Human Ellipse of Indian Pedestrians

The most important parameter for designing a pedestrian facility is the area required by a pedestrian to stand comfortably or make a comfortable movement. This area is referred as Body Ellipse (Human Ellipse) and depends on Shoulder Width and Body Depth of a human being (and also on the kind of activity i.e. Standing or Walking). In current practices, design of pedestrian facilities’ are according to the body ellipse of pedestrians experimented in The United States Of America (US-HCM 2010). Regional variances are marked in these physical characteristics that are dependent on human body dimensions to a greater extent, ultimately playing an important role in pedestrian’s convenience (capacity and Level of service of a facility) and design environment. This paper is an attempt to study the measurements of Body Ellipses i.e. body depth and shoulder width by carrying out videography surveys on the pedestrians in India (specifically Delhi). The analysis also includes, classifying the body dimensions according to gender and walking with/without baggage (handbag/backpack), along with the measurement of the Step length of pedestrians’ while walking which shall give out the area required for walking. These body dimensions have been compared with the standard body dimension available worldwide. The study location was a walkway in a commercial area in Delhi (India) with a sample size of 747 consisting of 132 females and 615 males. The extracted body dimension varies from 26.07 to 52.14 centimeter for body depth and 42.35 to 67.76 centimeters for shoulder width.