Multiscale Simulation of Pedestrians for Faster Than Real Time Modeling in Large Events

Abstract

The Hermes project [1] demonstrated the usefulness of on site faster than real time simulations of probable evacuation scenarios for security personnel. However, the hardware needed was prohibitively expensive [2]. The present paper shows that a multiscale approach can perform the simulation in a fraction of time without loss of useful information. The main problem is the correct passing of agents from a coarse scale model to a fine scale model, here from a CA model to a force based model. This will be achieved by inserting agents into the force based model at positions and speeds optimized for smooth walking either by a priori information or using Voronoi cells. Connecting a Queue model to a continuous model has already been done successfully [3].

We also show that a slightly modified CA method can address the problem, too, at even less computational cost, with some possible loss of accuracy.