The fundamental diagrams of elderly pedestrian flow in straight corridors under different densities

The worldwide population is aging and countries are facing ongoing challenges in meeting the transportation demand of the elderly. In this study, we investigate the movement characteristics of elders in the straight corridor and compare them with that of young adults. The free speeds of the elderly (about 1.28m/s) are obviously slower than that of the young people (about 1.4m/s) in the laboratory experiments. It was found that the fundamental diagram of the elderly shows the similar trend compared with that of young pedestrians. However, at the same densities the speeds of the elderly are always lower than that of the young pedestrians in the observed density range (< 3.0 m2). When the mean velocity calculated from pedestrian movement at low densities is considered, the two normalized fundamental diagrams agree quite well. The reasons for the differences are explored by analyzing the border distance, the nearest neighbors as well as the spatial distribution areas of the pedestrians. Our findings can be useful for the improvement of the pedestrian modelling and the design of pedestrian facilities that are much friendlier to the elderly.
Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures