Analysis and intervention in pedestrian evacuation via a modified social force model

The evacuation of pedestrians is of great importance for pedestrian traffic management and facility design. In this paper, we modify the classical social force model to simulate pedestrian evacuation. In the case that pedestrians evacuate from a single-exit room with full vision, the phenomenon of “faster is slower” is reproduced. In the case that pedestrians evacuate from a double-exit hall with limited vision, we find that following the wall is always a better strategy, and that it is better to take crowd density into account when considering whether to follow others. Furthermore, we intervene in the crowd panic by deploying information sources.