Cellular automaton simulation of pedestrian counter flow with different walk velocities

Abstract

This paper presents a cellular automaton model without step back for pedestrian dynamics considering the human behaviors which can make judgments in some complex situations. This model can simulate pedestrian movement with different walk velocities through update at different time-step intervals. Two kinds of boundary conditions including periodic and open boundary for pedestrian counter flow are considered, and their dynamical characteristics are discussed. Simulation results show that for periodic boundary condition there are three phases of pedestrian patterns, i.e., freely moving phase, lane formation phase, and perfectly stopped phase at some certain total density ranges. In the stage of lane formation, the phenomenon that pedestrians exceed those with lower walk velocity through a narrow walkway can be found. For open boundary condition, at some certain entrance densities, there are two steady states of pedestrian patterns; but the first is metastable. Spontaneous fluctuations can break the first steady state, i.e., freely moving phase, and run into the second steady state, i.e., perfectly stopped phase.