A Hybrid Bilevel Model for the Optimal Shelter Assignment in Emergency Evacuations

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Man Wo Ng - , University of Texas at Austin (Author)
  • Junsik Park - , The Korea Transport Institute (Author)
  • S. Travis Waller - , University of Texas at Austin (Author)

Abstract

Abstract: The rise in natural and man-made disasters in recent years has led to an increased interest in emergency evacuation planning. Athough the vast majority of the existing evacuation planning models assumes system optimal (cooperative) behavior, recent research has shown that during large evacuations people tend to exhibit selfish (noncooperative) behavior. This article presents a hybrid bilevel model that balances both behavioral assumptions (in the upper level, shelter assignment occurs in a system optimal fashion, whereas evacuees are free to choose how to reach their assigned shelters in the lower level), hence providing a model that is more in line with the current state-of-the-knowledge of human behavior during disasters. The proposed model is solved using a simulated annealing algorithm. A hypothetical evacuation scenario in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, illustrates the proposed model. We demonstrate that the resulting evacuation strategies can be significantly different from conventional system optimal evacuation plans.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)547-556
Number of pages10
JournalComputer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
Volume25
Issue number8
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2010
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-2939-2090/work/141543907