ee RAFFIC ENGINEERING II ECV 4503 TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II Ll Background Traffic Engineering is one of the branches of civil engineering that falls under the transportation Engineering group of disciplines. It deals with engineering techniques that aid in achievement of optimal, sale & efficient movement of goods & people. The specialization came into being in the 1950's when ideas from fields such as mathematics and transport planning were put together. The Subject of this unit, Traffic parameters and their interrelationships, form the basis of traffic engineering, ‘The primary function of a road (highway) is to provide a transportation service. In an engineering context, this service is measured in terms of the ability of a road to accommodate vehicular traffic safely and efficiently. ‘Thus the basis for determining the functional effectiveness of any road lies in the vehicular analysis ofthe traffic. In undertaking such an analysis, the various dimensions of traffic such as quantity, type, speed and distribution over time, must be addressed since they will influence: * Highway design. i, selection of number of lanes, pavement types and geometric design * Highway operations i.e. selection of traffic control devices including signs, markings and signals. ‘These two impact on the functional effectiveness of the highway. Definition of fundamental parameters corresponding to certain relevant dimensions of vehicular traffic together with an understanding of various relationships between those fundamental parameters forms the basis of traffic engineering. 2 Congestion shockwave In addition to providing information on the speed, flow, and density of traffic streams, time-space diagrams may illustrate the propagation of congestion upstream from a traffic bottleneck (shockwave). Congestion shockwaves will vary in propagation length, depending upon the upstream traffic flow and density. However, shockwaves will generally travel upstream at a rate of approximately 20 km/h, 3 Methods of analysis Analysis approach the problem in three main ways, corresponding to the three main scales of observation in physics: + Microscopic scale: At the most basic level, every vehicle is considered as an individual. An equation can be written for each, usually an ordinary differential equation (ODE). Cellular automation models can also be used, where the road is divided into cells, each of which contains a moving car, or is empty. The Nagel-Schreckenberg model is a simple example of such a model. As the cars interact it can model collective phenomena such as traffic jams. + Macroscopic scale: Similar to models of fluid dynamics, it is considered useful to employ a system of partial differential equations, which balance laws for some gross quantities of interest; e.g., the density of vehicles or their mean velocity + Mesoscopic (kinetic) scale: A third, intermediate po: ility, is to define a function which expresses the probability of having a vehicle at time in i rEg. Kats Page 1TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II ees Position Which runs with velocity This function, following methods of statistical mechanics, can be computed using an integro-differential equation such as the Boltzmann equation. The engineering approach to analysis of highway traffic flow problems is primarily based on empirical analysis (i.e., observation and mathematical curve fitting). One major reference used by American planners is the Highway Capacity Manual,{6] published by the Transportation Research Board, which is part of the United States National Academy of Sciences. This recommends modelling traffic flows using the whole travel time across a link using a delay/flow function, including the effects ‘of queuing, This technique is used in many US traffic models and in the SATURN model in Europe.[7] In many parts of Europe, a hybrid empirical approach to traffic design is used, combining macro-, mmicro-, and mesoscopic features, Rather than simulating a steady state of flow for a journey, transient “demand peaks" of congestion are simulated, These are modeled by using small "time slices" across the network throughout the working day or weekend. Typically, the origins and destinations for trips are first estimated and a traffic model is generated before being calibrated by comparing the mathematical model with observed counts of actual traffic flows, classified by type of vehicle. {Matrix estimation" is then applied to the model to achieve a better match to observed link counts before any changes, and the revised model is used to generate a more realistic traffic forecast for any Proposed scheme. The mode! would be run several times (including a current baseline, an "average day" forecast based on a range of economic parameters and supported by sensitivity analysis) in order to understand the implications of temporary blockages or incidents around the network. From the models, itis possible to total the time taken forall drivers of different types of vehicle on the network and thus deduce average fuel consumption and emissions. Much of UK, Scandinavian, and Dutch authority practice is to use the modelling program CONTRAM for large schemes, which has been developed over several decades under the auspices of the UK's Transport Research Laboratory, and more recently with the support of the Swedish Road Administration. By modelling forecasts of the road network for several decades into the future, the economic benefits of changes to the road network can be calculated, using estimates for value of time and other parameters. The output of these models can then be fed into a cost-benefit analysis program.