Simulation model of bi-directional pedestrian considering potential effect ahead and behind

•Potential field is defined to depict the guide, contain and press effects.•Preventative steering behavior and congestion unlock phenomenon are observed.•Coefficient ββ controls competition ability, and k reflects affected range.•Larger ββ accelerates lane formation by forcing fewer leaders to side step.•Larger kk depicts behavior of pedestrians with high awareness of potential effect.

This paper presents a simulation model for bi-directional pedestrian behavior. Guide effect and press effect performed by pedestrians with same direction, and contain effect performed by opposite pedestrians were considered as potential effects. Potential field was defined to simulate the complex interactions, which provided an effective and integrated approach to depict the immediate effects imposed by individuals ahead and behind, with different directions. The number of following pedestrians was regarded as a factor for lane change decision. Experiments ran for the model validation and coefficient performance verification. Preventative steering behavior and congestion unlock phenomenon were observed in the simulation. Velocity–density and flow rate–density curves with different coefficients show the effectiveness of the presented model to capture self-organization phenomenon in counter flow. Coefficient performance reveals the flexibility and controllability of the model to apply on various circumstances.