A Fluid Dynamic Model for the Movement of Pedestrians

TL;DR

This paper develops a fluid dynamic model based on a gaskinetic approach to describe collective pedestrian movement, capturing phenomena like lane formation, jams, and wave propagation, with potential urban planning applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gaskinetic fluid model for pedestrians, highlighting differences from traditional fluids and applying it to real-world crowd behaviors.

Findings

Model explains lane formation and jams

Predicts wave propagation in crowds

Applicable to urban and traffic planning

Abstract

A kind of fluid dynamic description for the collective movement of pedestrians is developed on the basis of a Boltzmann-like gaskinetic model. The differences between these pedestrian specific equations and those for ordinary fluids are worked out, for example concerning the mechanism of relaxation to equilibrium, the role of ``pressure'', the special influence of internal friction and the origin of ``temperature''. Some interesting results are derived that can be compared to real situations, for example the development of walking lanes and of pedestrian jams, the propagation of waves, and the behavior on a dance floor. Possible applications of the model to town- and traffic-planning are outlined.