[9] 4 Stationary traffic ‘Traffic on a stretch of road is said to be stationary iffan observer does not detect movement in an arbitrary area of the time-space diagram. Traffic is stationary if all the vehicle trajectories are parallel and equidistant. It is also stationary if itis a superposition of families of trajectories with these properties (e.g. fast and slow drivers). By using a very small hole in the template one could sometimes view an empty region of the diagram and other times not, so that even in these cases, one could say that traffic was not stationary: Clearly, for such fine level of observation, stationary traffic does not exist. A microscopic level of observation must be excluded from the definition if traffic appears to be similar through larger windows. In fact, we relax the definition even further by only requiring that the quantities t(A) and d(A) be approximately the same, regardless of where the large" window (A) is placed. ee De. Eng. Kuta Page 2TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II program [9] 4 Stationary traffic Traffic on a stretch of road is said to be stationary if'an observer does not detect movement in an arbitrary area of the time-space diagram, Traffic is stationary if all the vehicle trajectories are parallel and equidistant. Itis also stationary if itis a superposition of families of trajectories with these properties (e.g. fast and slow drivers). By using a very small hole in the template one could sometimes view an empty region of the diagram and other times not, so that even in these cases, one ‘could say that traffic was not stationary. Clearly, for such fine level of ‘observation, stationary traffic does not exist. A microscopic level of observation must be excluded from the definition if traffic appears to be similar through larger windows. In fact, we relax the definition even further by only requiring that the quantities {(A) and d(A) be approximately the same, regardless of where the "large" window (A) is placed. 4.1. Traffic flow concept ‘Traffic Flow Theory isa tool that helps transportation engineers understand and express the properties of traffic flow. At any given time, there are millions of vehicles on our roadways. These vehicles fnteract with each other and impact the overall movement of traffic, or the traffic flow. Whether the tusk is that of evaluating the capacity of existing roadways or designing new roadways, most transportation engineering projects begin with an evaluation of the traffic flow. Therefore, the transportation engineer needs to have a firm understanding of the theories behind Traffie Flow Analysis. ‘Traffic flow can be divided into two primary types. Understanding what type of flow is occurring in a given situation will help you decide which analysis methods and descriptions are the most relevant, ‘The fits type is called uninterrupted flow, and is flow regulated by vehicle-vehicle interactions and rT? Dr Eng. Kuta Page 3TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II interactions between vehicles and the roadway. For example, vehicles traveling on a highway are Participating in uninterrupted flow. The second type of traffic flow is called interrupted flow, Interrupted flow is flow regulated by an extemal means, such as a traffic signal. Under interrupted flow conditions, vehicle-vehicle interactions and vehicle-roadway interactions play a secondary role in defining the wraffic flow. 42 Traffic flow parameters A parameter is a variable that can take different values at different times, Traffic flow is a difficult phenomenon to describe without the use of a common set of terms, The following paragraphs will introduce most of the common terms that are used in discussions about traffic flow. cm/hr; m/s] 4.2.1 Speed/velocity (v) (Units: ‘The speed of a vehicle is defined as the distance it travels per unit of time, Most of the time, each vehicle on the roadway will have a speed that is somewhat different from those around it. In quantifying the traffic flow, the average speed of the traffic is the significant variable. The average speed, called the space mean speed, can be found by averaging the individual speeds of all of the vehicles in the study area. Journey speed (overall travel speed) - v; This is the average speed of a vehicle on a joumey, including involuntary stops. Distance travelled journey time Running speed - »,.As in the equation above but excluding the stops Spot speed - v; The speed of an