Modeling overtaking behavior for pedestrian dynamic using a modified social force model

The study of pedestrian dynamics is of great theoretical significance for the design of proper walking facilities to avoid disasters during panic and evacuation situations. The Social Force Model (SFM) is one of the most popular models to describe the motion of pedestrians as it is able to simulate successfully the behavior of pedestrians in real life. Since the introduction of the overtaking behavior, many researchers have adopted this idea either in microscopic or macroscopic models. Previous studies have proposed the concept of the visual angle and the addition of overtaking force to minimize the pushing behavior and also to model the overtaking behavior. In this paper, we propose to completely eliminate the pushing behavior and to model the overtaking behavior with minimal modifications to the original SFM. This modification is based on the strength parameter of the existing social repulsion force term and the actual velocity of the pedestrian. Simulations are performed in a normal unidirectional walkway to compare the movement of the pedestrians by using snapshots of the video simulation of the pedestrians. Subsequently, comparisons of the pedestrian movements between the original Helbing model, the Helbing perception model, and the modified SFM are conducted to examine the behavior of the pedestrians. The results show that the modified SFM are able to generate more realistic overtaking behavior compared to the other models. Moreover, the pushing over behavior is successfully eliminated.