Pedestrian Flow at Bottlenecks - Validation and Calibration of Vissim's Social Force Model of Pedestrian Traffic and its Empirical Foundations

TL;DR

This paper validates and calibrates Vissim's Social Force Model for pedestrian flow at bottlenecks by comparing simulation results with experimental data, revealing a linear flow dependence influenced by psychological factors.

Contribution

It provides empirical validation and calibration of the Social Force Model in Vissim for pedestrian bottleneck flow, emphasizing the linear relationship and psychological effects.

Findings

Flow dependence on bottleneck width is linear.

Simulation parameters can be calibrated to match experimental flow data.

Psychological factors influence pedestrian flow at bottlenecks.

Abstract

In this contribution first results of experiments on pedestrian flow through bottlenecks are presented and then compared to simulation results obtained with the Social Force Model in the Vissim simulation framework. Concerning the experiments it is argued that the basic dependence between flow and bottleneck width is not a step function but that it is linear and modified by the effect of a psychological phenomenon. The simulation results as well show a linear dependence and the parameters can be calibrated such that the absolute values for flow and time fit to range of experimental results.