Experiment and Modelling for Pedestrian Following Behavior Using Velocity-headway Relation

In this paper, a simple velocity-headway relation is used to describe the pedestrian following behavior in the single-file passageway. Single-file pedestrian movement experiment was conducted to obtain the distance headway-velocity data and nonlinear curve fitting to the data are executed to gain a good form of the velocity-headway equation. Referring to the ideas of car-following models, the velocity- headway relation is used as the fundamental optimal velocity function and then we adopts the optimal velocity model to study the pedestrian following behavior. Linear stability analyses give the phase diagram of the distance headway-sensitivity. Corresponding simulations are executed and the fundamental diagrams of the mean velocities are compared with the results of experiments carried out in China and Germany, and it is found that the model proposed in this paper is applicable for pedestrian following behavior. Simulation result also verifies the different physiological body sizes or psychological space requirements will have significant influence on the mean velocity. It is hoped for that this study would be useful for the evaluation of pedestrian movement in public buildings or egress passageways and the development of evacuation models.