Thesis: Pedestrian Simulations with the Social Force Model

Anders Johansson, Kristian Lindgren, and Dirk Helbing. Pedestrian Simulations with the Social Force Model (2004). Dresden University of Technology, Germany.

For this thesis, they implement different simulations using the Social Force Model (Helbing, 1991, 1995, 1997; Helbing and Moln ́ar, 1995; Helbing and Vicsek, 1999; Helbing et al., 2000; Moln ́ar, 1996a, 1996b). Model is discussed, which is suitable for both small-scale pedestrian simulations as well as computation- ally fast large-scale pedestrian simulations.

The model itself consist of some primitives:

- Agent: A pedestrian with a set of properties.

- Obstacle: A wall that will produce forces onto agents in the vicinity.

- ForceF ield: A polygon area with a constant force within. Can be used to model stairs or sloping floors.

- Goal: A location where agents want to go.

The pedestrian movement is built up by different forces:

- Obstacle forces: Repulsive forces are applied to all pedestrians in the vicinity of the obstacle with an increasing magnitude when the distance is decreasing.

- Pedestrian forces: Between all pedestrians there are repulsive forces that increase in magnitude when the distance is decreasing.

Among the applications one can find:

- evacuation of soccer arenas and theaters.

- self-organization phenomena such as lane formation, stripe formation.