Spectral and informational analysis of pedestrian contact force in simulated overcrowding conditions

Abstract In this paper, the time series of contact force among pedestrians in two different crowding conditions is analysed by using the correlogram-based periodogram and the Fisher–Shannon method to investigate their spectral and informational properties, respectively. The overcrowding was simulated by controlled experiments carried out at University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei in three different walking styles. Our results show that: (1) the contact force is characterized by a significant periodic behavior; (2) a clear discrimination in the Fisher–Shannon information plane is found between contact forces measured in the two conditions of lower and higher pedestrian density.