Impact of Impulse Stops on Pedestrian Flow

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to analyze how impulse stops at attractions affect pedestrian flow in corridors, revealing stable and unstable flow regimes influenced by social factors and crowd density.

Contribution

It introduces a switching behavior model to simulate impulse stops based on social influence and crowd size, providing new insights into pedestrian flow dynamics.

Findings

Stable flow at low pedestrian influx with complete stops and departures.

Unstable flow at high influx with crowding and impeded movement.

Phase diagram summarizing different flow patterns.

Abstract

We numerically study the impact of impulse stops on pedestrian flow for a straight corridor with multiple attractions. The impulse stop is simulated by the switching behavior model, a function of the social influence strength and the number of attendees near the attraction. When the pedestrian influx is low, one can observe a stable flow where attendees make a complete stop at an attraction and then leave the attraction after a certain amount of time. When the pedestrian influx is high, an unstable flow is observed for strong social influence. In the unstable flow, attendees near the attraction are crowded out from the clusters by others due to the interpersonal repulsion. The expelled pedestrians impede the pedestrian traffic between the left and right boundaries of the corridor. These collective patterns of pedestrian flow are summarized in a schematic phase diagram.