Pedestrian fundamental diagrams: Comparative analysis of experiments in different geometries

Zhang, Jun

Dissertation / PhD Thesis

FZJ-2012-01052

Pedestrian fundamental diagrams: Comparative analysis of experiments in different geometries

Zhang, J. (Corresponding author)FZJ*

2012
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbiliothek, Verlag Jülich
ISBN: 978-3-89336-825-9

Jülich : Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbiliothek, Verlag, Schriften des Forschungszentrums Jülich. IAS Series 14, 103 S. (2012) = Universität Wuppertal, Diss., 2012

Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/4898

Abstract: Over the last few decades, several approaches for modeling of pedestrian traffic have been proposed and developed. However, the existing empirical data are insufficient and have large discrepancies, which makes difficult for the quantitative validation of models, design and safety assessment of facilities. This thesis mainly analyze the pedestrian fundamental diagram describing the relation between crowd density, velocity and flow based on series of well-controlled laboratory experiments. The second chapter reviews the commonly used fundamental diagrams in handbooks. The differences and influence of them on facility designs are compared. Then the existing empirical studies on pedestrian fundamental diagrams are discussed especially for uni- and bidirectional pedestrian streams. In the third chapter, the experiment setup and the extraction of the pedestrian trajectories from video recordings are described. Four different measurement methods are taken to calculate the crowd density, velocity and specific flow. Their influences on the fundamental diagram are tested with the data obtained from the experiment of unidirectional flow. For the density ranges achieved in the experiment, minor effects are observed but the Voronoi method is able to resolve a finer structure of the diagram and to reveal a discontinuity. The fourth chapter deals with the analysis of experiments of uni-, bi-directional and merging flow based on the Voronoi method. The first two experiments were carried out in a straight corridor, whereas the third one were performed in a T-junction. The topographical information for density, velocity and specific flow, from which the boundary effect are observed, are extracted with Voronoi method. The specific concept is applicable to all types of flows in the density ranges observed in the experiments. Surprisingly, no difference is found for the fundamental diagrams of bidirectional flow with different modes of order. However, there is a sharp distinction between the fundamental diagrams of uni- and bidirectional flow. For the merging flow in a T-junction, the fundamental diagrams measured in front and behind the merging show also significant differences.

Keyword(s): Dissertation

Note: Universität Wuppertal, Diss., 2012

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