A discrete microscopic model for pedestrian dynamics to manage emergency situations in airport terminals

Abstract

Airport terminals have to cope with both safety and security aspects. A terminal is divided into public and non-public areas which have different security levels and require several ways to control passengers (EU 2320/2002). The developed model must consider the mix of screened and unscreened passengers, the ever-changing traffic volume, the use of emerging technologies, and the changes made to legal requirements. Inside the terminal heterogeneous groups of people are located with different personal profiles. The discrete microscopic simulation model for passenger motion behavior presented here is based on an enhanced cellular automata model. This model considers repulsion potentials, friction effects, and path finding/guidance algorithms. To control the evacuation process, the route choice approach can be used to integrate different evacuation strategies. The model reacts fast to changes in the surrounding area and provides multiple simulation runs with an altering parameter set in a short time. To ensure a reliable result a multi-level diagnostic of the evacuation process is necessary for considering the overall evacuation time, the identification of potential bottlenecks, the analysis of the critical path through the airport terminal, guidance system influences on pedestrian dynamics, and the effects of adjusted structural measures.