English

Handling obstacles in pedestrian simulations: models and optimization

Optimization and Control 2017-01-16 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

In this paper we are concerned with the simulation of crowds in built environments, where obstacles play a role in the dynamics and in the interactions among pedestrians. First of all, we review the state-of-the-art of the techniques for handling obstacles in numerical simulations. Then, we introduce a new modelling technique which guarantees both impermeability and opacity of the obstacles, and does not require ad hoc runtime interventions to avoid collisions. Most important, we solve a complex optimization problem by means of the Particle Swarm Optimization method in order to exploit the so-called Braess's paradox. More precisely, we reduce the evacuation time from a room by adding in the walking area multiple obstacles optimally placed and shaped.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.08528,
  title  = {Handling obstacles in pedestrian simulations: models and optimization},
  author = {Emiliano Cristiani and Daniele Peri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.08528},
  year   = {2017}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:19:09.979Z