Studies on Pedestrian Flow through Open Corridors with Geometric Variations

Pedestrians are important part of transportation system. Understanding pedestrian motion is a difficult task as it involves a lot of complexity at various level of studies. This study is based on pedestrian flow along the corridor highlighting the impact of geometric variations along the corridor. The impact of geometric variation (basic, symmetric, asymmetric) on pedestrian flow is studied in terms of lateral and longitudinal variations in densities and longitudinal variations in speed. The result shows (i) Corridor edges have a significant impact on the use of corridor (ii) Disturbance to pedestrian flow is significant in the case of narrowing (asymmetric) as compared to narrowing (symmetric) (iii) Effect of constriction is felt at both upstream and downstream side of the narrowed section. In a nutshell, the study provides a platform to understand pattern of pedestrian flow moving through an open corridor with and without constrictions.