Open Fund

Title: Virtual Reality Simulation for Mass Evacuation in Fire Emergencies Aimed at Urban Safety and Disaster Reduction

Sponsor: Guangdong–Hong Kong-Macau Joint Laboratory for Smart Cities

Duration: 2023.04 – 2024.08

Key words: Crowd simulation; Virtual reality; Dynamic chain navigation grid; Cellular automata; Vertex raster

Abstract: Conducting large-scale crowd evacuation simulations in virtual reality (VR) holds significant importance for urban safety management and disaster emergency response, particularly in the context of fire incidents. Existing methods for simulating large-scale crowd evacuation in the event of a fire suffer from issues such as low computational efficiency and inadequate visualization rendering. To address these challenges, this project aims to systematically investigate VR simulation methods for large-scale crowd evacuation in the context of urban safety and disaster risk reduction. The key components of this research project include: (1) Develop an algorithm based on improved cellular automata to construct a chain navigation grid specifically designed for large-scale crowd evacuation; (2) Devise a method based on vertex grids to optimize the visualization rendering of large-scale crowds, thereby enhancing the efficiency of crowd evacuation simulations; (3) Develop a prototype system and conduct experimental analyses using a large shopping mall as a case study area to validate the proposed methods and algorithms. The anticipated outcomes of this project are expected to directly benefit the simulation of large-scale crowd evacuation in urban public areas in the event of a fire. The project aims to provide crucial technological support for urban fire emergency response and informed decision-making.