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Traffic Flow

This document defines and explains the three fundamental parameters of traffic flow: traffic flow (vehicles per unit time), speed (distance per unit time), and density (vehicles per unit distance). It describes uninterrupted and interrupted traffic flow. It also defines other traffic flow measures like average annual/daily traffic, time-mean and space-mean speed, traffic density, time headway, spacing, lane occupancy, clearance, and gap. Sample problems are provided to illustrate calculations related to these concepts.

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842 views19 pages

Traffic Flow

This document defines and explains the three fundamental parameters of traffic flow: traffic flow (vehicles per unit time), speed (distance per unit time), and density (vehicles per unit distance). It describes uninterrupted and interrupted traffic flow. It also defines other traffic flow measures like average annual/daily traffic, time-mean and space-mean speed, traffic density, time headway, spacing, lane occupancy, clearance, and gap. Sample problems are provided to illustrate calculations related to these concepts.

Uploaded by

ofreneo_joshua4437
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lecture #2: Fundamental

Parameters of Traffic Flow


Transportation Engineering
FMEsguerra

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL
PARAMETERS
TRAFFIC FLOW (q)
SPEED (v)
DENSITY (k)

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


TRAFFIC FLOW is defined as

q=traffic flow in vehicles per unit time


n=number of vehicles
t=duration or time interval

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


CATEGORIES OF TRAFFIC FLOW
UNINTERRUPTED FLOW Can occur on facilities
that have no fixed elements, such as traffic
signals, external to the traffic stream, that
cause interruptions to traffic flow.
INTERRUPTED FLOW Occurs on transportation
facilities that have fixed elements causing
periodic interruptions to traffic flow. