ESCAPE: Evacuation simulation of the Mercedes Benz Arena

As part of the ESCAPE research project, an evacuation simulation of the Mercedes Benz Arena was carried out.

Description
Client: Mercedes Benz Arena
Task: Evacuation simulation
Result: Proof of evacuation concept

Background

Stuttgart's Neckarpark is the site of several major events each year: the Cannstatter Wasen festival grounds are a popular folk festival location, and the Mercedes-Benz Arena attracts many thousands of soccer fans. To ensure that visitors can be safely evacuated even during simultaneous events, the Stuttgart police have joined forces with Fraunhofer IOSB and accu:rate in the ESCAPE research project. This project included simulating the evacuation of the Mercedes-Benz Arena during a Bundesliga match to evaluate the movements of visitors.
"With the simulation, we have provable values for escape route use and utilization. This helps us plan a safe event, especially when several are taking place at the same time.“ (Carsten Höfler, Polizeidirektor Stuttgart)

Objective of the simulation

On the one hand, the simulation is intended to take a closer look at the movement of people through the stadium in the event of an orderly evacuation; on the other hand, it is interesting for the security planning of the entire Neckarpark within the framework of ESCAPE how many people leave the stadium when and where in what time.

Our approach

  • Consideration of the movement of people in the event of an orderly evacuation
  • Analysis of the exits for escape time, capacities and bottlenecks
  • Determination of the flow of people to the entire site for further analysis in ESCAPE

Results

With the help of the simulation, we - determined the total escape time - visualized the flows of people on the arena site to better understand the conditions and make them usable for further planning, - identified the areas from which escape takes particularly long in order to derive recommendations, - evaluated the escape progressions via the individual exits in order to show the workloads and to identify organizational options, - analyzed the flows of people, which thus affect the entire outdoor area of Neckarpark, to make them evaluable for security planning.
Figure: Pedestrian flows on the venue Image sources: Andreas Praefcke: Stuttgart Neckarstadion von Gaisburg Creative Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stuttgart_Neckarstadion_von_Gaisburg_aus.jpg
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