individual vehicle measured instantaneously at a given point, e.g. by radar. xy -X, dx =F = lim(t,-t,) 90 113.108) tt," ‘Time mean speed - @, This is the average spot speed of all vehicles passing a given point during a period of time. It involves recording all vehicles a point in a given time, i.e.g, per unit time. Let the flow of set é of vehicles with speed v, be defined as q,, The average speed of the 4 vehicles is referred to as the time mean speed,i, since the average is of all vehicles passing in a given time, @ is given by: Thay, 13.12) For N vehicles, 1.3.1(4) Dr Eng. Kuta Page 4TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II ‘Space mean speed - @, This is the average speed of all vehicles along a given road segment at a typical instant in time. It involves photographing a given length of road on which there are K vehicles per unit length. Let the concentration of set of é of vehicles with speeds v be defined as K;, The average speed of the K vehicles is referred to as space mean speed, #,, since the average is of all vehicles in a given space (at one point in time), then @, is given by: 2 ee 1.3.1(¢) Let ¢; denote the time for the i** vehicle to traverse the road segment of of length L, then, length ofthe road segment average time to traverse road segment Therefore, for N vehicles, 134) Note: For steady flows (such that flow, concentration and speed do not vary much about their respective means), Wardrop (1952) showed that time and space mean speeds are related by the equation: 3.1(g) . along the road segment L esses wee BACH) Where, X; is the density of sub-stream i and K is the density of the total stream. Therefore, if all the vehicles travel at the same speed along the given road segment, ,* = 0 and 8, otherwise, Example Three vehicles on a 1 Km segment of a road travel at constant speeds of 120 Knhr, 60 Knvhr and 40 Kn/hr respectively, If it takes them 0.5 minutes, 1.0 minutes and 1.5 minutes to complete the journeys, calculate their time and space mean speeds (Ans: 73.3 Km/h, 60 Km/hr) ———— — Dr Eng. Kuta Page STRAFFIC ENGINEERING II 4.2.2 Flow rates (volume)/flux- q: [Units: vehicles/hour (urban), or vehicles/day (rural), oy. sometimes PCU/hour] Volume is simply the number of vehicles that pass a given point on the roadway in a specified periog of time. By counting the number of vehicles that pass a point on the roadway during a 15-minute Period, you can arrive atthe 15-minute volume. Volume is commonly converted directly to flow (q), hich isa more useful parameter. Flow is one ofthe most common traffic parameters. Flow ae Tate at which vehicles pass a given point on the roadway, and is normally given in terms of vehicles Per hour. The 15-minute volume can be converted to a flow by multiplying the volume by four. If our 15-minute volume were 100 cars, we would report the flow as 400 vehicles per hour. For that 15- minute interval of time, the vehicles were crossing our designated point ata rate of 400 vehicles/hour. Consider a road segment of length Lon which W vehicles, all travelling in the same direction, pass a given point during a period of time T. Then, flow at that point is: 43.2 The ratio of the hourly flow rate ( qgq) divided by the peak 15 minute rate of flow expressed as an hourly flow(ay3) PHF = ( qgo/as) is known as the Peak Hour Factor 4.2.3 Concentration (density ~K [Units: Veh/Km, Veh/m, ete] Density refers to the number of vehicles present on a given length of roadway, Normally, det reported in terms of vehicles per mile or vehicles per kilometer. High densities indicate that individual vehicles are very close together, while low densities imply greater distances between vehicles, x = Average number of vehicles to traverse road segment . Length of road segment For N vehicles traversing in time period 7, 13.3 Example Ina | minute duration, 6 vehicles traverse minutes, 0.5 minutes, Veh/hr) a1 Km stretch of road in 0.7 minutes, 0.6 minutes, 0.5 0.4 minutes, and 0.3 minutes respectively: Calculate the concentration (Ans: 3 Dr Eng, Kuta 06TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II 4.24 Measure of Separation While concentration and flow indicate how much traffic a road is handling, the traffic engineer is interested in the separation between vehicles, which may affect safety (vehicles travelling close together may be more likely to crash) and the ease with which pedestrians and vehicles can cross the traffic streams. There are two Ways of measuring separation between vehicles in a lane. Gap (9) Gap is very similar to headway, except that it is a measure of the time ‘that elapses between the departure of the first vehicle and the arrival ofthe second at the designated test point. Gap is a measure of the time between the rear bumper of the first vehicle and the front bumper of the second vehicle, where headway focuses on front-to-front times. Gap is usually reported in units of seconds. GAP Headway (I) Headway is a measure of the temporal space between two vehicles. Specifically, the headway is the time that elapses between the arrival of the leading