A STUDY ON ESTIMATING RISK LEVELS OF CROWD ACCIDENTS IN OUTDOOR PEDESTRIAN EVACUATIONS THROUGH SIMULATIONS

Abstract

 In the context of pedestrian evacuation on sidewalks in the central areas of large cities, we estimated the risk levels of crowd accidents under different crowd flow patterns and environmental conditions using simulations. By proposing a new index called the Risk Level Index, which converts the discrete risk levels into continuous values, we were able to compare the risk levels of crowds under different flow patterns and environmental conditions. We found that counterflows, crossflows, and mixed flows, compared to unidirectional flows, can lead to dangerous situations where crowd movement suddenly halts even under conditions with lower Risk Level Index values.