Analysis and modelling of macroscopic and microscopic dynamics of a pedestrian cross-flow

TL;DR

This study investigates pedestrian cross-flow dynamics through experiments and models, revealing how microscopic behaviors influence macroscopic patterns like stripe formation, and comparing model complexities for accuracy in high-density scenarios.

Contribution

It provides a detailed experimental analysis of pedestrian crossing behavior and compares hierarchical models, demonstrating the importance of body shape information for accurate simulation.

Findings

Elliptical body models outperform simpler models in high-density scenarios.

Self-organizing stripe patterns emerge across all models.

Complex models better describe the distribution tails in pedestrian behavior.

Abstract

In this work we investigate the behaviour of a human crowd in a cross-flow. We first analyse the results of a set of controlled experiments in which subjects were divided into two groups, in such a way to explore different density settings, and asked to walk through the crossing area. We study the results of the experiment by analysing, along with traditional indicators such as density and velocity, also walking and body orientation, studying how these microscopic observables are influenced by density. Furthermore, we report a preliminary but quantitative analysis on the emergence of self-organising stripes in the crossing area. We also try to reproduce the empirical results using a hierarchy of models, which differ in the details of the body shape (using a disk-shaped body vs a more realistic elliptical shape) and in how collision avoiding is performed (using only information regarding "centre of mass" distance and velocity, or actually introducing body shape information). We verified that the most detailed model (i.e., using body shape information and an elliptical body) outperforms in a significant way the simplest one (using only centre of mass distance and velocity, and disk-shaped bodies). Furthermore, we observed that if elliptical bodies are introduced without using such information in collision avoidance, the performance of the model is relatively poor. Nevertheless, the difference between the different models is relevant only in describing the "tails" of the observable distributions, suggesting that the more complex models could be of practical use only for describing high density settings. We also verified that "stripe formation" emerges in all models.