Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals
of Traffic Flow
page 213
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
❑ flow,
❑ density (concentration),
❑ speed
❑ the gap or headway between
two vehicles in a traffic stream
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Where
n = the number of vehicles passing a point in the roadway
In T sec
q = the equivalent hourly flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Traffic volume:
Traffic volume is the number of vehicles that pass a given point on the
highway in a given period of time. Period of time may be year, month,
day, hour, or sub-hour.
To distinct between volume and rate of flow, see the following example:
Example:
The following traffic counts were made during an hour-long study period:
Time period Number of vehicle (veh)
5:00 –5:15 100
5:15 –5:30 120
5:30 –5:45 110
5:45 –6:00 100
Answer:
PHF = V/(4*V15)max
where:
PHF = the peak hour factor;
V = hourly volume, in vph; and
(V15) max = volume during the peak 15 min of the peak hour,
in veh/15min
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Density:
■ Density (k)
■ sometimes referred to as concentration,
■ the number of vehicles traveling over a unit
length of highway at an instant in time.
■ The unit length is usually 1 kilometer (km)
■ the unit of density is vehicles per km (veh/km).
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Speed:
Speed (u) is the distance traveled by a vehicle
during a unit of time.
It can be expressed in:
miles per hour (mi/h) ,
kilometers per hour (km/h),
feet per second (ft/sec), or
meter/second (m/sec).
where
n = number of vehicles passing a point on the highway
Ui = speed of the ith vehicle (m/sec)
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
■ Where:
■ Us = space mean speed (m/sec)
■ n = number of vehicles
■ ti = the time it takes the i th
vehicle to travel
across a section of highway (sec)
■ Ui = speed of the i th vehicle (m/sec)
■ L = length of section of highway (m)
Time Headway
■ Time headway (h) is the difference between the
time the front of a vehicle arrives at a point on
the highway and the time the front of the next
vehicle arrives at that same point.
■ Time headway is usually expressed in seconds.
■ For example, in the time space diagram (Figure
6.1), the time headway between vehicles 3 and
4 at d1 is h 3 – 4.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Space Headways
■ Space headway (d) is the distance
between the front of a vehicle and
the front of the following vehicle and
is usually expressed in meter (feet).
■ The space headway between
vehicles 3 and 4 at time t 5 is d 3 – 4
(see Figure 6.1).
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Example 6.1 ….
■ An observer located at point X observes
the four vehicles passing point X during a
period of T sec.
■ The velocities of the vehicles are
measured as 45, 45, 40, and 30 km/h,
respectively.
■ Calculate the flow, density, time
mean speed, and space mean
speed.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Example 6.1 ….
Figure 6.3 Locations and Speeds of Four Vehicles on a Two-Lane Highway at an Instant of Time
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
0.278 x ui
1/3.6 = 0.278
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
q = k us
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
q= k
us
k = q / us us = q / k
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
d5 d4 d3 d2 d1
1 Km
K = 5 veh /Km
d = (d1 + d2 + d3 + d4 + d5) / 5
= 1Km/K = 1/K
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
k = q / us
5 4 3 2 1
1
Km
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
t = 1 / us
5 4 3 2 1
1
Km
Time taken by vehicle 1 to travel unit length (1Km) = t1
Time taken by vehicle n to travel unit length (1Km) = tn
t = (t1 + t2 + t3 + --- + tn ) / n = ∑t /n
us = (n L) / ∑t,
us = n / ∑t, where L = 1 Km
1/us = ∑t /n,
1 / us = t
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
5 4 3 2 1
h5 h4 h3 h2 h1
1 Km
Assume:
q = 5 veh / minute = 5 veh / 60 sec
1/q = 60 sec /5 vehicles = 12 sec per vehicle = h
h = 1/q
d=1/K
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Given that:
q = k us h = 1/q t = 1 / us
d=1/K
You can conclude that:
Veh./km
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Thus:
a = 62.68 and b = -0.53
Us = 62.68 – 0.53 K
Uf = 62.68 km/h
Kj can found at Us = 0
Kj = 62.68/0.53 = 118 veh/km
qmax = Kj * Uf / 4
= (118 * 62.68)/4
qmax = 1849 veh/h
5 4 3 2 1
450 m
Example 2