Simulation of Evacuation Behaviors in Dynamically Changing Situations and Its Qualitative Validation

In an emergency, people are upset and do not behave as they do during evacuation drills. An agent-based system enables an evacuation simulation to consider these human behaviors, including their mental and social status. Simulation results that consider the human factor appear to be a good tool for creating and improving prevention plans. In this paper, we point out new features for simulating evacuation behaviors in dynamically changing situations and describe the simulation in the case of closing fire shutters. Our simulation results show more realistic evacuation behavior than traditional simulations and indicate potential for improving prevention plans for dynamically changing emergency situations. Moreover, we discuss the problem of verifying and validating simulation results in unusual scenarios that have not yet occurred.