Numerical and experimental study of route choice behaviour using an impatience-determined model

In this paper, we present a dynamic impatience-determined route choice model that comprehensively considers the distance and density around exits. We apply this model into three scenarios (i.e. initially pedestrians are in centre, random and non-uniform distributions) and conduct a sensitivity analysis of the self-growth rate and propagation speed of impatience. We find that the centre and random distributions are insensitive to changes in two parameters. Under the non-uniform distribution, the high self-growth rate and small propagation speed of impatience lead to the quickest evacuation process. Moreover, the model enables the simultaneous observation of the pedestrian position and the impatience distribution from the dynamic impatience map. In addition, we conduct a series of experiments to evaluate the model. The experimental and numerical results demonstrate that the impatience level should be limited to an appropriate range because no impatience or excessive impatience leads to increased evacuation times.