Pedestrians adjust both speed and stride length when they navigate difficult situations such as tight corners or dense crowds. They try to avoid collisions and to preserve their personal space. State-of-the-art pedestrian motion models automatically reduce speed in dense crowds simply because...

The paper presents a simulation–optimization modeling framework for the evacuation of large-scale pedestrian facilities with multiple exit gates. The framework integrates a genetic algorithm (GA) and a microscopic pedestrian simulation–assignment model. The GA searches for the optimal...

We develop a cellular automata model with finer discretization of space and higher walking velocities more than one cell. The model is used to simulate the evacuation process of pedestrians from a room with an exit. By simulation experiments, we find subtle effects of the discretization degree...

The dynamics of pedestrian flows can be captured in a continuum modelling framework. However, compared to vehicular flow, this is a much more challenging task. In particular the integration of flow propagation and path choice are known to be problematic. Furthermore, pedestrian flow is...

We investigate the motion of pedestrians through obscure corridors where the lack of visibility (due to smoke, fog, darkness, etc.) hides the precise position of the exits. We focus our attention on a set of basic mechanisms, which we assume to be governing the dynamics at the individual level....

Collective movement is important during emergencies such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks, when rapid egress is essential for escape. The development of quantitative theories and models to explain and predict the collective dynamics of pedestrians has been hindered by the lack of...