EFFECTS OF HUMAN BODY ON PEDESTRIAN FLOW CHARACTERISTICS AT OPENINGS

This study investigates the factors that effect of human body shape on the pedestrian's specific flow rate at openings. The results of the authors' experiment show that the mean pedestrian specific flow rates were appendix more than 2.0 person/m/s. Furthermore, the flow late increases with the opening width not linearly but in form of a step function. The participants often twisted their shoulder when they entered to the opening in particular if they passed near the opening edge through. This action makes their projected body width against the opening smaller so that they could enter into spatial gaps that were smaller than their actual body width.