A quantitative analysis on bidirectional pedestrian flows through angled corridors

Abstract

This paper investigates turning characteristics of bidirectional pedestrian flows with controlled experiment under laboratory condition. Compared with straight walking bidirectional flow, pedestrian lane width of turning bidirectional flow narrows after turning, which indicates that pedestrians are suppressed a lot by the opposite flow when turning. The fundamental diagrams are almost the same in the density range between 1.5 ped/m2 and 3.2 ped/m2 for the straight and turning bidirectional flows. However, the density, velocity and specific flow profiles of the turning bidirectional flow are different from those of straight bidirectional flow. The density in the turning area for θ = 45° scene is larger compared with that for θ = 90° and 135° scene, and the maximal local density reaches 6 ped/m2. The region where pedestrian lanes are formed by pedestrians leaving the turning area has relatively large values of velocity and specific flow. Furthermore, position-velocity relation and the cumulative distribution of time lapse in the corridor are investigated. The results obtained can offer more insights into pedestrian dynamics of the turning bidirectional flow.