Optimal Moore Neighborhood Approach of Cellular Automaton Based Pedestrian Movement: A Case Study on the Closed Area

Abstract

Closed area building is the most dangerous structure that caused major casualties compared to open space during panic situation due to the limited access of space. The unfamiliarity of the pedestrian and the unstructured arrangement of the space area (e.g. furniture, exit point, rooms, workspace and etc.) had caused the high physical collision that can cause casualties and heavy injuries. Hence, this research is to simulate the pedestrian movement to find the impact of building’s familiarity and space design towards the pedestrian movement speed. The familiarity of the pedestrian had been tested with the horizontal movement of Von Neumann approach and optimal criterion of Moore Neighborhood approach for a closed building area with the randomization of spatial layout obstacles arrangement. The optimal Moore Neighborhood is able to re-enact the real behavior of the pedestrian with high familiarization. Hence, this research had proven that the pedestrian with high familiarity of a building escape route had moved faster with higher speed. The pedestrian movement speed was improved with the feasible spatial layout design of the closed area building that is able to shape the flow of the pedestrian’s movement and reduce the physical collision.