vehicle and the following vehicle at the designated test point. You can measure the headway between two vehicles by starting a chronograph when the front bumper of the first vehicle crosses the selected point, and subsequently recording the time that the second vehicle's front bumper crosses over the designated point. Headway is usually reported in units of seconds. Mean headway (mean time headway) - &,. The average time interval between successive vehicles, measured from head to head, ic. front to front, passing a given point —— —— Mean headway For steady flows, i.e. without large variations in the speeds of individual vehicles, i This relationship, although intuitive, can be derived as follows. Let h, denote the time headway for vehicle i IPN vehicles pass a given point during a period of time ¢ then, Hence, Nee ee Dr Eng. Kute Page 7= TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II ‘ 1 Tank Given that @ = 2,000 Vebve, calculate F,. (Ans: 18 Seconds) Notes y) = besa (catego) POU factor (category) = Se een) — Y Mean spacing (mean distance headway) - Rathis is the average distance between successive vehicles, measured from head to head, i, front to front, — ——-. Mean space headway For steady flows, =ton x=2 Ry Ro Kae Example UR=60 VetKm, calculate & (Ans: 16.7 m) Note: ‘Spacing (Wm) or Heasway (see) Cwance (tin) or Gp (see) Figure 1.3.4: Explanation of Parameters 425 Time space diagram A time-space diagram is commonly used to solve a number of trans among these is discussions of shock waves and wave pro toad can be analyzed by plottin distance, usually known as portation- related problems. Key tion. The traffic flow alor X8 the trajectory of vehicles’ movements on Time -Space Diagram as shown below, in which De Bg. kasTRAFPIC ENGIN INGIL 1. Stanionary vetictes are represented try horigental lines 2 The slope of each trazcctory 1 the spor speed of the vehicle Curved portions of the trarecrories reprevent vehicles undergoing speed changes such as deceleration 4. The horizontal distance between the trajectoriey of two vehicles is the time headway between the two vehi lee The vertnal distance between the teaeeto s of two velicles is the spacing between the two Veh A Time (Min) fig 3.5 a:Time-Space Diagram for two vehicles’ The graph below demonstrates further the measurement of values of fundamental traffic parameters using a time-space diagram, A stationary observer can measure the flow and time mean speed at a point,Se, while the concentration and the space mean can be measured, photography, at an instant 2 Since values of tral ‘measurement is not trivial. The measurement it quantities will not be errat out g. By means of aerial parameters change in time and space, their }rval has to be not too small, so that the measured yet not too long, so that the interesting variations will not be averaged 1 kn hats Page 9TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II Distance (m) te Time (min) Fig 1.3.5 b: Measuring values of fundamental traffic parameters on a time-space diagram ‘The horizontal line segment intersects all car trajectories observed at S, for a period of time indicated by the length of this segment. The vertical segment intersects all car trajectories captured in an aerial photograph of the road segment at time fo Traffic Flow Parameters In general, traffic streams are not uniform, but vary over both space and time. Because of that, ‘measurement of the variables of interest for traffic flow theory is in fact the sampling of a random variable. In reality, the traffic characteristics that are labeled as flow, speed, and concentration are parameters of statistical distributions, not absolute numbers. Rates Flow rates are collected directly through point measurements, and by definition require measurement over time, They cannot be estimated from a single snapshot of a length of road. Flow rates and time hheadways are related to each other as follows. Flow rate, q, is the number of vehicles counted, divided by the elapsed time, 7: Flow rates are usually expressed in terms of vehicles per hour, although the actual measurement interval can be much less. Concer has been expressed, however. about the sustainability of high volumes measured over very short intervals (such as 30 seconds or one minute) when investigating high rates of flow. The 1985 Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 1985) suggests using at least 15- minute intervals, although there are also situations in which the detail provided by five minute or one minute data is valuable. y — eee Dr. Ems, Kuta Page 10TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II Speeds Measurement of the speed of an individual vehicle requires observation over both time and space. In the literature, the distinction has frequently been made between different ways of calculating the average speed of a set of vehicles. The first way of calculating speeds, namely taking the arithmetic mean of the observation, 1 u- TM Ne is termed the time mean speed because it is an average of observations taken over time. The second term that