Anylogic Simulation Research on Passenger Evacuation System of

Urban Transportation Hub

Hui Wang

1, a

, Yue Cui

1, b, *

North China Electric Power University, Beijing102206, China

Keywords: Crowd Evacuation; Pedestrian Simulation; Rail Transit.

Abstract: In recent years, the rapid development of rail transit has led to a sharp increase in the number of people, and

there are certain security risks in many important urban transport hubs. This article selects AnyLogic

simulation software that can reflect the characteristics of pedestrian behavior to study how to evacuate the

crowd emergency in the subway station hall. Taking a certain tier city as an example, establish a station model,

simulate it through field survey data, and finally use the pedestrian density in the results to analyze the

problems in crowd evacuation, and optimize the facility layout to propose improvements.

1 INTRODUCTION

People's daily life is inseparable from transportation,

so the safety of traffic has become an increasingly

concerned issue. In recent years, due to the impact of

some major events such as the Olympic Games and

the World Expo, pedestrian simulation has become a

hot field in simulation, which has attracted much

attention at home and abroad. In different scenarios,

the assessment of the accommodation and capacity of

the area improves the planning plan, which plays an

important role in solving the problem of crowd

evacuation in key areas.

At present, many scholars have conducted

research on such issues to varying degrees. Reference

(Zhao Jinlong, et.al, 2020) in order to ensure the

safety of travellers taking the subway, Pathfinder

software is used to model a special subway station in

Beijing to improve the efficiency of response to

emergency events. Reference (Pan Ke, Xiu Shunyan,

2017) simulates the time of crowd evacuation in

different subway stations under different scenarios,

and analyzes the distribution rules of its personnel.

Reference (Deng Yuanyuan, et.al, 2020) proposed an

emergency evacuation scenario, and conducted

simulation experiments on people with different

familiarity and different numbers. Reference (Liu

Zhen, 2019) improves the crowd simulation model

through monitoring analysis and user surveys, and

combines physical technology to describe emergency

evacuation scenarios. Reference (Haibo Lin, et.al,

2020) added new modes in user-defined form by

analyzing and improving the existing simulation

framework, which is important for comparing

different evacuation models. Rreference (Li F, Chen

S, Wang X, et al, 2014) improves there are many

ways to study the problem of crowd evacuation.

Reference (Lei Hou, et.al, 2014) added an influence

model with leadership effect to solve the current

evacuation problem. Reference (Weiliang Zeng, et.al,

2014) introduces how to apply social force model in

pedestrian behavior analysis of pedestrian crossing.

Therefore, this article will use the interaction of

crowd organization, a complex dynamic system, and

a transportation hub as a carrier, consider the

particularity of the existence of a large urban

transportation hub, and take a large crowded subway

station in a city as an example to build a dynamic

model in the subway station. To provide a theoretical

basis and analytical means for solving the problem of

crowd evacuation in crowded places.

2 ANALYSIS OF THE

COMPLEXITY OF CROWD

BEHAVIOR IN URBAN

TRANSPORTATION HUB

In densely populated cities, there are a wide range of

transportation options. However, due to the

advantages of time guarantee, low price and good

Wang, H. and Cui, Y.

Anylogic Simulation Research on Passenger Evacuation System of Urban Transportation Hub.

DOI: 10.5220/0010002800050011

In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Frontiers of Intelligent Transport System (FITS 2020), pages 5-11

ISBN: 978-989-758-465-7

environment, such as subway transportation, more

and more people will choose this way to travel.

1) Because of the difference and particularity of

individual behavior, the behavior of passengers will

be limited in the subway platform, which forms a kind

of restriction for the behavior of passengers.

2) Due to the different destinations, there are

particularity and complexity in the routes of

passengers. The routes will be restricted by the

facilities and space in the subway station, and there

are individual differences caused by factors such as

travel speed and walking speed among individuals.

3) Due to the complexity of the subway station

environment, passengers have different behaviors and

different time points, which lead to obvious

differences in the flow of people in the subway

station. It is necessary to consider the density of the

subway station hall.

Because of the particularity and complexity of

subway station and passengers, a clear dynamic

model is needed to analyze the subway station hall,

which is conducive to further solve how to evacuate

people in special circumstances.

2.1 Simulation Implementation Method

2.1.1 Simulation Method Selection

Because crowd evacuation is a problem that needs to

be considered from both macro and onlookers, it is

necessary to use the model to dynamically display the

evacuation process. There are characteristics such as

pedestrian path differences and complicated flow

lines in the subway station. The micro simulation

model is used to simulate the situation in the subway

station. Therefore, the social force model is selected

as the analysis tool.

Some traditional modeling software use a specific

modeling method, and AnyLogic is a tool which can

simulate from many aspects, angles and methods.

Other pedestrian simulation software is in a closed

architecture scenario, while AnyLogic provides a

social force model as a basis for pedestrian

simulation, while providing a high degree of freedom

for the development environment, which can be

highly customized.

2.2 Simulation Principle

2.2.1 Principle of Social Force Model

Solving the crowd evacuation problem generally uses

a social force model, which is based on Newton ’s

mechanical formulas and pedestrians ’escape

behavior, simplifying each pedestrian to be described

as a particle, which is attracted by the destination to

generate its own drive At the same time, the particle

is subjected to repulsive and frictional forces with

obstacles and other particles. Under the action of

these forces, the particle generates acceleration in a

two-dimensional space, driving the particle to move

continuously. The dynamic formula is as follows:

()

(()() ())

iiii i

iijiw

ji w

dv m v t e t v t











(1)

Among the dynamic formula,

is the driving force for

pedestrians to point to the destinations,

is the force

of the pedestrian,

is the interaction between

pedestrians and obstacles,

is pedestrian quality,

and

()

is pedestrian expected speed and actual

speed,

()

is Desired direction of movement,



Adaptation time.

The acting force between pedestrians and

obstacles is composed of repulsive force and friction

force, and its calculation formula is as follows:

( exp[ ] ( )) ( )( )

iiw

iw i i iw iw i iw i iw iw

fA kgrdngrdvtt







(2)

Among the calculation formula,

indicates the

distance between the pedestrian and the edge of the

obstacle,

represents a standardized vector from

the edge of the obstacle to the pedestrian,

represents the actual speed of pedestrians,

represents the tangent direction of pedestrian and

obstacle edges, Ai, Bi, k,



is constant quantity.

2.2.2 Pedestrian Library Application

Principle

This article will mainly apply the pedestrian library in

AnyLogic. The pedestrian library is a high-level

pedestrian library used to simulate the performance of

pedestrian flow in the actual traffic environment.

Pedestrian library includes environment modeling

and behavior modeling:

1)Environmental modeling includes building

walls, columns, platforms, service facilities, queuing,

etc.

(()() ())/

ii i i i

mv te t vt





FITS 2020 - International Symposium on Frontiers of Intelligent Transport System

Figure 1: Step chart for building crowd evacuation model.

2) Behavior modeling needs to be achieved

through flow charts. Determine pedestrian routes and

behaviors, and establish a flow chart of the entire

process from pedestrian generation to pedestrian

departure.

When multiple locations in the model need to

reuse the same function, a function can be defined.

These functions are implemented in the Java

language. AnyLogic can check the syntax of types,

parameters and graphics. For each error, its location

and description are displayed in the problem view.

2.3 Create the Simulation Model

This article uses AnyLogic simulation software as a

modeling tool. The construction process is shown in

Fig.1, and the specific steps are shown in 1) to 5).

1) Collect and organize materials. According to

the specific information of the transportation hub

metro station hall to be investigated, the preliminary

information collection work needs to be carried out,

and the important information such as facilities,

environment, and people flow in the metro station

needs to be collected.

2) Site investigation. Due to the lag of the relevant

data on the Internet, and the actual situation needs to

be analyzed and calculated on site, so check the

relevant preliminary data in the subway station and

collect the on-site information.

3) Establish simulation dynamic simulation

model. Based on the data collected and sorted out in

the early stage, the plan of the subway station is

drawn with CAD software to determine the layout of

the facilities in the subway station, and the plan layout

of the subway station is established with AnyLogic

software.

4) Set and adjust parameters. Organize and

analyze the data recorded during the on-site survey,

calculate the pedestrian flow and path in the subway

station at different times, and further count other data

(pace, pedestrian type, number, etc.) generated during

pedestrian walking. Record the sorted parameters in

the created simulation system, and check the

difference with the actual situation.

5) Run the simulation model. Run the established

dynamic model and analyze the output indicators,

such as the density of people in the subway station at

different times and the specific action time of

pedestrians.

2.4 Empirical Research

2.4.1 Scene Construction of Related Subway

Stations in a Railway Station

Because of the particularity of the subway station,

part of its underground area is public area, and

because the subway station is underground in the

railway station, there are many entrances and exits, its

environment has certain complexity. And the walking

path of pedestrians is different from that of other

subway stations in that pedestrians enter and exit

from different railway stations, so the path has certain

complexity. Therefore, it can help to solve the

problem of evacuation in the later stage.

1) Drawing of plane model in subway station hall.

The plan of metro transfer part is shown in Fig.2,

and the shaded part is the main modeling part.

Figure 2: Environment modeling in subway station hall.

2) Statistics on the flow of people in different

subway entrances and exits during the evening peak

hours. Taking person/hour as the statistical unit, the

station north exit 1 is 720, the train station arrival exit

4 is 791, the subway north exit 2 is 2705, and the

subway east entrance is 1550. The specific survey

data is shown in Fig.3.

Anylogic Simulation Research on Passenger Evacuation System of Urban Transportation Hub

Figure 3:.Survey data at each exit of the station hall.

