (Zheng, Jia, Li, & Jiang, 2017; Zia & Ferscha, 2009). In most studies, the choice of exits is determined by several factors, including the distance from pedestrians to the exits, the width of exits, the degree of congestion, and the familiarity of pedestrians with the environment (Cao, Fu, & Song, 2018; Hao et al., 2014; Kinateder, Comunale, & Warren, 2018; Lo, Huang, Wang, Yuen, 2006; Wagoum et al., 2017). Such methods would usually design complex numerical operations for multi‐exit selection and have achieved remarkable results according to environmental conditions.…”

“…However, the models designed from these studies are unable to accommodate pedestrian behaviors that are proven to be significant during the evacuation process (Bode & Codling, 2013). The second is focused on designing a multi‐exit selection model using realistic experimental simulation (Haghani, Sarvi, Ejtemai, Burd, & Sobhani, 2015; Heliövaara, Kuusinen, Rinne, Korhonen, & Ehtamo, 2012; Wagoum, Tordeux, & Liao, 2017). In contrast to the first category, the models designed using the second approach often incur high preliminary costs.…”

A kinetic theory approach to model pedestrian dynamics in bounded domains with obstacles

“…The data in [40] refer to ten trials: 2 trials with 18 pedestrians, 6 trials with 40 pedestrians, and 2 trials with 138 pedestrians. In the experiments with 18 and 40 pedestrians (and so in the simulation as well), the group is initially positioned in a square located symmetrically with respect to the horizontal axis of the room and towards the back of the room with linearly increasing people density from the front to the back.…”

Agent-based simulation of collective cooperation: from experiment to model

“…They included the social psychology perspective by using questionnaires to obtain insights into participants’ perception. And other authors focused more on egress and queuing behaviour such as [ 32 ]. To our knowledge, [ 33 ] are the first authors who conducted an experiment with a stationary crowd and who tested the effects on walking participants.…”