Simulation of competitive egress behavior:: Comparison with aircraft evacuation data

We report new results obtained using cellular automata for pedestrian dynamics with friction. Monte-Carlo simulations of evacuation processes are compared with experimental results on competitive behavior in emergency egress from an aircraft. In the model, the recently introduced concept of a friction parameter mu is used to distinguish between competitive and cooperative movement. However, an additional influence in competition is increased walking speed. Empirical results show that a critical door width w(c), separates two regimes: for w < w(c) competition increases egress times, whereas for w > w(c) it leads to a decrease. This result is reproduced in the simulation only if both influences, walking speed and friction, are taken into account. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.