Handling obstacles in pedestrian simulations: Models and optimization

2015/12/31 by Emiliano Cristiani, Daniële Peri, Daniele Peri · 54 citations
Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Computer science #Engineering #Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics #Pedestrian #Traffic and Road Safety #Traffic control and management #Transport engineering #math-ph #math.MP #math.OC

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.apm.2016.12.020

published in Applied Mathematical Modelling 45, 285-302 (Elsevier BV)

arxiv created 2016/06/16 · openalex publication_date 2016/12/24 · arxiv updated 2017/01/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

In this paper we are concerned with the simulation of crowds in built environments, where obstacles play a role in the dynamics and in the interactions among pedestrians. First of all, we review the state-of-the-art of the techniques for handling obstacles in numerical simulations. Then, we introduce a new modelling technique which guarantees both impermeability and opacity of the obstacles, and does not require ad hoc runtime interventions to avoid collisions. Most important, we solve a complex optimization problem by means of the Particle Swarm Optimization method in order to exploit the so-called Braess's paradox. More precisely, we reduce the evacuation time from a room by adding in the walking area multiple obstacles optimally placed and shaped.

Citations

• On the Modeling of Traffic and Crowds: A Survey of Models, Speculations, and Perspectives
• State-of-the-art crowd motion simulation models
• QUANTIFICATION OF UNCERTAINTY IN COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS
• On a Paradox of Traffic Planning
• Self-Organized Pedestrian Crowd Dynamics: Experiments, Simulations, and Design Solutions
• Social Force Model for Pedestrian Dynamics
• A local version of the Hughes model for pedestrian flow

Cited by

• Mathematical Models and Methods for Crowd Dynamics Control