Citation

Wang X, Guo W, Cheng Y, Zheng X. Safety Sci. 2015; 74: 150-159.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2014.12.007

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Evacuation assistants are expected to lead evacuees to safety effectively and efficiently. An extended dynamic communication field model is proposed, and presents the transmission and function process of escape information when an evacuation assistant is moving as well as leading evacuees to the exit. Based on the model and multiple simulation experiments, this paper vividly depicts an emergency evacuation process when influence by the centripetal effect of an evacuation assistant.

RESULTS show the following: evacuation assistants clearly exhibit a centripetal effect and lead role, as recognized by evacuees; evacuation efficiency has a linear relationship with the number of evacuees that an evacuation assistant can lead; when an evacuation assistant leads more evacuees, evacuation efficiency is higher; an evacuation assistant's efficiency is directly related to his initial position and speed; evacuation assistants should move slower than evacuees; efficiency is strongly correlated with an assistant's initial distance from a designated exit, the optimal value for which is provided.