2002/10/04 by D. Helbing, Helbing, D., I. Farkas +8
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics #FOS: Physical sciences #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Traffic Prediction and Management Techniques #Traffic control and management #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0210097
To appear in: M. Fukui, Y. Sugiyama, M. Schreckenberg, and D.E. Wolf (eds.) Traffic and Granular Flow '01 (Springer, Berlin)
arxiv created 2002/10/04 · openalex publication_date 2002/10/04 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2022/10/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We critically discuss the concept of ``synchronized flow'' from a historical, empirical, and theoretical perspective. Problems related to the measurement of vehicle data are highlighted, and questionable interpretations are identified. Moreover, we propose a quantitative and consistent theory of the empirical findings based on a phase diagram of congested traffic states, which is universal for all conventional traffic models having the same instability diagram and a fundamental diagram. New empirical and simulation data supporting this approach are presented as well. We also give a short overview of the various phenomena observed in panicking pedestrian crowds relevant from the point of evacuation of buildings, ships, and stadia. Some of these can be applied to the optimization of production processes, e.g. the ``slower-is-faster effect''.