Pedestrian choice behavior analysis and simulation of vertical walking facilities in transfer station

Considering the interlayer height, luggage, the difference between queuing pedestrians, and walking speed, the pedestrian choice model of vertical walking facilities is established based on a support vector machine. This model is verified with the pedestrian flow data of Changchun light-rail transfer station and Beijing Xizhimen transfer station. Adding the pedestrian choice model of vertical walking facilities into the pedestrian simulation model which is based on cellular automata, the pedestrian choice behavior is simulated. In the simulation, the effects of the dynamic influence factors are analyzed. To reduce the conflicts between pedestrians in opposite directions, the layout of vertical walking facilities is improved. The simulations indicate that the improved layout of vertical walking facilities can improve the efficiency of pedestrians passing.     

The excluded-volume effect in microscopic pedestrian simulations

We propose a pedestrian position update rule, which is added to a microscopic pedestrian model to avoid pedestrian overlap. In the rule, the step size of a pedestrian moving in a selected direction at each update is in inverse proportion to the repulsive actions imposed by other pedestrians moving in a direction with an exponential rate. The positions of the pedestrians are then updated in each small time interval. In this way, a barrier between the pedestrians can be generated, and after updating their positions the pedestrians do not overlap with each other. The modified model is compared to the original model through a simulation of the evacuation process of pedestrians in a closed area. The simulation results indicate that the modified model is superior to the original model in several aspects.     

A microscopic pedestrian-simulation model and its application to intersecting flows

We develop a microscopic pedestrian-simulation model in which pedestrian positions are updated at discrete time steps. At each time step, each pedestrian probabilistically selects a direction of movement from a predetermined set according to a logit-type function that considers the dynamics of other pedestrians around, and then selects a step size that satisfies a certain distribution. We perform a number of field experiments on real intersecting pedestrian flows with four different angles. We then validate and calibrate the model using sample data on the deviation angles, step velocities, and velocity–density relations obtained from the experiments.     

基于元胞传输模型的楼梯区域行人运动

针对楼梯区域行人运动进行观测实验,获得行人上下楼过程中的运动数据,通过对数据进行整理与分析,绘制不同过程中流量-密度变化关系图.通过对流密关系图进行定量分析,掌握楼梯区域行人运动特征,并改进原有元胞传输模型,提出楼梯行人运动模型,仿真模拟行人运动过程.模型中,引入势能修正系数,利用异向行人对元胞势能的影响来改变行人的路径选择;引入流量修正系数,描述不同的物理参数对元胞边界最大流量的影响;引入偏移系数,修正移动规则,增强优先方向对行人路径选择行为的影响.然后,通过比较仿真结果与实验数据,对模型及引入参数进行验证和校准.最后,利用校正模型,模拟研究楼梯区域对向行人运动过程,并对势能修正参数进行了灵敏度分析,进一步研究模型参数对行人运动的影响.研究表明,该模型可以模拟刻画楼梯区域行人运动过程,同时验证了楼梯区域行人集散效率跟行人到达率与行人路径选择有关.     

A modified heuristics-based model for simulating realistic pedestrian movement behavior

Pedestrian movement simulation models are used in various areas, such as building evacuation, transportation engineering, and safety management of large events. It also provides effective means to uncover underlying mechanisms of collective behaviors. In this work, a modified heuristics-based model is presented. In this model, the potential collisions in the moving process are explicitly considered. Meanwhile, a series of simulations is conducted in two typical scenarios to demonstrate the influence of critical parameters on model performance. It is found that when facing a wide obstacle in a corridor, the larger the visual radius, the earlier the pedestrian starts to make a detour. In addition, when a pedestrian observes a large crowd walking toward him, he chooses to make a detour and moves in the flow in a uniform direction. Furthermore, the model can reproduce the lane formation pedestrian flow phenomena in relatively high-density situations. With the increase of pedestrian visual radius and the weight of potential collision resistance, more stable pedestrian lanes and fewer moving-through-the-counterflow pedestrians can be observed. In terms of model validation, the density-speed relationship of simulation results accords well with that of the published empirical data. Our results demonstrate that the modified heuristics-based model can overcome the deficiency of the original model, and reproduce more realistic pedestrian movement behavior.     

基于元胞自动机的行人和机动车相互干扰机理研究

在行人流量大的人行横道处,机动车和行人之间存在较为严重的干扰.通过引入行人和机动车的冲突干扰规则, 构建了能够刻画人行横道处机动车和行人相互干扰行为的元胞自动机模型.通过数值模拟研究了行人到达率、机动车到达率、 行人冒险穿越机动车道的阈值以及行人对机动车敏感系数等因素对机动车和行人流量的影响. 模拟结果显示,所提出的模型很好地反映了行人与机动车之间的干扰特性;随着行人冒险穿越机动车道的阈值的增加, 机动车流量增大,行人流量减小;随着行人对机动车敏感系数的增加,行人避让概率减小,机动车流量减小,行人流量增大. 所得结果对混合交通的控制和管理具有一定的指导意义.     

