Understanding Collective Motion: Jamming and Crowd Dynamics

Science Center A247

Collective motion is key to understanding the behavior of different organisms and how they interact with each other as well as their surroundings. Created from basic local rules, the complex behavior can be illustrated using the Vicsek model. Using this model, we have investigated the resulting behavior in terms of different parameters. This exploration provided the foundation of insight into crowd dynamics and jammed conditions. Through research into crowd dynamics, we discovered that the smart particle experienced less force on the indirect path through the crowd making it the better path. By testing various rules of particle interaction, we discovered a rule that produces ordered movement based on topological interaction in a jammed condition with partially periodic boundaries.