A Hybrid Simulation-Assignment Modeling Framework for Crowd Dynamics in Large-Scale Pedestrian Facilities

Ahmed F. Abdelghany, Khaled Abdelghany, Hani Mahmassani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper presents a hybrid simulation-assignment modeling framework for studying crowd dynamics in large-scale pedestrian facilities. The proposed modeling framework judiciously manages the trade-off between ability to accurately capture congestion phenomena resulting from the pedestrians’ collective behavior and scalability to model large facilities. We present a novel modeling framework that integrates a dynamic simulation-assignment logic with a hybrid (two-layer or bi-resolution) representation of the facility. The top layer consists of a network representation of the facility, which enables modeling the pedestrians’ route planning decisions while performing their activities. The bottom layer consists of a high resolution Cellular Automata (CA) system for all open spaces, which enables modeling the pedestrians’ local maneuvers and movement decisions at a high level of detail. The model is applied to simulate the crowd dynamics in the ground floor of Al-Haram Al-Sharif Mosque in the City of Mecca, Saudi Arabia during the pilgrimage season. The analysis illustrates the model’s capability in accurately representing the observed congestion phenomena in the facility.
Original languageAmerican English
JournalTransportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
Volume86
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2016

Keywords

  • crowd dynamics
  • simulation models
  • networks
  • cellular automata
  • pedestrian flow

Disciplines

  • Transportation Engineering
  • Urban Studies and Planning

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