Evacuation from Cramped Interiors with Aisle Seats: Uncertainty Induced by the Random Choice of Initial Positions

Considering evacuation from cramped interiors with aisle seats, the initial seating positions of pedestrians represent a non-negligible source of variance in total evacuation time. By means of Pathfinder simulations, this uncertainty is quantitatively investigated for a train and lecture hall geometry with homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of agents. Furthermore, an energy-inspired description of the occupation configuration is introduced that enables a proper numerical representation of the configuration space of the initial seating positions.