通道中行人-机动车相互作用机理的建模和模拟

本文研究了通道中行人与车辆同向或反向运动时的人车相互作用.车辆运动的描述采用细化的确定性元胞自动机模型,而行人流则采用考虑背景场的格子气模型.车辆及其影响区被视为一种可移动的障碍物,形成动态变化的背景场,可以更好地反映人车之间的相互作用.通过数值模拟得到典型参数下的行人流基本图以及平均车速随行人密度的变化曲线.人车反向时行人流基本图中存在两个临界密度,其间的行人流量-密度曲线呈线性分布,曲线斜率k主要依赖于车辆宽度和行人预判时间,而平均车速近似为k,即反向车辆形成的移动瓶颈和行人拥堵向上游传播的速度是一致的.文中进一步考察了行人预判时间、车辆宽度及限速对人车混合交通流的影响.人车同向时,这三个参数的影响都不明显.人车反向时,当车辆宽度较小,即使在很高密度下,车辆仍可以前行,而更大的行人预判时间也有助于车辆的运动.     

A new collision avoidance model for pedestrian dynamics

The pedestrians can only avoid collisions passively under the action of forces during simulations using the social force model, which may lead to unnatural behaviors. This paper proposes an optimization-based model for the avoidance of collisions, where the social repulsive force is removed in favor of a search for the quickest path to destination in the pedestrian's vision field. In this way, the behaviors of pedestrians are governed by changing their desired walking direction and desired speed. By combining the critical factors of pedestrian movement, such as positions of the exit and obstacles and velocities of the neighbors, the choice of desired velocity has been rendered to a discrete optimization problem. Therefore,it is the self-driven force that leads pedestrians to a free path rather than the repulsive force, which means the pedestrians can actively avoid collisions. The new model is verified by comparing with the fundamental diagram and actual data. The simulation results of individual avoidance trajectories and crowd avoidance behaviors demonstrate the reasonability of the proposed model.     

Simulation of pedestrian evacuation based on an improved dynamic parameter model

An improved dynamic parameter model is presented based on cellular automata. The dynamic parameters, including direction parameter, empty parameter, and cognition parameter, are formulated to simplify tactically the process of making decisions for pedestrians. The improved model reflects the judgement of pedestrians on surrounding conditions and the action of choosing or decision. According to the two-dimensional cellular automaton Moore neighborhood we establish the pedestrian moving rule, and carry out corresponding simulations of pedestrian evacuation. The improved model considers the impact of pedestrian density near exits on the evacuation process. Simulated and experimental results demonstrate that the improvement makes sense due to the fact that except for the spatial distance to exits, people also choose an exit according to the pedestrian density around exits. The impact factors α, β, and γ are introduced to describe transition payoff, and their optimal values are determined through simulation. Moreover, the effects of pedestrian distribution, pedestrian density, and the width of exits on the evacuation time are discussed. The optimal exit layout, i.e., the optimal position and width, is offered. The comparison between the simulated results obtained with the improved model and that from a previous model and experiments indicates that the improved model can reproduce experimental results well. Thus, it has great significance for further study, and important instructional meaning for pedestrian evacuation so as to reduce the number of casualties.     

A cell-based study on pedestrian acceleration and overtaking in a transfer station corridor

Pedestrian speed in a transfer station corridor is faster than usual and sometimes running can be found among some of them. In this paper, pedestrians are divided into two categories. The first one is aggressive, and the other is conservative. Aggressive pedestrians weaving their way through crowd in the corridor are the study object of this paper. During recent decades, much attention has been paid to the pedestrians’ behavior, such as overtaking (also deceleration) and collision avoidance, and that continues in this paper. After sufficiently analyzing the characteristics of pedestrian flow in transfer station corridor, a cell-based model is presented in this paper, including the acceleration (also deceleration) and overtaking analysis. Acceleration (also deceleration) in a corridor is fixed according to Newton’s Law and then speed calculated with a kinematic formula is discretized into cells based on the fuzzy logic. After the speed is updated, overtaking is analyzed based on updated speed and force explicitly, compared to rule-based models, which herein we call implicit ones. During the analysis of overtaking, a threshold value to determine the overtaking direction is introduced. Actually, model in this paper is a two-step one. The first step is to update speed, which is the cells the pedestrian can move in one time interval and the other is to analyze the overtaking. Finally, a comparison between the rule-based cellular automata, the model in this paper and data in HCM 2000 is made to demonstrate our model can be used to achieve reasonable simulation of acceleration (also deceleration) and overtaking among pedestrians.     

