Quantify movement thresholds under wedging conditions

Ascertain and quantify the movement threshold under wedged conditions in dense pedestrian crowds, i.e., the minimum residual motion possible before wedging effectively prevents individual movement.

Background

The authors describe wedging as a critical dense-crowd scenario in which bodies lock together and motion becomes impossible, leading to dangerous static constraints such as chest compression and fainting.

Despite the significance of this phenomenon for safety, the literature lacks quantitative measures of the minimal movement possible before wedging occurs, which limits the ability to predict and prevent critical crowd states.