title: Obstacle optimization for panic flow--reducing the tangential momentum increases the escape speed.
abstract: A disastrous form of pedestrian behavior is a stampede occurring in an event involving a large crowd in a panic situation. To deal with such stampedes, the possibility to increase the outflow by suitably placing a pillar or some other shaped obstacles in front of the exit has been demonstrated. We present a social force based genetic algorithm to optimize the best design of architectural entities to deal with large crowds. Unlike existing literature, our simulation results indicate that appropriately placing two pillars on both sides but not in front of the door can maximize the escape efficiency. Human experiments using 80 participants correspond well with the simulations. We observed a peculiar property named tangential momentum, the escape speed and the tangential momentum are found to be negatively correlated. The idea to reduce the tangential momentum has practical implications in crowd architectural design.
authors.affiliation: School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China; Institute of Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jingyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China; College of Information System and Management, National University of Denfense Technology, Hunan, 410073, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Sicong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhangang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003441:Crowding; D004630:Emergencies; D004924:Escape Reaction; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008399:Mass Behavior; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009038:Motion; D010200:Panic; D055815:Young Adult