Social force model for pedestrian dynamics

1995/05/01 by Dirk Helbing, Péter Molnár · 91 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · #Data Visualization and Analytics #Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics #Traffic control and management

paper · doi:10.1103/physreve.51.4282

openalex publication_date 1995/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

It is suggested that the motion of pedestrians can be described as if they would be subject to ``social forces.'' These ``forces'' are not directly exerted by the pedestrians' personal environment, but they are a measure for the internal motivations of the individuals to perform certain actions (movements). The corresponding force concept is discussed in more detail and can also be applied to the description of other behaviors. In the presented model of pedestrian behavior several force terms are essential: first, a term describing the acceleration towards the desired velocity of motion; second, terms reflecting that a pedestrian keeps a certain distance from other pedestrians and borders; and third, a term modeling attractive effects. The resulting equations of motion of nonlinearly coupled Langevin equations. Computer simulations of crowds of interacting pedestrians show that the social force model is capable of describing the self-organization of several observed collective effects of pedestrian behavior very realistically.

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