步行通道内行人流拉链现象的生成机理与仿真研究

以步行通道内的单向行人流为研究对象,分析研究行人拉链现象的生成机理,并建立基于Voronoi图的速度修正模型对其仿真研究.首先,从行人追求视野最佳和步行舒适的角度分析拉链现象的生成机理,以行人的视野关注和视野遮挡描述影响行人移动过程中产生拉链偏移的因素;以行人局部密度描述行人的步行舒适度;引入拉链敏感系数描述行人客观偏移的意愿程度;提出单个行人侧向偏移的机制,获得行人最佳的偏移位置.然后,构建基于Voronoi图的行人速度修正仿真模型,考虑行人是否有偏移倾向的主观意愿,并嵌入偏移规则,模拟再现行人的拉链现象.仿真发现:行人的拉链层数与通道宽度成正比,该模型速度密度关系图与实证数据吻合较好;与不考虑拉链效应相比,倾向主动进行侧向偏移的行人占比越大,越有助于提高通道内行人的移动速度、舒适度和空间利用率.     

基于元胞自动机和复杂网络理论的双向行人流建模

通过设计行人行走倾向性调查实验,分析了行人的行走倾向性特征. 引入前进系数、右倾系数、超越系数以及影响修正系数等对元胞自动机(CA) 基本模型中的转移概率进行修正,建立了考虑行人行走倾向性特征的CA行人仿真模型. 针对该模型中的行人群体,依据k-近邻作用原理,构建行人复杂网络. 通过计算机仿真,揭示了行人流密度、速度和流量的关系以及仿真过程中出现的自组织现象.进一步分析仿真输出的行人流基本参数和行人复杂网络主要特征参数,发现对同一行人流,其平均速度和网络平均路径长度均随着行人流状态的改变而变化.最后, 通过平均路径长度和平均速度的数据拟合,得出两者之间存在着线性负相关关系的结论, 即具有较小网络平均路径长度的行人流具有较高的平均速度.     

Model and application of bidirectional pedestrian flows at signalized crosswalks

This research of bidirectional pedestrian flows at signalized crosswalks is divided into two parts: model and application. In the model part, a mixed survey including the questionnaire investigation and tracking investigation is conducted to gain the basic data about walking tendentiousness of a pedestrian crossing. Then, the forward, right-hand, outstripping,and influential coefficients are outlined to quantize walking tendentiousness of pedestrian crossing and estimate transition probabilities of pedestrians. At last, an improved cellular automation model is proposed to describe walking tendentiousness and crossing behaviors of pedestrians. In the application part, channelization research of bidirectional pedestrian flows is presented for real signalized crosswalk. In this process, the effects of right-side-walking and conformity behaviors on the efficiency of pedestrian crossing are thoroughly analyzed based on simulations and experiments to obtain a final channelization method to raise the efficiency of a pedestrian crossing at the crosswalk.     

准滑模控制应用于行人通道的交通瓶颈

单向行人交通在瓶颈处极易发生堵塞,设置障碍会阻碍行人通行,却能保证瓶颈处通畅.本文将准滑模控制引入LWR模型中,理论推导控制变量.在三车道宏观交通流模型基础上,模拟瓶颈处的障碍对行人流的影响,解释设置障碍的作用.研究表明准滑模控制变量的设置与阈值有关,当阈值对应基本图的流量最大点时,行人流量能保持最大值,达到提高单向行人交通瓶颈处的行人流通过效率. 关键词： 交通瓶颈 准滑模控制 LWR模型     

Agitated behavior and elastic characteristics of pedestrians in an alternative floor field model for pedestrian dynamics

An alternative floor field (FF) model is proposed by incorporating the agitated behavior and elastic characteristics of pedestrians. The agitated behavior which is regarded as an important factor to pedestrian dynamics is depicted by introducing a parameter to revise the transition probability of pedestrians to move to the neighboring cells. To characterize elasticity of pedestrians, it is assumed that a cell can hold more than one pedestrians in crowd condition, while it can hold only one pedestrian in normal condition. In addition, a method to deal with conflicts is employed by considering the effects of agitated behavior and desired velocity. Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate pedestrian evacuation from a room. The results show, that as the value of agitated parameter increases, the evacuation time decreases to the minimum value and then increases gradually. Also, the faster-is-slower effect which is obtained by some other simulation models can be reproduced by the proposed model. Finally, the influence of exit width and the corresponding mechanism on evacuation process is investigated which is expected to be helpful to the exit design of public rooms.     

