Dynamics of a Pedestrian’s Walking Motion Based on the Inverted Pendulum Model

Abstract

In this paper, the inverted pendulum model is proposed to describe a pedestrian’s walking motion by considering that the pivot point vibrates periodically up and down. The stability, periodic solutions and oscillations of the inverted pendulum are theoretically investigated, the correctness of which is illustrated by numerical simulations. According to frequency spectrum analysis, the inverted pendulum can exhibit periodically or quasi-periodically stable oscillations. However, we demonstrate that the inverted pendulum will maintain the ratio between the lateral and vertical vibration frequencies near [Formula: see text] as an optimizing selection of stability. The theoretical result agrees with the measurement result for a normal pedestrian such that the lateral step frequency is always half the vertical step frequency, which means that it is feasible and reasonable to describe a pedestrian’s walking motion using the inverted pendulum with the pivot vibrating harmonically in the vertical direction. The inverted pendulum model suggested in this paper could contribute to the study of pedestrian–footbridge interaction, which overcomes the difficulty of directly determining the expression of the lateral force induced by pedestrians.