Social force model for pedestrian dynamics

Dirk Helbing and Péter Molnár
Phys. Rev. E 51, 4282 – Published 1 May 1995
An article within the collection: PRE Milestones
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Abstract

It is suggested that the motion of pedestrians can be described as if they would be subject to ‘‘social forces.’’ These ‘‘forces’’ are not directly exerted by the pedestrians’ personal environment, but they are a measure for the internal motivations of the individuals to perform certain actions (movements). The corresponding force concept is discussed in more detail and can also be applied to the description of other behaviors. In the presented model of pedestrian behavior several force terms are essential: first, a term describing the acceleration towards the desired velocity of motion; second, terms reflecting that a pedestrian keeps a certain distance from other pedestrians and borders; and third, a term modeling attractive effects. The resulting equations of motion of nonlinearly coupled Langevin equations. Computer simulations of crowds of interacting pedestrians show that the social force model is capable of describing the self-organization of several observed collective effects of pedestrian behavior very realistically.

  • Received 5 January 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.51.4282

©1995 American Physical Society

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This article appears in the following collection:

PRE Milestones

Physical Review E published its 50,000th paper in September 2015. To celebrate this, the journal presents a series of milestone papers that were published since its inception in 1993. This is an eclectic collection of papers that made significant contributions to their field, chosen by the editors. A new milestone will be added each week.

Authors & Affiliations

Dirk Helbing and Péter Molnár

  • II. Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 51, Iss. 5 — May 1995

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