Pedestrian dynamics

Pedestrians can be considered an instance of active matter, a special case of granular media in which grains propel themselves. Obviously, only a few features of human behaviour can be explained with this paradigm. In this research line we try to better understand the clogs of a swarm of people when they exit an enclosure through a door. If panic develops, ending can be tragic. Maybe some strategies specifically designed to tackle the problem of clogging in inert grains may be useful for the case of people.

To this end, we carried out several series of experiments. One of them was done in a farm at Cubel (Zaragoza, Spain), where we recorded a sheep flock. Every morning, the farmer switched on a video camera we placed over the door, and then opened it to let the sheep enter the barn where fodder awaited them. The analysis of the animal passage through the door revealed many similarities with granular media. Afterwards, we conducted several series of evacuation drills with students from the School of Architecture, Universidad de Navarra, and soldiers from the America 66 regiment (quarters at Aizoain, Navarra). The study of exit time, velocity and pressure should help us to better understand the process, and perhaps to devise a method to reduce the probability of clogging at the exit door.

More information in:

• Pedestrian collective motion in competitive room evacuation

• Effect of obstacle position in the flow of sheep through a narow door (.pdf)

• Flow of pedestrians through narrow doors with different competitiveness (.pdf)

• La universalidad de los atascos

• Experimental proof of faster-is-slower in systems of frictional particles flowing through constrictions (.pdf)

• Flow and clogging of a sheep herd passing through a bottleneck (.pdf)

• Clogging transition of many-particle systems flowing through bottlenecks

• Experimental evidence of the 'Faster Is Slower' effect (.pdf)

• Vídeos de Youtube (del canal Granular Lab)