is used in the literature is space mean speed but, unfortunately, there are a variety of definitions for it, not all of which are: equivalent. Regardless of the particular definition put forward for space mean speed, all authors agree that for computations involving mean speeds to be theoretically correct, it is necessary to ensure that one has measured space mean speed, rather than time mean speed. Under conditions of stop-and-go traffic, as along a signalized street or a badly congested freeway, it is important to distinguish between these two mean speeds, For freely flowing freeway traffic, however, there will not be any significant difference between ‘the two, When there is great variability of speeds, as for example at the time of breakdown from uncongested to stop and go conditions, there will be considerable difference between the two. Wardrop (1952) provided an example of this kind (albeit along what must certainly have been a signalized roadway — Western Avenue, Greenford, Middlesex, England), in which speeds ranged from a low of 8 knvh to a high of 100 kav/h: The space mean speed was 48.6 km/h; the time-mean speed 54.0 knv/h, For relatively uniform flow and speeds, the two mean speeds are likely to be equivalent for practical purposes. Nevertheless. itis still appropriate to specify which type of averaging has been done, and perhaps to specify the amount of variability in the speeds (which can provide an indication of how similar the two are likely to be). Atleast for freeways, the practical significance of the difference between space mean speed and time ‘mean speed is minimal. However, it is important to note that for traffic flow theory purists, the only ‘correct’ way to measure average travel velocity is to calculate space-mean speed directly. Only a few freeway traffic management systems acquire speed information directly, since to do so requires pairs of presence detectors at each of the detector stations on the roadway, and that is more expensive than using single loops. Those systems that do not measure speeds, because they have only single-loop detector stations, sometimes calculate speeds from flow and occupancy data, using a method first identified by Athol (1965). Concentration Concentration has in the past been used as a synonym for density. For example, Gerlough and Huber (1975, 10) wrote, "Although concentration (the number of vehicles per unit length) implies measurement along a distance." In this chapter, it seems more useful to use ‘concentration’ as a broader term encompassing both density and occupancy. The first is a measure of concentration over space; the second measure concentration over time of the same vehicle stream. Density can be measured only along a length. If only point measurements are available, density needs to be calculated, either from occupancy or from speed and flow. Gerlough and Huber wrote (in the continuation of the quote in the previous paragraph), that *. . traffic engineers have traditionally estimated concentration from point measurements, using the relationship Dr, Eng. Kuta Page 11i jon is strictly correct only that he eat easement neva wn to calculate density can »ments. These issues are tuations that exceed its The difficulty with using this equation to estimate der under some very resisted conditions, or in the limit as both the space bal i approach zero, If neither of those situations holds, then, use of the equate give misleading results, which would not agree with empirical measure important, because this equation has often been uncritically applied to validi Real traffic flows, however, are not only made up of finite vehicles surrounded by real pres ts are inherently stoghastic (Newell 1982). Measured values are averages taken from sampies, i te therefore themselves random variables. Measured flows are taken over an interval 0! eae particular place. Measured densities are taken over space at a particular time. Only for i cons o processes (inthe statistical sense) will the time and space intervals be able to represent conditions at the same point in the time-space plane, Hence itis likely that any measurements that are taken of flow and density (and space mean speed) will nt be very good estimates of the expected values that woul be defined at the point of interest in the time space plane. Speeds within a lane are relatively constant during uncongested flow. Hence the estimation of density from occupancy measurements is probably reasonable during those traffic conditions, but not during, congested conditions. In short, once congestion sets in, there is probably no good way to estimate density; it would have to be measured. Temporal concentration (occupancy) can be measured only over a short section (shorter than the minimum vehicle length), with presence detectors, and does not make sense over a long section. Perhaps because the concept of density has been a part of traffic measurement since at least the 1930°s, there has been a consensus that density was to be preferred over occupancy as the measure of vehicular concentration, It would