Minimum distance decision approach to competitive escape dynamics

Abstract

Minimum distance decision approach to competitive escape dynamics with killings was studied in this paper. Escaping dummies (term used to denote people in the simulation) were placed in a 40 x 40 lattice in which they can occupy up to 20 by 20 lattice sites. Two escape doors were analyzed, one at the upper left corner at (0,0) and the other at lower center at (20,39). The lattice sites to be occupied by the dummies were modelled as von Neumann neighbours and dummies moved through lattice sites that are of minimum distance form the door. Killings occurred whenever there is a conflict in the nearest von Neumann neighbour to be occupied. It was observed that different escape patterns arise from escape through different doors, and that the escape time is higher in escape through the corner door than through the side door. It was found however, that the number of killings is higher in escape through the side door than in escape through the corner door. This suggests that the escape through the corner door gave more space for rearrangements to occur that result to lower killings. This could also explain the higher escape time that was incurred in the escape through the corner door. The study also introduced the concept of killing which is an important physical parameter in escape dynamics.