Modeling the dynamics of pedestrian evacuation in a complex environment

The study of crowd evacuation dynamics is important for the management of public safety, and crowd evacuation dynamics models can be used to simulate the behaviors of pedestrians during an evacuation. In this paper, we propose a new force model for simulation of the evacuation of complex environments. In comparison to existing models, this model considers more environmental factors to make it applicable to complex emergency environments. By verification using real data, the model is demonstrated to be able to predict evacuation efficiency and better reproduce the microscopic behavior of pedestrians under extreme conditions. We discuss the impact of the presence of different kinds of hazards and different types of obstacles in the environment on pedestrian evacuation performance and put forward suggestions for crowd evacuation management. •A new model is proposed to simulate pedestrian movement in a complex environment.•The model includes rigid and flexible obstacles with different interaction rules.•A self-driving force helps reproduce detouring and other behavior.•The influence of hazards on expected speeds is analyzed.•The model is verified using field evacuation video data, and suggestions are made.