2.5

Creating a Behavior Flow Chart in

a Subway Station

In most cities, pedestrians can choose a mobile phone

QR code or a transportation card to enter the subway

station after entering the subway and choose the

appropriate entrance security check. It can also

choose a manual window ticket machine to buy

tickets and enter the station. After purchasing the

ticket and entering the station, the pedestrians choose

the stairs or escalator to enter the second floor.

Considering that the connection process between the

train station and the subway is complicated, and

pedestrians have a similar process after entering the

station hall, so this article only selects four outbound

entrances: north entrance 1 of a certain subway

station, arrival gate 4, a certain subway’s north

entrance and the east entrance are simulated.

According to the travel logic, the flow chart of the

logic modeling of the behavior of the station hall on

the negative first floor is shown in Fig.4.

2.6

Parameter Setting of Simulation

Model

In AnyLogic software, each facility-related attribute

has default values, but it is necessary to select objects

according to actual conditions and combine actual

survey data to change the default values in the

simulation software to actual measured data. Specific

parameter settings are shown in Table 1:

Figure 4: Survey data at each exit of the station hall.

FITS 2020 - International Symposium on Frontiers of Intelligent Transport System

Table 1: Comparison table of simulation model parameter settings.

Control type

Corresponding

Environmental Elements

Parameter Name Assignment Parameters

Pedsource Reach the Goal

Moving Rate 2705(per hour)

Moving Rate 791(per hour)

pedSelectOutput

Pedestrian Selection

Probability

Usage Probability 0.2, 0, 0, 0, 0.44

Pedservice Shortest Queue

Delay Time Uniform (2.0, 3.0)

Delay Time Uniform (2.0, 3.0)*8

Pedgoto Reach the Target Recent Exports ped.getNearestGate()

This article additionally sets an emergency button

in the model, which is used to simulate the simulation

results when an emergency occurs, and for setting the

function in the nearest exit. This can provide an

effective basis for how to solve the crowd evacuation

in emergency situations. In order to get a more

accurate solution, three functions are set in the

simulation, which are average residence time, area

density and queue length.

1) Average residence time function

Average residence time function=

timeMeasureEnd.disturbution.mean()

2) Regional density function

Regional density= pedAreaDescriptor.density()

3) Queue length function

Queuing number = pedService. queueSize

(queueLine1)

2.7 Simulation Results and

Optimization Analysis

2.7.1 Analysis of Simulation Results

As shown in Fig.5, setting the pedestrian density map

in the simulation results can clearly show the degree

of congestion in the station with the color depth. It

can be observed from the results that there are

relatively many people entering the subway station

from the entrance of the train station, which is also

The particularity of this type of subway station. Due

to the large number of trains entering and leaving the

train station every day, many passengers choose the

nearest subway entrance to enter the station.

Figure 5: Pedestrian density simulation results show.

Anylogic Simulation Research on Passenger Evacuation System of Urban Transportation Hub

Figure 6: Model derived from running average residence time.

There will be different levels of crowding at

different times in the subway station hall. Because the

subway station selected in this article belongs to the

station hall connected to the railway station, the

personnel density will be higher than other subway

stations, and it is more difficult to solve the problem

of crowd evacuation. As shown in Fig. 6, running the

simulation model yields the average stay time of

passengers in the subway station hall.

2.8 Improve Proposals

Because the subway station is connected to the train

station, what is different from other subway stations

is that the station does not have the characteristics of

only a large number of people in the morning and

evening peaks, and the number of people in each time

period of the station is different. If set too many

evacuation exits, there will be resource redundancy.

In response to the above problems, based on the

operation results and the problems found, the

following optimization and improvement schemes

are proposed:

1) Due to the lack of gates for ticket checking, the

inbound passenger flow is not smooth, leading to

congestion in some areas of the station hall floor.

Therefore, when the crowd is crowded, two outbound

gates can be moved to the inbound gate. Taking into

account operating costs, the number of ticket vending

machines can be reduced by one.

2) When there are more passengers and the

elevator load is insufficient, you can add indicator

signs and manual guidance to transfer part of the

concentrated passengers. Properly extend the

passenger transfer route to increase the transfer time

to avoid trampling accidents caused by crowded

stairs.

3 CONCLUSION

In this paper, AnyLogic software is used to simulate

the layout of the underground station hall of a subway

station in the city, and four different entrances and

exits are used for example simulation. By analyzing

the simulation results and using the pedestrian density

map to analyze the crowd density of the underground

station hall of the station, to simulate how to evacuate

the crowd when the crowd is crowded, it is found that

the optimized simulation results are more reasonable

and provide reasonable construction for the subway

station hall. Reference. Therefore, from the

perspective of modeling and simulation, the study

found that AnyLogic simulation has certain

application value for improving the operating

conditions of subway stations and optimizing the

layout of facilities, and can provide help for the

construction of subway stations in cities.

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Anylogic Simulation Research on Passenger Evacuation System of Urban Transportation Hub