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Simulating the evacuation of very large populations in large domains using a parallel implementation of the buildingEXODUS evacuation model

Simulating the evacuation of very large populations in large domains using a parallel implementation of the buildingEXODUS evacuation model

Grandison, Angus ORCID: 0000-0002-9714-1605, Muthu, Yasmina, Lawrence, Peter ORCID: 0000-0002-0269-0231 and Galea, Edwin R. ORCID: 0000-0002-0001-6665 (2007) Simulating the evacuation of very large populations in large domains using a parallel implementation of the buildingEXODUS evacuation model. Interflam 2007 11th International Fire Science and Engineering Conference. Interscience Communications, Greenwich, pp. 259-270. ISBN 9780954121686

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Abstract

Computer egress simulation has potential to be used in large scale incidents to provide live advice to incident commanders. While there are many considerations which must be taken into account when applying such models to live incidents, one of the first concerns the computational speed of simulations. No matter how important the insight provided by the simulation, numerical hindsight will not prove useful to an incident commander. Thus for this type of application to be useful, it is essential that the simulation can be run many times faster than real time. Parallel processing is a method of reducing run times for very large computational simulations by distributing the workload amongst a number of CPUs. In this paper we examine the development of a parallel version of the buildingEXODUS software. The parallel strategy implemented is based on a systematic partitioning of the problem domain onto an arbitrary number of sub-domains. Each sub-domain is computed on a separate processor and runs its own copy of the EXODUS code. The software has been designed to work on typical office based networked PCs but will also function on a Windows based cluster. Two evaluation scenarios using the parallel implementation of EXODUS are described; a large open area and a 50 story high-rise building scenario. Speed-ups of up to 3.7 are achieved using up to six computers, with high-rise building evacuation simulation achieving run times of 6.4 times faster than real time.

Item Type: Book Section
Additional Information: This paper forms part of the published proceedings from 11th International Fire Science & Engineering Conference, Interflam 2007, 3-5th September 2007, Royal Holloway College, University of London, UK
Uncontrolled Keywords: computer egress simulation, live incidents, computational speed, run time, parallel processing, buildingEXODUS software, systematic partitioning, open area, high-rise building
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Pre-2014 Departments: School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Centre for Numerical Modelling & Process Analysis
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Centre for Numerical Modelling & Process Analysis > Fire Safety Engineering Group
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Department of Mathematical Sciences
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Last Modified: 30 Sep 2019 14:35
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/1095

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