Study on the influencing mechanism of the obstacle layout to improve the pedestrian egress

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K14377
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 25020:Safety engineering-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: JIA XIAOLU 東京大学, 大学院工学系研究科(工学部), 特任助教 (90898842)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: pedestrian management / crowd dynamics / pedestrian flow

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Due to the inevitability of placing obstacles when designing walking facilities, it is important to understand the influence of the obstacle on pedestrian egress, i.e. the process for the pedestrians to leave from a certain area. However, the influencing mechanism of the obstacle on the pedestrian egress was unclear, making the scientific evidence and standards for the design of the obstacle insufficient. In this proposal, I elucidate this problem by both field experiments and simulation. On one hand, field experiments showed the influence of the obstacle on egress efficiency relies on the self-organization behavior of pedestrians. On the other hand, numerical simulation results gave a generalized result on the phase transition of the three possible influences, i.e., improved, balanced, decreased, of the obstacle on the egress efficiency.

Free Research Field

安全工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This research shifts the research trend from the prioritized positive to a thorough analysis of the obstacle’s influencing mechanism. It also contributes to actual pedestrian management by providing scientific evidence for obstacle layout design and pedestrian guidance to eliminate congestion.