Quantitative analysis of pedestrian counterflow in a cellular automaton model

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2012 Jun;85(6 Pt 2):066128. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.85.066128. Epub 2012 Jun 21.

Abstract

Pedestrian dynamics exhibits various collective phenomena. Here, we study bidirectional pedestrian flow in a floor field cellular automaton model. Under certain conditions, lane formation is observed. Although it has often been studied qualitatively, e.g., as a test for the realism of a model, there are almost no quantitative results, either empirically or theoretically. As basis for a quantitative analysis, we introduce an order parameter which is adopted from the analysis of colloidal suspensions. This allows us to determine a phase diagram for the system where four different states (free flow, disorder, lanes, gridlock) can be distinguished. Although the number of lanes formed is fluctuating, lanes are characterized by a typical density. It is found that the basic floor field model overestimates the tendency towards a gridlock compared to experimental bounds. Therefore, an anticipation mechanism is introduced which reduces the jamming probability.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Crowding*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Population Dynamics*