Fundamental diagrams of pedestrian flow characteristics: A review

Abstract

Introduction

The dimensionality of pedestrian infrastructure facilities have a great influence on pedestrian movements and a considerable impact on natural environment of the facility. Understanding the pedestrian movements are crucial to estimate the capacity of the system accurately, especially in the transportation terminals such as railway stations, bus terminals, airports and so forth, where large crowd gathers and transfers. To have a safe and comfortable movement in normal situation and also a quick evacuation in emergency situation, pedestrian movement patterns should be analysed and modelled properly.

Purpose

Once the behaviour of pedestrians is established in terms of speed and density with respect to the environment, even for the colossal systems, the pedestrian flow characteristics can be modelled by applying extremely efficient simulations. The main modelling element in the context of flow models is the fundamental relationship among speed, flow and density. The objective of this study is to review the fundamental diagrams of pedestrian flow characteristics developed for various flow types and geometric elements. This paper also discusses the design values of flow parameters and walking speeds of pedestrians at various facilities.

Methods

In order to achieve the goal of this paper, we presented a systematic review of fundamental diagrams of pedestrian flow characteristics developed by using various approaches such as field, experimental and simulation.

Conclusions

After a thorough review of literature, this paper identifies certain research gaps which provides an opportunity to enhance the understanding of fundamental diagrams of pedestrian flow characteristics.