Impact of holding umbrella on uni- and bi-directional pedestrian flow: experiments and modeling

In this paper, the impact of holding an umbrella on the uni- and bi-directional flow has been investigated via experiment and modeling. In experiments, pedestrians walk clockwise/anti-clockwise in a ring-shaped corridor under the normal situation and holding umbrella situation. In the unidirectional flow, the flow rate under the holding umbrella situation decreases from 0.1 to 0.25 ped/s/m when compared to the normal situation. In the holding umbrella situation, the bidirectional flow rate even reduces to 0.2 ped/s/m in contrast to the unidirectional flow. In the bidirectional flow, pedestrians segregate into two opposite moving streams very quickly under the normal situation and have right-walking preference. Under the holding umbrella situation, spontaneous lane formation also occurs. However, pedestrians can easily separate into three or four lanes. Moreover, the merge of lanes is observed, and clockwise/anti-clockwise pedestrians are not always in the inner/outer lane. The simulation results by an improved social force model considering the umbrella size are in agreement with the experimental ones.