Microscopic Modelling Of Pedestrian Dynamics

Abstract

Walking is the most primitive mode of transportation. In modern age this primary mode has not become obsolete as it furnishes access to those stretches of places which are not reachable by any vehicular mode of transport. Pedestrians are multiplying day by day in cities. Hence Pedestrian motion has immensely become a complex phenomenon. It is important to make out critical aspects of pedestrian motion to avoid collisions between pedestrians or any unexpected occurrence that has many precedents, like stampede. To understand this fuzzy motion, it is important to closely oversee this process of human movement and relate it to some mathematical form for easy understanding. In this study, a lot of data related to pedestrian motion are collected from various places in eastern India. The study has mainly observed and recorded speed, flow and density of individual pedestrians. Statistical analysis is done here for comparing different types of data sets. Behaviours of pedestrians on different facilities and how these behaviours affect the flow parameters are studied here. The study analyzes Level of service of different pedestrian facilities. Oscillation phenomena occurring at bottlenecks are illustrated taking reference from already conducted experiments by other researchers. In this study a model is developed to mimic the pedestrian flow while moving along a corridor or evacuating from a closed space. The model is a microscopic discrete model using cellular automata. The model imitates some simple rules practiced by the pedestrians for decision making while moving in a space. It can explain the lane changing phenomena in pedestrian streams. The model is very realistic in the direction choice approach of pedestrians. It is capable of modelling different crowd levels. The model is validated by the data collected from different facilities.