Mohammed M. Alrashed research interests are in ​Systems and Control with robotic applications and Mathematical Theory of Rational Behavior.

Master Thesis Abstract

The increasing occurrence of panic stampedes during mass events has motivated studying the impact of panic on crowd dynamics and the simulation of pedestrian flows in panic situations. The lack of understanding of panic stampedes still causes hundreds of fatalities each year, not to mention the scarce methodical studies of panic behavior capable of envisaging such crowd dynamics. Under those circumstances, there are thousands of fatalities and twice that many of injuries every year caused be crowd stampede worldwide, despite the tremendous efforts of crowd control and massive numbers of safekeeping forces. Pedestrian crowd dynamics are generally predictable in high-density crowds where pedestrians cannot move freely and thus gives rise to self-propelling interactions between pedestrians. Although every pedestrian has personal preferences, the motion dynamics can be modeled as a social force in such crowds. These forces are representations of internal preferences and objectives to perform certain actions or movements. The corresponding forces can be controlled for each individual to represent a different variety of behaviors that can be associated with panic situations such as escaping danger, clustering, and pushing. In this thesis, we use an agent-based model of pedestrian behavior in panic situations to predict the collective human behavior in such crowd dynamics. The proposed simulations suggests a practical way to alleviate fatalities and minimize the evacuation time in panic situations. Moreover, we introduce contagious panic and pushing behavior, resulting in a more realistic crowd dynamics model. The proposed methodology describes the intensity and spread of panic for each individual as a function of distances between pedestrians.

Areas of Expertise and Research Interests

• ​Systems and Control
• Robotics
• Applied Mathematical Theory
• Rational Behavior

Education Profile

• ​MS in Electrical Engineering, KAUST, Saudi Arabia (2016)
• BS in Electrical Engineering, Umm AlQura University, Saudi Arabia (2009)

Awards and Distinctions

• Fifth and Sixth place in the competition of scientific innovations in the fifth scientific conference:  at the level of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia held in Riyadh during the academic year 1434/1435 AH.
• Second place in the competition of scientific innovations in the scientific forum at the level Umm Al-Qura University during the academic year 1434/1435 AH.
• First place with a group in the competition of scientific innovations in the scientific forum at the level Umm Al-Qura University during the academic year 1433/1434 AH.
• Received a certificate of excellence from the College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture in 1432/1433 AH.

Professional Memberships

• Organizer member of the Student Council at the Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture, Umm Al Qura University, Makkah Al-Mukarramah.
• Administrator for the Committee for Research and Innovation in student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at the Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture,  Umm Al Qura University, Makkah Al-Mukarramah.
• Member of the PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) divers, Advanced Diver rank.