Influence of the exits' configuration on evacuation process in a room without obstacle

In the case of single exit, there is a power law relationship between the evacuation time (T) and the exit width (Dw) with a negative exponent when Dw≤6. Mean flow rates and the using efficiency of each exit cell obtained by our model are higher than other models. The simulation results indicate that pedestrians do not choose the shortest path but a faster path in our model. For the case of two exits, the relationships between the location of the exits and evacuation time are discussed. When the total width of two exits is small (i.e.  Dw=2), the main factor affecting the total evacuation time T is the exits' capacity. If the total width of two exits is large (i.e.  Dw=12), the moving distance of pedestrians to exits is the main factor affecting the evacuation time, and the corresponding phase diagrams are given.