Evacuation Simulation in Indoor Environment Using Social Force Model

Abstract. The safe evacuation of pedestrian crowds in indoor environments is a key challenge for architects and safety engineers. This study uses the Social Force Model (SFM), as a microscopic model-based approach, to simulate evacuation in a building, incorporating factors such as building layout, furniture arrangement, student distribution and their physical characteristics. Moreover, the evacuation process is based on assigning pedestrians to the nearest exit, and adding decision-making knowledge during the evacuation process. Pedestrians are modeled with individual physical characteristics (e.g., gender, height, and mass) that affect their movement and preferred speed. The simulation evaluates evacuation performance based on total evacuation time, crowd density, and pedestrian speed, using real-world data from the School of Surveying and Geospatial Engineering, University of Tehran. Results show that including gender diversity reduces evacuation time by 15.98% compared to a basic, homogeneous model. The system also identifies congestion hotspots and helps improve evacuation safety and efficiency.