CE - 323

Transportation Engineering II Laboratory

Experiment No : VI

Determination of Hourly Flow and Peak Hour Factor

Lab Date : 04/03/2021 Submission Date: 11/03/2021

Tushar Gautam

180104079
 CONTENTS

SI No. Title Page No

1 Introduction 2
2 Summary of results 3

3 Discussion, conclusions & recommendations 4

4 Appendix 5-15

1
Introduction :

Traffic volume studies are conducted to determine the number, movements, and classifications of
roadway vehicles at a given location. The data collected can help to identify the critical flow
time periods, determine the influence of large vehicles or pedestrians on vehicular traffic flow, or
to document traffic volume trends. The length of the sampling period is dependent on the
requirements and the intended use of the data recorded for various stages of transportation
Planning.

The information on variation in traffic flow is important toward understanding the change in
traffic demand. The traffic flow data could be collected at various short intervals usually less
than an hour to understand the variation in flow. Such short intervals could be 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, and
15 minutes. The variability in the traffic flow within an hour is expressed using peak hour factor.
Peak hour factor is the ratio of the hourly flow during peak hour to the maximum rate of flow
during a given time period within the peak hour.

𝑃𝐻𝐹 = 𝑄 / ((60/𝑇) * 𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥(𝑇) )

Where,
T = Time interval(min)
Q = Total hourly flow (PCU/hr)
qmax(T )= max flow in T time interval (PCU/hr)

Traffic flow is the important traffic stream parameter used for planning, design and operation of
traffic facilities. Essentially the traffic flow describes the behaviour of traffic streams with time.
One important aspect to understand the traffic demand is to estimate the variation in traffic flow,
especially during peak hour.

However, traffic flow consists of different types of vehicles with varying vehicular
characteristics. Thus appropriate equivalency factors are required to convert the various types of
vehicles to a common unit known as passenger car unit (PCU). For the various types of vehicles
which are common on Indian roads, IRC suggests different equivalency factors. These
equivalency factors are further distinguished based on the location of the roadway section as
urban and rural. The equivalency factors for conversion of different types of vehicles into
equivalent passenger car units based on their relative interference value

2
Summary of results :

● Total Hourly Flow for the given data is 410490.0 PCU/hr.

● Peak Hour Factor for two min interval = 0.79.
● Peak Hour Factor for five min interval = 0.87.
● Peak Hour Factor for ten min interval = 0.94.
● Peak Hour Factor for fifteen min interval = 0.97.

3
Discussion, conclusions & recommendation

In design or analysis of a facility one needs to know the peak demand. However, if one designs a
section for the highest minute flow rate then the design would be a massive over design since for
most of the hours it will remain unutilized. If on the other hand one designed the facility based
on the hourly flow then possibly for substantial portions of the hours the design would be
inadequate. One therefore needs to select a sub interval within an hour which is balance between
two extremes; PHF is a factor which is calculated based on this time interval and used to
translate hourly flows to peak flow rates within that hour.

PHF value of one indicates a constant flow in every T-minute interval. PHF value increases as
the time interval value increases for a constant flow.

4
Appendix

Rural
2W 3W LCV Car Bus Truck
road
PCU
0.5 1 1.5 1 3 3
factor
Time Interval Flow
Vehicle Count
(min) (PCU/hr
Start End 2W 3W LCV Car Bus Truck )
0 1 9 19 3 44 9 9 7560.0
1 2 9 10 2 47 16 5 7650.0
2 3 27 11 5 38 14 8 8160.0
3 4 23 12 6 19 18 3 6870.0
4 5 40 18 4 45 5 9 7860.0
5 6 14 5 10 39 11 8 7380.0
6 7 19 19 9 34 7 10 7620.0
7 8 21 18 5 43 20 1 8520.0
8 9 14 5 10 33 3 8 5580.0
9 10 8 6 8 18 18 0 5640.0
10 11 34 10 10 39 4 1 5760.0
11 12 13 19 7 46 14 1 7620.0
12 13 32 17 5 30 6 7 6570.0
13 14 19 4 2 47 17 4 7590.0
14 15 5 9 3 21 10 7 5280.0
15 16 35 15 8 26 16 5 8010.0
16 17 10 11 7 30 5 9 5910.0
17 18 31 13 5 38 5 10 7140.0
18 19 15 14 10 47 14 0 7530.0
19 20 39 7 6 46 12 10 8850.0
20 21 15 7 4 39 17 2 6990.0
21 22 28 2 5 45 9 6 6810.0
22 23 30 16 7 47 3 1 6030.0
23 24 16 4 4 24 8 9 5580.0
24 25 32 5 9 26 10 5 6330.0
25 26 28 9 9 48 5 0 5970.0
26 27 34 19 9 42 20 1 9270.0
27 28 38 16 2 34 7 8 7020.0
28 29 28 3 2 43 4 5 5400.0
29 30 22 9 2 17 14 7 6180.0

