Discrete Particle Simulation for High-density Crowd

The present paper describes the discrete particle simulation of the evacuation dynamics. The inter-pedestrian forces are given by the discrete element method (DEM). The composite particle model is proposed to take into account the effect of the non-circular shape of pedestrians on the evacuation behavior. It has been indicated that the pedestrians can evacuate faster when an obstacle is placed at an appropriate position. The effect of the obstacle on the evacuation rate is also examined numerically in the present study. The proposed numerical model represents the positive and negative effects of the obstacle on the evacuation behavior qualitatively.