Simulate the complex multiple character in one scene

recently, I read a paper about how to simulate the complex multiple characters interacting. At one game scene, there are about 1,000 or more characters, they are all doing some actions such as shake hands,hug. For example, during a basketball game, plenty of audiences are sitting here and have some interpersonal behavior. So, I want to use the powerful unreal engine to simulate this scene as my computer graphics research topic. With considering about the performance of hardware and other factors, I hope someone can give me some tips. By the way, if does UE4 support some science research about computer graphics?

Thanks first. :slight_smile: