MultikOSi – Support systems for urban events: Multicriterial integration for openness and safety

Sub-project description

Events like public viewing, city festivals or concerts are an integral component of urban life. In order to create accident-preventing safety concepts, the organizers and security forces of such events are still in need of scientifically proven planning aids. The purpose of the project is to support those responsible with a better foundation for decisions by evolving new methods combining and integrating known ones. The research objective of the CMS Department is to develop novel multiscale techniques for computational simulations of pedestrian flows. The simulation results help experts to plan and execute urban events.

A multiscale coupling of simulation models featuring different spatial discretization levels is to be developed for the purpose of reducing the disadvantages of the different models. Macroscopic simulation models, which rest upon a network abstraction of the scenario, may be highly efficient but ignore interactions between individuals. In contrast, microscopic models exhibit an excellent spatial resolution but tend to involve a great amount of computational input. In order to overcome the conflicting goals of high spatial accuracy and fast computation times, we will realize a scale-sensitive integration of existing methods. This approach will lower the impact of the respective downsides. Based on the given precision requirement, an area can be selected within a simulation scenario in order to implement a different simulation engine in each chosen region. The main scientific challenge of this approach is to research spatial resolution transition methods at the bounds of the simulations areas. The multiscale transition approach has to ensure that the simulation methods employed remain stable. A dynamic switching between different simulation systems can extend the promised multiscale techniques. Switching the simulation models leads to a zoom-in approach. It makes it possible to swap the simulation models of arbitrary areas of the scenario and thus change the spatial resolution required.