be fair to say that the majority opinion at present remains in favor of density, but that a minority view is that occupancy should begin to enter theoretical work instead of density. There are two principal reasons put forward by the minority for making more use of occupancy. The first is that there should be improved correspondence between theoretical and practical work on freeways. If freeway traffic management makes extensive use of a variable that freeway theory ignores, the profession is the poorer. The second reason is that density. as vehicles per length of road ignores the effects of vehicle length and traffic composition. Occupancy. on the other hand, is directly affected by both of these variables, and therefore gives a more reliable indicator of the amount of a road being used by vehicles, There are also good reasons"put forward by the majority for the continued use of density in theoretical work. Not least is that it is theoretically useful in their work in a way that ‘occupancy is not. 4.3 Theoretical Models of Traffic Flow 4.3.1 Speed-Flow-Density Relationship For any given stable traffic condition, the three parameters q, K and v are directly related. Consider a kilometer of road in which all vehicles are travelling at the same speed. The parameters K, q , v are concentration in Velvkm, flow in Velvhr and speed in knv/hr respectively. Dr. Eng, Kuta Page 12\ TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II Flow q Veh/hr —— eS Oe Speed v knv/hr ——> 3 ab SST == Ku Vehicle ee Evie ae Fig 4: Fundamental Relationship By definition, there are K vehicles, each with speed v in the kilometer of road at any instant. If the flow is recorded at the end of the road, q vehicles will pass per hour. The vehicle at the start of the kilometer will take + hours to reach the end at a speed of » knvhr. (dis). It will then be the Ky, vehicle to pass the end ofthe road, and this will happen in hours. (, = 2)Thus: 7 14a This equation is known as the Fundamental Relationship of Traffic Flow Example Given K = 60 Vel/Km and @,= 30 Km/h, calculate the flow (Ans: 1,800 Veh/hr) Note: fa 43.2 Speed and Concentration {A basic premise of traffic flow modeling is thatthe speed is a monotonically decreasing function of en Dr. Eng. Kuta Page 13TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II As the concentration increases, the spacing between vehicles decreases and drive react by lowering their speed, as shown below. Speed 0 Concentration K Fig 1.4.1: Speed Concentration Relation One of the most widely used speed- concentration formulae, derived empirically by Green-shields (1934), is the linear relationship 8,(K) =9,-Hte., ‘ 44a Where; % is the free flow space mean speed (observed at zero concentration) and X; is the jam (maximum) concentration, Examples of other non-linear speed-concentration formulae are: 1 #(K) = 3, {1 — (Gy F » (K) = Vecopt) In (5) i °) sooseee (Drew) (1.4.1 coe + (Greenberg) (1.4.1 H(K) = By exp ( @d) (Underwood) (1.4.1 07 Page 14TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II re Where (ope) and : e) Fafope) and Kye denote, respectively, the optimal space mean speed and the optimal concentration, for which the flow is maximized. . (May) (1.4.1 Flow and concentration Using a speed- concentration formula the flow can be plotted as a function ofthe concentration. The graph of g ys x is known as the Fundamental Diagram Flow 0 Ke Kop Fundamental Diagram of Traffic Flow for a Given “The flow is zero ifthe concentration is zero (K= 0) or ifthe road is jammed (X = &)- At some optimal concentration (Kp), the flow is maximized this flow is known as the “capacity” (amex) Of the road. Initially, flow increases as concentration increases. High concentration leads to lower speed and aa gow. Any point on the Fundamental Diagram, such as point A, represents a set of possible cea conditions, The space mean speed at this point i the slope ofthe line connecting the point to the origin, Traffic situations in which the concentration is greater than (Kye) represent unstable/ forced conditions with no overtaking opportunities For the linear Greenshields speed- concentration formula, the Fundamental Diagram isa symmetric parabola, the equation of which is: (Green-shields) (1.4.1 = oKx—(Z) K? q(K) = K (@) Kae °) OSC Page 15 Dr. Eng. KutaTRAFFIC ENGINEERING IT To find the capacity, first find the concentration for which the flow is maximized. 4 og -2(2) K= ax 707 UF a(t) x 0 In practice, the shape of the Fundamental Diagram and the capacity of the road depend upon prevailing conditions, which include: i. The physical characteristics of the road, e.g. width, the number and type of intersections, alignment, road surface; The composition of the traffic (proportions of different types of vehicles) and vehicle performance capabilities; The environmental and operating conditions e.g. weather, level of pedestrian activity, number of parked vehicles, frontage activity. In addition, traffic flows can be affected by the drivers” familiarity with the road in question, e.g. lack of familiarity on holiday routes, extensive familiarity on commuter routes. 