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Citation |
Gangi M, Velonà P. Transp. Res. Rec. 2009; 2090: 51-58. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2009, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
A recently funded research project in Italy concerned reduction in risk exposure in urban areas through the definition and the implementation of evacuation procedures. One of the research aims was to specify and calibrate a system of models that could simulate the transportation system when a population must evacuate because of approaching disaster. Various activities were conducted to calibrate a set of cost functions to be implemented within a dynamic network loading procedure to simulate pedestrian outflow related to the evacuation of a building. How flow models are calibrated on the basis of data collected during experimentation at a test site is shown, and the results of their implementation within a multimodal dynamic loading model used to simulate evacuation procedures are described. A comparison between experimental data and simulation results shows that the use of appropriate simulation models can realistically reproduce user behavior and then shows how such models can be used as a support for creating effective evacuation plans. The experimentation involved evacuation of a primary school in an Italian town, but the method applied can be adapted easily to any public building with homogenous characteristics. |