Social force model for pedestrian dynamics

It is suggested that the motion of pedestrians can be described as if they\nwould be subject to `social forces'. These `forces' are not directly exerted by\nthe pedestrians' personal environment, but they are a measure for the internal\nmotivations of the individuals to perform certain actions (movements). The\ncorresponding force concept is discussed in more detail and can be also applied\nto the description of other behaviors.\n In the presented model of pedestrian behavior several force terms are\nessential: First, a term describing the acceleration towards the desired\nvelocity of motion. Second, terms reflecting that a pedestrian keeps a certain\ndistance to other pedestrians and borders. Third, a term modeling attractive\neffects. The resulting equations of motion are nonlinearly coupled Langevin\nequations. Computer simulations of crowds of interacting pedestrians show that\nthe social force model is capable of describing the self-organization of\nseveral observed collective effects of pedestrian behavior very realistically.\n