| dc.description.abstract | Timely crowd evacuation in life-threatening situations such as fire emergency or terrorist attack is a significant concern for authorities and first responders. An individual’s fate in this kind of situation is highly dependent on a host of factors, especially (i) agent dynamics: how the individual selects and executes an egress strategy, (ii) hazard dynamics: how hazards propagate (e.g., fire and smoke spread, lone wolf attacker moves) and impair the surrounding environment with time, (iii) intervention dynamics: how first responders intervene (e.g., firefighters spread repellents) to recover environment. This thesis presents EVAQ, a simulation modeling framework for evaluating the impact of these factors on the likelihood of survival in an emergency evacuation. The framework captures the effect of personal traits and physical habitat parameters on occupants’ decision-making. In particular, personal (i.e., age, gender, disability) and interpersonal (i.e., agent-agent interactions) attributes, as well as an individual’s situational awareness are parameterized in a deteriorating environment considering different exit layouts and physical constraints. Further, the framework supports a variety of hazard propagation schemes (e.g., fire spreading in a given direction, lone wolf attacker targeting individuals), and intervene schemes (e.g., firefighters spreading repellents, police catch the attacker) to support a wide range of emergency evacuation scenarios. The application of EVAQ to crowd egress planning in an airport terminal and a shopping mall in the fire emergency is presented in this thesis, and results are discussed. Result shows that the likelihood of survival decreases with a decrease in availability of the nearest exits and a resulting
increase in congestions in the environment. Also, it is observed that the incorporation of group behavior increases the likelihood of survival for children, as well as elderly and disabled people. In addition, several verifications and validation tests are performed to assess the reliability and integrity of EVAQ in comparison with existing evacuation modeling tools. As personalized sensing and information delivery platforms are becoming more ubiquitous, findings of this work are ultimately sought to assist in developing and executing more robust and adaptive emergency mapping and evacuation plans, ultimately aimed at promoting people’s lives and wellbeing. | en |
