Comparison of bidirectional pedestrian flows by experiments

Abstract

Intersections of pedestrian flows feature multiple types, varying in the numbers of flow directions as well as intersecting angles. In this article results from diverse bidirectional flow experiments with different intersecting angles are compared. To analyze the transport capabilities the Voronoi method is used to resolve the fine structure of the resulting velocity-density relations and spatial dependence of the measurements. The fundamental diagrams of various flow types are compared and show no apparent difference with respect to the intersecting angle. This result indicates that head-on conflicts of different types of flow have the same influence on the transport properties of the system, which demonstrates the high self-organization capabilities of pedestrians.