Abstract: In order to scientifically develop plans for door opening in metro tunnel evacuation, pedestrian simulation Legion model, developed based on social force models, was applied to study influence of door opening on evacuation process and results. The studies were conducted under mode of side platform evacuation for four cases, namely opening the first door, first two doors, first three doors and all four doors of the first carriage. The results show that evacuation time for opening the first door is similar to that of other cases, which means just opening the first door during interval tunnel evacuation is feasible. It is also found that about 80% of passengers in carriages are evacuated through the first door, so it is important to disperse passenger flow at this door when organizing interval evacuation. As multiple doors are opened, evacuation efficiency will be probably higher if passengers choose evacuate through the first carriage.

Key words: door opening mode, metro, side platform evacuation, social force models, pedestrian simulation