Simulation of competitive egress behavior: comparison with aircraft evacuation data

We report new results obtained using cellular automata for pedestrian dynamics with friction. Monte-Carlo simulations of evacuation processes are compared with experimental results on competitive behavior in emergency egress from an aircraft. In the model, the recently introduced concept of a friction parameter μ is used to distinguish between competitive and cooperative movement. However, an additional influence in competition is increased walking speed. Empirical results show that a critical door width wc separates two regimes: for w<wc, competition increases egress times, whereas for w>wc it leads to a decrease. This result is reproduced in the simulation only if both influences, walking speed and friction, are taken into account.