Extended route choice model based on available evacuation route set and its application in crowd evacuation simulation

In this study, we propose an extended route choice model based on an available evacuation route set to simulate the selection of pedestrians in selecting an appropriate route during evacuation in emergency situations. In this model, four parameters (i.e., distance to available route, length of available route, level of congestion in available route, and capacity of available exit) affect the route choice of the pedestrian and the evacuation route set. In this study, the evacuation route set is created and optimized by a modified social force model and a route learning method. Experimental results show that the extended model can effectively reproduce crowd behavior in an emergency situation, which can assist in analyzing emergency evacuation scenarios. Moreover, two important conclusions regarding increasing evacuation efficiency show that the proposed model is in line with real-world situations.