Logit-based exit choice model of evacuation in rooms with internal obstacles and multiple exits

A logit-based discrete choice model is proposed to study the exit choice behaviour of evacuees in rooms with internal obstacles and multiple exits. Several factors influencing the exit choice behaviour, including the information obtained by evacuees, the tendency of following others, the visibility and familiarity of exits and the physical conditions of nearby exits, are considered. Evacuees are allowed to re-select their target exits for minimizing the perceived disutility during evacuation process. Numerical results from applying the model to cellular automata simulation of evacuation are presented and the effects of some model parameters on evacuation time are investigated.