Helene Ranetbauer

Lane Formation by Side-Stepping

In this paper we study a system of nonlinear partial differential equations, which describes the evolution of two pedestrian groups moving in opposite directions. The pedestrian dynamics are driven by aversion and cohesion, i.e., the tendency to follow individuals from their own group and step aside in the case of contraflow. We start with a two-dimensional lattice-based approach, in which the transition rates reflect the described dynamics, and derive the corresponding PDE system by formally passing to the limit in the spatial and temporal discretization. We discuss the existence of special stationary solutions, which correspond to the formation of directional lanes and prove existence of global in time bounded weak solutions. The proof is based on an approximation argument and entropy inequalities. Furthermore, we illustrate the behavior of the system with numerical simulations.

Cross-Diffusion Systems with Excluded-Volume Effects and Asymptotic Gradient Flow Structures

In this paper, we discuss the analysis of a cross-diffusion PDE system for a mixture of hard spheres, which was derived in Bruna and Chapman (J Chem Phys 137:204116-1–204116-16, 2012a) from a stochastic system of interacting Brownian particles using the method of matched asymptotic expansions. The resulting cross-diffusion system is valid in the limit of small volume fraction of particles. While the system has a gradient flow structure in the symmetric case of all particles having the same size and diffusivity, this is not valid in general. We discuss local stability and global existence for the symmetric case using the gradient flow structure and entropy variable techniques. For the general case, we introduce the concept of an asymptotic gradient flow structure and show how it can be used to study the behavior close to equilibrium. Finally, we illustrate the behavior of the model with various numerical simulations.

Numerical simulation of nonlinear continuity equations by evolving diffeomorphisms

Abstract In this paper we present a numerical scheme for nonlinear continuity equations, which is based on the gradient flow formulation of an energy functional with respect to the quadratic transportation distance. It can be applied to a large class of nonlinear continuity equations, whose dynamics are driven by internal energies, given external potentials and/or interaction energies. The solver is based on its variational formulation as a gradient flow with respect to the Wasserstein distance. Positivity of solutions as well as energy decrease of the semi-discrete scheme are guaranteed by its construction. We illustrate this property with various examples in spatial dimension one and two.

Derivation and analysis of continuum models for crossing pedestrian traffic

In this paper, we study hyperbolic and parabolic nonlinear partial differential equation models, which describe the evolution of two intersecting pedestrian flows. We assume that individuals avoid collisions by sidestepping, which is encoded in the transition rates of the microscopic 2D model. We formally derive the corresponding mean-field models and prove existence of global weak solutions for the parabolic model. Moreover we discuss stability of stationary states for the corresponding one-dimensional model. Furthermore we illustrate the rich dynamics of both systems with numerical simulations.

Symbolic Derivation of Mean-Field PDEs from Lattice-Based Models

Transportation processes, which play a prominent role in the life and social sciences, are typically described by discrete models on lattices. For studying their dynamics a continuous formulation of the problem via partial differential equations (PDE) is employed. In this paper we propose a symbolic computation approach to derive mean-field PDEs from a lattice-based model. We start with the microscopic equations, which state the probability to find a particle at a given lattice site. Then the PDEs are formally derived by Taylor expansions of the probability densities and by passing to an appropriate limit as the time steps and the distances between lattice sites tend to zero. We present an implementation in a computer algebra system that performs this transition for a general class of models. In order to rewrite the mean-field PDEs in a conservative formulation, we adapt and implement symbolic integration methods that can handle unspecified functions in several variables. To illustrate our approach, we consider an application in crowd motion analysis where the dynamics of bidirectional flows are studied. However, the presented approach can be applied to various transportation processes of multiple species with variable size in any dimension, for example, to confirm several proposed mean-field models for cell motility.

Numerical simulation of continuity equations by evolving diffeomorphisms

Abstract In this paper we present a numerical scheme for nonlinear continuity equations, which is based on the gradient flow formulation of an energy functional with respect to the quadratic transportation distance. It can be applied to a large class of nonlinear continuity equations, whose dynamics are driven by internal energies, given external potentials and/or interaction energies. The solver is based on its variational formulation as a gradient flow with respect to the Wasserstein distance. Positivity of solutions as well as energy decrease of the semi-discrete scheme are guaranteed by its construction. We illustrate this property with various examples in spatial dimension one and two.