Evacuation dynamics with imitative behavior on an inclined ship: When wicked passengers meet cautious passengers

¹ School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology - Wuhan 430070, China
² Green & Smart River-Sea-Going Ship Cruise and Yacht Research Center, Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan 430063, China

Received: 17 June 2025
Accepted: 23 September 2025

Abstract

How to conduct rapid and efficient personnel evacuation following maritime accidents remains a complex and challenging issue, while the mixed dynamics of heterogeneous behaviors and the impact of gravity under special environmental contexts have received insufficient research attention. Motivated by this gap, we employ the social force model to investigate heterogeneous crowd evacuation dynamics with imitative behavior in inclined environments. The results indicate that cautious passengers typically prolong evacuation time under emergency conditions when their number is relatively large. However, a controlled presence of cautious individuals may efficiently mitigate adverse effects caused by wicked passengers, due to the imitation. Furthermore, exit orientation plays a critical role in shaping evacuation dynamics, particularly under extreme maritime conditions. This study provides quantitative insights into crowd management strategies for marine evacuation scenarios involving heterogeneous passengers with imitative behaviors.