43.3 Flow and Speed This is the most important relationship. With reference to the graph below, we have: Free flow Speeds limited by legal restrictions or highway geometry. Unstable flow Speed is at, or near, optimal for the road capacity. Speeds fluctuate. -- Sake Page 16TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II Momentary stoppages Forced flow Congestion, very low speeds Long and short stoppages + Flows reduced to below capacity slop) Speed Flow q max Let dmex denote the capacity flow and coe) denote the optimal space mean speed (for capacity flow), Then, with a parabolic speed-flow curve, we have that: If B,fope)s the I=Amnaxs ¥,= 0, then q 2Waopey then q =O; ie at F = vy So the equation of the parabolic curve is Ima 8 Paton) Using the linear Greenshields speed- concentration formula, the speed flow curve is a symmetric parabola and the equation for the flow as a function of the space mean speed is i Dr Eng. Kuta Page 17TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II =a, £42)" anh sy a aye ‘ E88. — ac multiply through by Sat yo" am ae,- Mat Tofinddeoye): ‘Therefore Bio, Speed- Flow. ded By the Department of the Environment-UK (1971) In practice, the speed- flow formulae actually used for new highway design work relate almost entirely to the upper part of the conjectured speed- flow curve with, sometimes an allowance for queuing when links are over capacity; none assume speed and flow to decrease together. The upper half of the conjectured speed flow curve is approximated to by two straight lines with a different curve replacing the lower halfas shown below: De Eng. Kuta Page 18TRAFFIC NEERING II Fao f-——— | eee 0 Flow q max max For flows exceeding capacity, the parameter ‘space mean speed! is adjusted to a link journey speed” (denoted by $) so that the total time on a link equals the time taken to traverse the link at f10W, 4max «ie. at speed 8...) plus a waiting time representing the effect of queuing at the Link exit: demand flow entering the link is greater than the exit eapacity of the link. The queue length is proportional 10 @= Qmax and Vehicles leave the link atthe rate Of, daz hence the waiting time per vehicle is =e) ; 2 Where a is a constant usually equal to 2 ‘Therefore, for a link of length of L, the link journey is speed is: ‘De. Eng, Kuta ageae : ° Consequently, we have a three part speed-flow formula: : FOS GS imax Af Ofmax®4 S Imax ifdmax <4 Where @max denotes the maximum flow rate at which the free-flow space mean speed obtains. Typical values @mex of capacity are in the range of 1,500-2,500 veh/hr and for jam concentration K 150-200 pewkm. Speed-flow models are now recognized to be important for freeway management Strategies, and will be of fundamental importance for ITS implementation of altemate routing Example ‘Two sets of vehicles are observed over a kilometer of road, and their flows are also recorded. In the first set, four vehicles take 52, 56, 63 and 69 seconds when the flow is 1,500 veh/hr. In the second set, four vehicles take 70, 74, 77 and 79 seconds when the flow is 1920 veh/hr. These vehicles have been timed over space, so the space mean speed can be calculated from the average times for each set. Calculate the space-mean speed, %, Set 1 — 60 km/hr, set 2 ~ 48 km/hr q Set 1 - 1,500 vel/hr, Set 2 - 1920 veh/hr K Set 1-25 vel/km, set 2—40 veh/km Speed-Flow-Density Relationships Speed-Density Model This subsection deals with mathematical models for the speed-density relationship, going back to as carly as 1935. Greenshields’ (1935) linear model of speed and density was mentioned in the previous section. unu,f1-% (%) ‘The mos interesting aspect of this particular model is tha its empirical basis consisted of halfa dozen Points in one cluster near free-flow speed, and a single observation under congested conditions. The linear relationship comes from connecting the cluster with the single point, What is surprising is not that such simple analytical methods were used in 1935, but that thets tooeleg (the linear speed-density De Em. Kuta - Page 20TRAFFIC ENGINEERING II model) have continued to be so widely accepted for so'long. While there have been studies that claimed to have confirmed this model, they tended to have similarly sparse portions of the full range of data, usually omitting both the lowest flows and flow in the range near capacity... ‘A second carly model was that put forward by Greenberg (1959), showing a logarithmic relationship: ucla (t/k,) His paper showed the fit of the mode! to tivo data sets, both of which visually looked very reasonable. However, the fist data set was derived from speed and headway data on individual vehicles, which “yyas then separated into speed classes and the average headway was calculated for each speed class". Inother words, the vehicles that appear in one data point (speed class) may not even have been traveling together! While a density can always be calculated as the reciprocal of average headway, sreve thet average is taken over vehicles that may well not