How bottleneck width and restricted walking height affect pedestrian motion: Experimental analysis

The enhancement of traffic efficiency and the safety of pedestrians in transportation and evacuation have been paid increasing attention. In some abnormal situations such as the presence of smoke, pedestrians have to evacuate by adopting the posture of stoop, which may challenge the capacity of the transportation system. This study focuses on the effects of restricted walking height and bottleneck width on the unidirectional pedestrian flow through bottlenecks. Ten combinations of bottleneck widths and walking heights are considered. The results show that the pedestrian velocities of 1.4 m and normal walking heights both increase with the bottleneck width. Pedestrians have higher velocity at 1.4 m and 1.6 m walking heights in comparison with normal and 1.2 m walking heights, which is attributed to the influence of walking height on the walking motivation of pedestrians. Compared with normal walking height, it appears that bottleneck with restricted walking height has lower pedestrian flow. Besides, a linear relation between flow rate and walking height is observed, and the flow rate increases linearly with walking height. The findings of this study provide insights into the dynamics of pedestrian stoop walking under restricted walking height through the bottleneck.