Simulation of Optimized Evacuation Processes in Complex Buildings Using Cellular Automata Model

Emergent evacuation is particularly prominent in events of various disasters. However, most existing evacuation models are either missing some human behavioral characteristics in crowds, or are computationally complex. In the paper, a cellular automata (CA) model is proposed to verify validity of evacuation plan. In the model, route is defined by a series of sub-targets. A “distance map” concept is introduced to help in the simulation approach, by which various phenomena including obstacle avoiding etc. are handled efficiently. Occupants move along planning routes gained from optimization algorithm. The simulation results show that our new model is both efficient and potential for evacuation plan.