Citation

Shiwakoti N, Gong Y, Shi X, Ye Z. Safety Sci. 2015; 75: 15-22.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2015.01.009

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Architectural features such as merging corridors form an important component in floor plans of any major public infrastructure. Previous studies on documented crowd disasters have highlighted that passage restriction such as merging corridors can have negative impacts on the efficiency of evacuation process. However, limited data exists on merging process in the literature. This study aims to address this issue through empirical data collection and analysis of merging process in a controlled laboratory walking experiments. A series of experiments were conducted with different merging angles (60°, 90° and 180°) and with different desired speed (normal and slow running). The experiments indicated that pedestrians tend to reduce speeds within merging areas. With higher merging angle, there is greater reduction in speed in the merging area. Speed reduction is statistically significant with merging angles and desired speed. The speed reduction had an effect on the flow rate with reduced flow rate observed for higher merging angle. The empirical results from this study can be used to develop and test pedestrian crowd simulation models.