Pedestrian evacuation simulation under the scenario with earthquake- induced falling debris

Earthquake-induced collapse of building structures has been effectively controlled in recent years, however, failure of non-structural components and secondary disasters induced by falling debris remain a serious matter, making the outdoor evacuation more dangerous. A pedestrian evacuation simulation framework considering earthquake-induced falling debris is proposed herein, and the associated prediction model to calculate the falling debris distribution is also established. Moreover, experiments are conducted to quantify the influence of falling debris on pedestrian movement. After establishing the evacuation environment, a social force model is adopted to conduct the evacuation simulation. A case study of the teaching area located in Tsinghua University campus is performed using the proposed method for regional evacuation simulation. The results show that when considering the motion of debris after hitting the ground, the width of road covered by debris may be more than twice the first landing distance of debris, especially in densely built-up areas. Besides, whether the debris exists or not has more influence on the total evacuation time. The proposed method can assist with the identification of high-risk areas among the evacuation roads, as well as the provision of scientific basis for future urban planning and emergency evacuation drill development.