have been traveling together, itis not clear ‘what that density is meant to represent. re of (1) calculating density from speed and ‘on to that data, and then (3) transforming the speed-density ‘a curve that does not fit the original speed-flow data ded on the difficulties to show that minor changes in .d-flow function. This result suggests the insformations to calibrate a speed-flow Duncan (1976, 1979) showed that the tree step procedu flow data, (2) fitting a speed-density Funct function into a speed-flow function results in particularly well. Duncan’s 1979 paper expan the speed-density funetion led to major changes in the spee need for further caution in using this method of double trat curve. ‘The car-following models gave rise to four of the speed-density models tested by Drake et al. The results oftheir testing suggest that the speed-density models are not particularly good. Logic says that if the consequences of a set of premises are shown to be false, then one (at least) of the premises is hot valid. It is possible, then, that the car-following models are not valid for freeways. This is not surprising, as they were not developed for this context. Flow-Concentration Model id not give the topic of flow-concentration models such extensive -concentration models, they nonetheless thought this topic to be very that empirical flow-concentration data frequently st that therefore Although Gerlough and Huber treatment as they gave the spect important. Edie was perhaps the first to point out t have discontinuities in the vicinity of what would be maximum flow, and to sugi discontinuous curves might be needed for this relationship. Koshi et al. (1983) gave an empirically-based discussion of the flow-density relationship, in which they suggested that a reverse lambda shape was the best description of the data, These authors also investigated the implications of this phenomenon for car-following models, as well as for wave propagation. There appears to be strong evidence that traflic operations on a freeway ean move from one branch of the curve to the other without going all the way around the capacity point. This is an aspect of traffic behavior that none of the mathematical models either explain or lead one to expect. Nonetheless, the phenomenon has been at least implicitly recognized since Lighthill and Witham’s (1935) discussion of shock waves in traftic, which assumes instantaneous jumps from one branch to the other on a speed-flow or flow-occupancy curve. As well, queuing models (e.g. Newell 1982) imply that immediately upstream from the back end of a queue there must be points where the speed congested branch of the speed-flow curve to that of the congested flow-concentration (and speed-flow) models explicitly took this is changing rapidly from the u branch. It would be beneficial possibility into account Page 21 Dr bin KataEERING II ~ aa per by Hall etal (1986), is that an inverted « date reatation of the flow-oecupaney relationship. Although that carclienee ae hb rrsst Mom near Toronto, Hall and Gunter (1986) suppomted iain data fiom o lper steed ‘iaiens: Banks (1989) teste their proposition using data fom the ey Diego area, anions neat of ubeestion of the inverted °V". He also offered a mathemrfet statement ofthis pense the behavioral interpretation of it (p. $8); The inverted model ee rghie Constant average time gap between their front bumper and Kean them, oa gap Pec hi fon bmp an ack mr the voit nfo of (which i as fast as they want to go), they cease to he sensitive ane Greenshields' Model Speed-Flow Model € problem for traffic Now theory is that these curves are em any theory that would explain these particular shapes, except Perhaps for Edie et al (1980), who Toe theattative flow regimes that relate well to these curves. The task that lis ahead for aera How theorists is to develop a consistent set of equations that can replicate this reality, ically derived. There is not really {tis instructive to review the history of depictions of speedsflow curves in light of this current understanding. Probably the seminal work on this topic was the paper by Greenshiclds in 1998 ne Which he derived the following parabolic equation for the speed-flaw curve on the basis ata li speed-density relationship together with the equation, flow » speed * density ¢ “sf | Where ur is the free-flow speed, and hy is the jam density. In short, Greenshiclds’ model do the field for over $0 y ast three problems. The most fundamental is that Greenshields did not work with fi data, Yet his result for a single Lane of tratlic was adopted directly for freeway conditions. (This of course way not his doing) The second problem is that by current standards of research the method of wing prior to curve-fitting, would not be acceptable. The third peoblem is that despite the fact that most people have used a model that was based on holiday muters who are familiar with the road, to better ascertain what lysis of the data, with overlapping groups and ave ic, current Work focuses on regular co toad is capable of carrying. De ting ute Pa