CE510L Traffic Flow Modeling and Simulation

Instructor: Dr. Gowri Asaithambi

Associate Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati
Email: gowri@iittp.ac.in

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 Course Objectives
▪ To obtain fundamental theoretical knowledge of traffic flow
models

▪ To understand microscopic traffic simulation model approaches

such as road network creation, vehicle generation, vehicle
placement, and vehicle movement on the road network

▪ To develop a simulation model for disordered traffic and its’

application to evaluate alternate designs

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 Grading Distribution

Component Weightage
Quizzes 10%
Assignments 15%
Term Project 15%
Mid-sem Exam 20%
End-term Exam 40%

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Assignments

• 2 assignments during the semester

• Assignment details and due dates will be discussed in class

• All assignments will be due when the class begins

• All late assignments will be given zero marks

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 Term Project

• Each student will be required to write a term project report

on a related topic being taught in this course

• The final selected topic, a one-page abstract, including at least

five selected references should be submitted for review by 01
March 2024 (Friday)

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Term Project

Project proposal (that includes abstract and references) should

address the following major points:
1. Problem statement: What are you trying to do?
2. Literature: How is it done currently and what are the
limitations?
3. Proposed objective: What is new in your approach?
4. Scope of work: What must be accomplished to reach the set
objectives?
5. Findings / Outcomes: What are the anticipated benefits?
6. Future scope of work: What is the likelihood that the project
approach will be successful?

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 Term Project

• The due date for the final project report is 24 April 2023
(Wednesday)

• Grading distribution for term project report:

Component Contribution to grade (15%)

References and Format 2%
Originality 1%
Technical Content 8%
Presentation 4%

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 Tentative Course Schedule
Week Class Topic
1 Wed 03 Introduction to the Course
(Jan) Fri 05 Fundamentals of Traffic Flow
2 Tue 09 Vehicle Trajectory Data
Wed 10 Shockwave Phenomenon
Fri 12 Shockwave Phenomenon – Case studies
3 Tue 16 Shockwave Phenomenon – Case studies
Wed 17 Shockwave Phenomenon – Case studies
Fri 19 Macroscopic Traffic Flow Models
4 Tue 23 Continuum Models of Traffic Flow
Wed 24 LWR Model
Fri 26 Holiday
5 Tue 30 Traffic Stability
(Feb) Wed 31 Traffic Stability
Fri 02 Microscopic Flow Models: Car-following models
6 Fri 09 Microscopic Flow Model: Gipps Model
7 Tue 13 Microscopic Flow Model: Intelligent Driver Model
Wed 14 Microscopic Flow Models: Lane-changing models
Fri 16 Microscopic Flow Models: Lane-changing models
8 Tue 20 Microscopic Flow Models: Lane-changing models
Wed 21 Microscopic Flow Models: Lane-changing models
Fri 23 Mid-sem Exam
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 Tentative Course Schedule
Week Class Topic
9 Tue 27 Introduction to Traffic Simulation
Wed 28 Random Number Generation
Fri 01 Generating Random Variates
10 Tue 05 Generating Random Variates
(Mar) Wed 06 Monday Timetable
Fri 08 Generation of Inputs: Vehicle arrivals, headway
11 Tue 12 Generation of Inputs: Vehicle characteristics, road geometrics
Wed 13 Implementation of car-following models
Fri 15 Implementation of car-following models
12 Tue 26 Implementation of lane-changing models
Wed 27 Implementation of lane-changing models
Fri 29 Holiday
13 Tue 02 Simulation of single-lane traffic flow
(Apr) Wed 03 Simulation of single-lane traffic flow
Fri 05 Simulation of multi-lane traffic flow
14 Tue 09 Holiday
Wed 10 Simulation of multi-lane traffic flow
Fri 12 Calibration and validation of models
15 Tue 16 Applications of traffic simulation
Wed 17 Simulation of disordered traffic : Need, issues, methods and
Fri 19 applications
16 Wed 24 Term Project Presentations
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End-Semester Exam – 02/04/2024
 Textbooks & References
1. May A.D., Traffic Flow Fundamentals, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, (1990).
2. Ni, D., Traffic Flow Theory: Characteristics, Experimental Methods, And
Numerical Techniques. Elseiver, (2015).
3. Barcelo, J., Fundamentals of Traffic Simulation, Springer, (2010).
4. Leutbach, W.J., Introduction to the Theory of Traffic Flow, Springer-Verlag,
(1989).
5. Treiber, M., Kesting, A., Traffic Flow Dynamics: Data, Models and
Simulation, Springer, (2013).
6. Law, A. M., David Kelton., Simulation Modeling and Analysis, McGraw Hill,
(2006).
7. Drew, D. R., Traffic Flow Theory and Control, McGraw-Hill, New York,
(1983).
8. Roess, R. P., Prassas, E. S., McShane. W. R., Traffic Engineering, Pearson,
(2010).
9. http://www.traffic-simulation.de/
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PG Timetable for Jan – May 2024

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