Mechanical response of dense pedestrian crowds to the crossing of intruders.

ABSTRACT: The increasing number of mass events involving large crowds calls for a better understanding of the dynamics of dense crowds. Inquiring into the possibility of a mechanical description of these dynamics, we experimentally study the crossing of dense static crowds by a cylindrical intruder, a mechanical test which is classical for granular matter. The analysis of our experiments reveals robust features in the crowds' response, comprising both similarities and discrepancies with the response of granular media. Common features include the presence of a depleted region behind the intruder and the short-range character of the perturbation. On the other hand, unlike grains, pedestrians anticipate the intruder's passage by moving much before contact and their displacements are mostly lateral, hen

SUBMITTER: Nicolas A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6331639 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature