Emergent phenomena induced by avoidance behavior in multi-directional pedestrian flows

Abstract

The mechanisms behind collision avoidance and its effects in pedestrian streams are not yet fully understood. In crossing multi-directional streams it can lead to self-organisation phenomena. A prominent example is lane formation in counterflow. Here we study a symmetric 3-way intersection using methods from active particle systems theory. A rich phase diagram with four different phases is found as function of the maneuverability and vision angle of the agents. The properties of the phases are rather different and should be distinguishable experimentally.