Study of Influence of Groups on Evacuation Dynamics Using a Cellular Automaton Model

We study evacuation processes of pedestrian crowds with differently interacting groups using an extended floor field cellular automaton model. For homogeneous crowds floor field automaton models introduce a mutual dynamic floor field and apply an equal set of update rules. We use an extended model with group-specific floor fields inducing attraction and herding behaviour within respective groups only. As another approach we introduce group-related update rules to form couples with one pedestrian leading the other. We use these approaches to model groups with symmetric and asymmetric group interactions and study the impact of such groups on evacuation dynamics.