Simulation of pedestrian counter flow through bottlenecks by using an agent-based model

Considerable research has been conducted on the topic of unidirectional evacuations from exits. However, few studies aim at simulating counter flow through a bottleneck with complex conflict. This paper proposes an agent-based model to investigate bidirectional flow evacuation. Pedestrian speed is determined by the speed of the leading agent and the surrounding agents. The moving direction of pedestrian originates from four forces, namely, gradient force, repulsive force, resistance force, and random force. These four forces dominate the main stream of the pedestrian moving trajectory, the interaction between pedestrians and their local environment, the resistance or disinclination to movement, and the random variations and chaotic nature of pedestrian dynamics. The novelty of this research is in the agent-based model that combines the agent and forces while providing insights for the simulation of the pedestrian dynamic on the cognitive level. The experiment results show that the behavior that arises from this model is consistent with the observations from Guangzhou Metro and that this model could help capture the essence of pedestrian behavior near egresses.     

An optimization-based overtaking model for unidirectional pedestrian flow

We propose an optimization-based model for simulating the overtaking behaviour in the unidirectional pedestrian flow. A ‘visual area’ is introduced so that agents could receive the information regarding their surroundings and react by choosing one of three options: to move straight on, to dodge to the left, or to dodge to the right. And a side preference of each pedestrian for evading and overtaking is implemented based on traffic ‘social norms’. The model was validated by reproducing the experimentally obtained pedestrian flow patterns. The effects of the initial pedestrian formation on overtaking behaviour and the evacuation time have been analysed in different geometries. The results show that pedestrian flow patterns after overtaking are obviously influenced by both the initial positions and density of the slow pedestrians in the front. Phase changes of pedestrian formation are observed in both experiment and simulations. On the other hand, for sparse pedestrian crowds, the egress time of the fast individuals is mainly impacted by the horizontal distance between the initial positions of the slow pedestrians in the front, especially in the geometry with a bottleneck.     

A least-effort principle based model for heterogeneous pedestrian flow considering overtaking behavior

In the context of global aging, how to design traffic facilities for a population with a different age composition is of high importance. For this purpose, we propose a model based on the least effort principle to simulate heterogeneous pedestrian flow. In the model, the pedestrian is represented by a three-disc shaped agent. We add a new parameter to realize pedestrians' preference to avoid changing their direction of movement too quickly. The model is validated with numerous experimental data on unidirectional pedestrian flow. In addition, we investigate the influence of corridor width and velocity distribution of crowds on unidirectional heterogeneous pedestrian flow. The simulation results reflect that widening corridors could increase the specific flow for the crowd composed of two kinds of pedestrians with significantly different free velocities. Moreover, compared with a unified crowd, the crowd composed of pedestrians with great mobility differences requires a wider corridor to attain the same traffic efficiency. This study could be beneficial in providing a better understanding of heterogeneous pedestrian flow, and quantified outcomes could be applied in traffic facility design.     

Simulation of nonstationary electrohydrodynamic flows in a symmetric system of electrodes of the wire-wire type

Computer simulation is carried out for the process of formation of electrohydrodynamic flows emerging in a system of two parallel wires as a result of symmetric injection from each electrode (2D case). Simulation is performed using the ANSYS system. A simulation algorithm is developed for nonstationary electrohydrodynamic flows. The results of simulation are presented. Analysis of the results shows that the evolution of electrohydrodynamic flows is accompanied by the formation of thin oppositely charged liquid streams moving in opposite direction from near-electrode charged layers.     

Biomechanically inspired modelling of pedestrian-induced forces on laterally oscillating structures

Despite considerable interest among engineers and scientists, bi-directional interaction between walking pedestrians and lively bridges has still not been well understood. In an attempt to bridge this gap a biomechanically inspired model of the human response to lateral bridge motion is presented and explored. The simple inverted pendulum model captures the key features of pedestrian lateral balance and the resulting forces on the structure. The forces include self-excited components that can be effectively modelled as frequency-dependent added damping and mass to the structure. The results of numerical simulations are in reasonable agreement with recent experimental measurements of humans walking on a laterally oscillating treadmill, and in very good agreement with measurements on full-scale bridges. In contrast to many other models of lateral pedestrian loading, synchronisation with the bridge motion is not involved. A parametric study of the model is conducted, revealing that as pedestrians slow down as a crowd becomes more dense, their resulting lower pacing rates generate larger self-excited forces. For typical pedestrian parameters, the potential to generate negative damping arises for any lateral bridge vibration frequency above 0.43 Hz, depending on the walking frequency. Stability boundaries of the combined pedestrian–structure system are presented in terms of the structural damping ratio and pedestrian-to-bridge mass ratio, revealing complex relations between damping demand and bridge and pedestrian frequencies, due to the added mass effect. Finally it is demonstrated that the model can produce simultaneous self-excited forces on multiple structural modes, and a realistic full simulation of a large number of pedestrians, walking randomly and interacting with a bridge, produces structural behaviour in very good agreement with site observations.