Using a Game Engine for VR Simulations in Evacuation Planning

Researchers who want to use virtual reality-based simulations in their work must address some important requirements. Simulations require a good 3D graphical rendering capability. For realistic results, they must also consider the effects of physical laws, such as gravity and collision forces. A software platform that meets these requirements can serve a broad range of science and technology applications, but developing an entire platform is hard work itself. In this article, we present our use of a game engine for virtual simulations of building evacuations in emergency situations. We have modeled a real IEN building in 3D to perform preliminary evacuation tests, prior to real ones, and thus support evacuation planning. Nuclear plants represent just one of many environments where virtual simulations might be the best or only means of evaluating situations that are too dangerous to simulate in real environments-for example, in the presence of fire and smoke or radioactive or chemical contamination.