School of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2018 Nov 27;18(12):4149. doi: 10.3390/s18124149.
Statistical analysis of accidents in recent years shows that crowd crushes have become significant non-combat, non-environmental public disasters. Unlike common accidents such as fires, crowd crushes may occur without obvious external causes, and may arise quickly and unexpectedly in otherwise normal surroundings. We use physics-based simulations to understand the processes and consequences of compressive forces on high density static crowds consisting of up to 400 agents in a restricted space characterized by barriers to free movement. According to empirical observation and experimentation by others, we know that local high packing density is an important factor leading to crowd crushes and consequent injuries. We computationally verify our hypothesis that compressive forces create high local crowd densities which exceed human tolerance. Affected agents may thus be unable to move or escape and will present additional movement obstacles to others. Any high density crowd simulation should therefore take into account these possible negative effects on crowd mobility and behavior. Such physics-based simulations may therefore assist in the design of crowded spaces that could reduce the possibility of crushes and their consequences.
近年来事故统计分析表明，人群踩踏已成为重大非战斗、非环境公共灾害。与火灾等常见事故不同，人群踩踏可能没有明显的外部原因，并且可能在原本正常的环境中迅速且意外地发生。我们使用基于物理的模拟来理解高达 400 个代理在受限空间中受到压缩力的过程和后果，该受限空间的特点是自由移动受到限制。根据其他人的经验观察和实验，我们知道局部高密度是导致人群踩踏和随之而来的伤害的重要因素。我们通过计算验证了我们的假设，即压缩力会造成局部人群密度过高，超过人体承受能力。受影响的个体可能因此无法移动或逃脱，并且会对其他人造成额外的移动障碍。因此，任何高密度人群模拟都应考虑到这些可能对人群流动性和行为产生的负面影响。这种基于物理的模拟可能有助于设计拥挤空间，从而降低踩踏及其后果的可能性。
