Understanding and Simulating Large Crowds

S. M. V. Gwynne () and A. A. Siddiqui ()
Additional contact information
S. M. V. Gwynne: Hughes Associates
A. A. Siddiqui: University of Greenwich, Fire Safety Engineering Group

A chapter in Traffic and Granular Flow '11, 2013, pp 217-239 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Simulation tools are often used to establish pedestrian and evacuee performance. The accuracy and reliability of such tools are dependent upon their ability to qualitatively and quantitatively capture the outcome of this performance. This paper investigates the relationship between the representation of low-level agent actions and the generation of reliable emergent, high-level conditions that can then be used to better understand the conditions that may develop in large crowds and mitigate against them. Data has been collected concerning the movement of pilgrims during the Hajj. This paper presents a simple framework for categorizing these real-world observations and then translating them into the simulated environment – extracting key information from the data collected to configure the simulation tool as required. Several scenarios are simulated using the buildingEXODUS model to test the impact of representing these observations to a greater or lesser degree. This enables the importance of low-level behaviours upon emergent conditions to be investigated, even when simulating large numbers of pilgrims attending the Hajj; i.e. in large crowds. The relationship between low-level agent actions and the high-level emergent conditions is investigated using analytical and simulation tools. This paper should help future researchers (1) identify and extract key factors from crowd data and then (2) appropriately configure simulation tools to represent agent behaviour and the subsequent emergent conditions produced (e.g. congestion, flow patterns, etc.).

Keywords: Completion Time; Green Light; Simulation Tool; Travel Speed; Emergent Condition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-39669-4_22

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783642396694

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-39669-4_22

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().