Pedestrian Group Behaviour Analysis under Different Density Conditions

We recently introduced a potential to describe pedestrian interaction in walking groups. The potential was used to derive the spatial distribution and velocity of small groups under scarce density conditions and its predictions are in good agreement with observations. In the present work we apply the same method to a new data set regarding pedestrians moving in an indoor facility under different density conditions. To describe the variation of the group structure with changing density we introduce an “effective potential” term that assesses the average effect of the external environment on the group dynamics.