Agent-Based Simulation on Pedestrian Flow Capacity of Narrow Space

Abstract

The narrow space in the urban pedestrian traffic system is the area which is liable to be congested. Recently, researches on the maximum pedestrian flow of space mainly focus on the width of exit, but there are not sufficient researches on the walking space with a certain length. The aim of this paper is to analyze the change of pedestrian flow capacity of the narrow space with a certain length under the influence of width. The simulation model of walking behavior is established by Net Logo software. By changing the space width and the number of pedestrians entering into the space per unit time, the quantitative relationship between the width of space and the space pedestrian flow capacity is simulated. In the simulation, the pedestrians' walking behavior is influenced by the target area, the space boundary and the visible surrounding pedestrian density. The results show that when the length of the walking space is 30 m and the space width is less than 10.33 m, the increase of the width will significantly improve the pedestrian flow capacity of the space. When the space width is larger than 10.33 m, the increase of the width will enhance the pedestrian flow capacity less significantly. The research results can be applied to the design of the width of urban long and narrow walking space.