Impulse propagation in dense crowds - decoding the origins of dangerous dynamics

• Applicants: Dr. Juliane Adrian; Dr.-Ing. Mira Küpper
• Subject Area: Traffic and Transport Systems, Intelligent and Automated Traffic
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 549018809

Accidents or near-accidents in crowds often occur because there are too many people in too little space. In other words, there is a high density of people. But not every situation with a high density of people is equally dangerous. The aim of the project „DenseDynamics“ is to identify potentially dangerous dynamics in very dense crowds and to understand and measure their emergence and impact. There is still great potential for basic empirical research in this area. DenseDynamics is intended to help close these knowledge gaps. Therefore, the existing empirical findings from the CrowdDNA (EU) and CroMa (BMBF) projects will first be deepened and then expanded with new experimental studies. The experimental studies in CrowdDNA have already laid the foundation for investigating how an impulse spreads in a line of people or a small crowd. In the studies, all subjects were oriented in the same direction and the impulse came from behind. In DenseDynamics, we now want to extend these directions of impact to different directions and increase the number of test subjects. We assume that, in addition to the other factors already investigated, the direction of the impulse also has an influence on the individual movement strategies with which a person compensates for the disturbance from the resting position. This will then also change the effect of the impact on a macroscopic level, for example the propagation speed of the impulse or its attenuation. In the previous bottleneck experiments, which were carried out with a high density of people and high motivation of the test subjects, certain dynamics could already be observed. It has been observed that not all people actively move forward in certain situations (e.g. by closing gaps or pushing), but that some adopt a more passive waiting posture. It is not yet known when people actively push and when they tend to wait. The transitions and the associated changes in behaviour have also not yet been investigated. However, this behaviour results in different space requirements and can therefore have an influence on other collective phenomena such as transversal waves or neighbourhood changes, which will be investigated in the project. In DenseDynamics we aim to decipher the origin of these dynamics and to investigate their effects on a macroscopic, microscopic and submicroscopic level. To achieve this, further experiments will be carried out in which these dynamics will be triggered in a safe environment. In addition, the knowledge gained from studying pulse propagation should help to understand the effects at different levels.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants