Estimating the effects of mental disorientation and physical fatigue in a semi-panic evacuation

• Published in: Expert systems with applications Vol. 41; no. 5; pp. 2379 - 2390
• Main Authors: Koo, Jeongin, Kim, Byung-In, Kim, Yong Seog
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Agent-based simulation; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Applied sciences; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition. Intelligence; Computer science; control theory; systems; Disabilities; Disorientation; Emergencies; Estimating; Evacuation; Exact sciences and technology; Fatigue (materials); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; High-rise building evacuation; Medical sciences; Mental disorientation; Panic; Panic disorder; Physical fatigue; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Semi-panic evacuation; Simulation; Software; Spatial perception. Time perception; High-rise building evacuation; Semi-panic evacuation; Mental disorientation; Agent-based simulation; Physical fatigue; Panic; Computer simulation; Emotion emotionality; Experimental study; Physical handicap; Multiagent system; Time average; Traffic management; Spacetime disorientation; Person evacuation; Delay time; Road traffic; Emergency; Mental confusion; Psychophysiology
• ISSN: 0957-4174; 1873-6793
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2013.09.036

•Identify the behavioral and emotional characteristics of people in a semi-panic situation.•Compare the evacuation of heterogeneous population in non- and semi-panic situations.•Model and estimate the effect of mental disorientation of residents on the evacuation time.•Model and estimate the effect of physical fatigue of residents on the evacuation time.•Analyze the aggregated impact of mental disorientation and physical fatigue of residents. Understanding the impossibility of replicating a real panic emergency situation and experimenting human objects in such artificially created dangerous situation, this paper focuses on the evacuation of a heterogeneous population including people with disabilities in a semi-panic simulated situation in which people tend to hurry more than those in non-panic evacuation but exhibit less urgency than those in a panic emergency. Ultimately, we intend to estimate and quantify the effects of mental disorientation and physical fatigue on the average evacuation times of six different disability groups and the entire group in a simulated environment of a 24-story building. According to our experiments, mental disorientation due to sudden emotion escalation from the recognition of unexpected dangers increases the average evacuation times up to 25 percent depending on the complexity of evacuation routes of the simulated buildings. In addition, accumulated physical fatigue of human beings during the evacuation process could also significantly delay the evacuation time. Most of all, the impact magnitudes of these two main factors vary depending on the types of disabilities of individuals, insinuating the needs of developing evacuation plans and strategies for each group.