5
30 31 10 9 9 34 9 0 5310.0
31 32 34 6 6 32 13 2 6540.0
32 33 38 17 5 42 4 8 7290.0
33 34 21 20 5 25 8 6 6300.0
34 35 24 18 4 31 8 5 6360.0
35 36 15 16 7 22 13 5 6600.0
36 37 24 5 7 39 20 3 8130.0
37 38 16 9 4 47 18 8 8880.0
38 39 18 8 8 27 14 1 6060.0
39 40 31 7 7 46 19 7 9420.0
40 41 15 19 4 35 11 4 6750.0
41 42 18 7 5 17 10 4 4950.0
42 43 34 12 6 45 3 2 5880.0
43 44 5 3 2 25 11 7 5250.0
44 45 8 11 6 29 11 7 6420.0
45 46 28 3 5 34 9 8 6570.0
46 47 20 18 3 47 17 1 8010.0
47 48 6 10 6 45 13 8 7800.0
48 49 26 15 8 17 10 9 6840.0
49 50 33 7 10 47 4 3 6390.0
50 51 39 3 10 38 5 4 6150.0
51 52 10 20 9 26 10 8 7110.0
52 53 10 17 8 39 8 6 6900.0
53 54 17 5 2 28 18 6 6990.0
54 55 27 2 10 19 18 0 6210.0
55 56 20 9 9 38 6 7 6570.0
56 57 16 4 7 15 4 2 3330.0
57 58 33 17 5 44 12 10 9060.0
58 59 14 18 7 41 11 10 8370.0
59 60 5 5 2 16 12 9 5370.0
Total Hourly Flow (PCU/hr) 410490.0

6
 PHF for 2-min interval

Time Interval (min)

2-min Flow (PCU/hr)
Start End
0 2 15210.0
1 3 15810.0
2 4 15030.0
3 5 14730.0
4 6 15240.0
5 7 15000.0
6 8 16140.0
7 9 14100.0
8 10 11220.0
9 11 11400.0
10 12 13380.0
11 13 14190.0
12 14 14160.0
13 15 12870.0
14 16 13290.0
15 17 13920.0
16 18 13050.0
17 19 14670.0
18 20 16380.0
19 21 15840.0
20 22 13800.0
21 23 12840.0
22 24 11610.0
23 25 11910.0
24 26 12300.0
25 27 15240.0
26 28 16290.0
27 29 12420.0
28 30 11580.0
29 31 11490.0
30 32 11850.0
31 33 13830.0

7
32 34 13590.0
33 35 12660.0
34 36 12960.0
35 37 14730.0
36 38 17010.0
37 39 14940.0
38 40 15480.0
39 41 16170.0
40 42 11700.0
41 43 10830.0
42 44 11130.0
43 45 11670.0
44 46 12990.0
45 47 14580.0
46 48 15810.0
47 49 14640.0
48 50 13230.0
49 51 12540.0
50 52 13260.0
51 53 14010.0
52 54 13890.0
53 55 13200.0
54 56 12780.0
55 57 9900.0
56 58 12390.0
57 59 17430.0
58 60 13740.0
Maximum Flow 17430.0

8
 PHF for 5-min interval

Time Interval (min)

5-min Flow (PCU/hr)
Start End
0 5 38100.0
1 6 37920.0
2 7 37890.0
3 8 38250.0
4 9 36960.0
5 10 34740.0
6 11 33120.0
7 12 33120.0
8 13 31170.0
9 14 33180.0
10 15 32820.0
11 16 35070.0
12 17 33360.0
13 18 33930.0
14 19 33870.0
15 20 37440.0
16 21 36420.0
17 22 37320.0
18 23 36210.0
19 24 34260.0
20 25 31740.0
21 26 30720.0
22 27 33180.0
23 28 34170.0
24 29 33990.0
25 30 33840.0
26 31 33180.0
27 32 30450.0
28 33 30720.0
29 34 31620.0
30 35 31800.0
31 36 33090.0

