70 Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 55, No. 1, 2017 Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Simulation model of pedestrians swarm in evacuation situations Olfa Beltaief* Research Group GR2IA, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia Email: Beltaief.olfa@gmail.com *Corresponding author Sameh El Hadouaj Research Group GR2IA, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE Email: hadouaj@yahoo.fr Khaled Ghedira Research Group GR2IA, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia Email: khaled.ghedira@isg.rnu.tn Abstract: A swarm of pedestrians is a large group of individual agents that use autonomous coordination via local control laws. Their emergent behaviour allows crowds to have patterns which are not externally planned. Researchers prove that a crowd in emergency situations has a well-determined emergent behaviour. The pedestrian crowd simulation systems in case of emergency must have these emergent behaviours in order to prove its effectiveness. For this purpose we have created the E-PHuNAC model (Evacuation-Personalities’ Human’s Nature of Autonomous Crowds). Our model takes into account the three main perspectives for understanding the behaviour of crowds in an evacuation. Indeed, we have considered the normative affiliation, social identity and panic. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the E-PHuNAC model and also prove that the swarm behaviour of pedestrians’ agents in this model allows the emergence of these global patterns. The conducted experiments are consistent with reality and can reproduce evacuation phenomena. Keywords: simulation model; multi-agent; pedestrian crowd; evacuation; panic; emergent behaviours. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Beltaief, O., El Hadouaj, S. and Ghedira, K. (2017) ‘Simulation model of pedestrians swarm in evacuation situations’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp.70–77. Biographical notes: Olfa Beltaief has received the Bachelor degree in Mathematics in 2004, the Mastery degree in Management Computer (ISG-Tunisia) in 2008, and the Master degrees in Management Computer (ISG-Tunisia) in 2011. She has taught in the Higher Institute of Management of Tunis for one year (2010). She has taught in the Higher Institute of Applied Studies in Humanities of Tunis for four years (2011–2015). She was research fellow in SOIE Laboratory whose specialty is artificial intelligence. She is specialised in the research of multi- agent simulations. Sameh El Hadouaj received the BEng degree in Automatic Control from Wuhan University of Technology, China, in 1982. She received the MSc degree in Automatic Control from Shandong University of Science and Technology, China, in 1985 and received the PhD degree in Non- Linear Uncertain System Control from Coventry University, UK, in 1995. Currently, she is a Reader with the Department of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. Her main research interests include non-linear system control, system modelling and identification, power systems, energy efficient systems and applications of intelligent algorithms.