Improved path selection algorithm for ship evacuation

In light of the growth in the numbers of maritime disasters during recent years, there is a growing interest in the evacuation of passengers and crew at the sea, as documented in recent discussion at the Marine Safety Committee of the IMO. This study proposes an improved path selection algorithm to derive solutions for evacuation process. As preparations, we provide a precise mathematical model to describe evacuation process. With respect to the minimum evacuation time algorithm we develop a new path selection algorithm called network occupation force algorithm. Then the proposed algorithm is applied to Ro-Ro passenger ship to simulate the evacuation process. With the computational results compared with IMO simplified evacuation analysis, there are some discussions about the evacuation process analysis.