9
32 37 34680.0
33 38 36270.0
34 39 36030.0
35 40 39090.0
36 41 39240.0
37 42 36060.0
38 43 33060.0
39 44 32250.0
40 45 29250.0
41 46 29070.0
42 47 32130.0
43 48 34050.0
44 49 35640.0
45 50 35610.0
46 51 35190.0
47 52 34290.0
48 53 33390.0
49 54 33540.0
50 55 33360.0
51 56 33780.0
52 57 30000.0
53 58 32160.0
54 59 33540.0
55 60 32700.0
Maximum Flow 39240.0

10
 PHF for 10-min interval

Time Interval (min)

10-min Flow (PCU/hr)
Start End
0 10 72840.0
1 11 71040.0
2 12 71010.0
3 13 69420.0
4 14 70140.0
5 15 67560.0
6 16 68190.0
7 17 66480.0
8 18 65100.0
9 19 67050.0
10 20 70260.0
11 21 71490.0
12 22 70680.0
13 23 70140.0
14 24 68130.0
15 25 69180.0
16 26 67140.0
17 27 70500.0
18 28 70380.0
19 29 68250.0
20 30 65580.0
21 31 63900.0
22 32 63630.0
23 33 64890.0
24 34 65610.0
25 35 65640.0
26 36 66270.0
27 37 65130.0
28 38 66990.0
29 39 67650.0
30 40 70890.0
31 41 72330.0

11
32 42 70740.0
33 43 69330.0
34 44 68280.0
35 45 68340.0
36 46 68310.0
37 47 68190.0
38 48 67110.0
39 49 67890.0
40 50 64860.0
41 51 64260.0
42 52 66420.0
43 53 67440.0
44 54 69180.0
45 55 68970.0
46 56 68970.0
47 57 64290.0
48 58 65550.0
49 59 67080.0
50 60 66060.0
Maximum Flow 72840.0

12
 PHF for 15-min interval

Time Interval (min)

15-min Flow (PCU/hr)
Start End
0 15 105660.0
1 16 106110.0
2 17 104370.0
3 18 103350.0
4 19 104010.0
5 20 105000.0
6 21 104610.0
7 22 103800.0
8 23 101310.0
9 24 101310.0
10 25 102000.0
11 26 102210.0
12 27 103860.0
13 28 104310.0
14 29 102120.0
15 30 103020.0
16 31 100320.0
17 32 100950.0
18 33 101100.0
19 34 99870.0
20 35 97380.0
21 36 96990.0
22 37 98310.0
23 38 101160.0
24 39 101640.0
25 40 104730.0
26 41 105510.0
27 42 101190.0
28 43 100050.0
29 44 99900.0
30 45 100140.0
31 46 101400.0

13
 32 47 102870.0
33 48 103380.0
34 49 103920.0
35 50 103950.0
36 51 103500.0
37 52 102480.0
38 53 100500.0
39 54 101430.0
40 55 98220.0
41 56 98040.0
42 57 96420.0
43 58 99600.0
44 59 102720.0
45 60 101670.0
Maximum Flow 106110.0

For time interval 0-1 minutes flow is given as,

𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 = 0. 5 𝑥 9 + 1 𝑥 19 + 1. 5 𝑥 3 + 1 𝑥 44 + 9 𝑥 3 + 9 𝑥 3 = 7560 𝑝𝑐𝑢/ℎ

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 = 410490. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟

For any T-minutes interval peak four factor (PHF) is given as,

𝑃𝐻𝐹 = 𝑄 / ((60/𝑇) * 𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥(𝑇) )

For 2-minutes time interval,

𝑄 = 410490. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑇 = 2 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠
𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥(𝑇) = 17430. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑃𝐻𝐹 2 = ( 410490. 0)/((60/2) * 17430. 0) = 0. 79

For 5-minutes time interval,

𝑄 = 410490. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑇 = 5 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠
𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥(𝑇) = 39240. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑃𝐻𝐹 5 = ( 410490. 0)/((60/5) * 39240. 0) = 0. 87

14
For 10-minutes time interval,

𝑄 = 410490. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑇 = 10 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠
𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥(𝑇) = 72840. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑃𝐻𝐹 10 = ( 410490. 0)/((60/10) * 72840. 0) = 0. 94

For 15-minutes time interval,

𝑄 = 410490. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑇 = 10 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠
𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥(𝑇) = 106110. 0 𝑃𝐶𝑈/ℎ𝑟
𝑃𝐻𝐹 10 = ( 410490. 0)/((60/15) * 106110. 0) = 0. 97

15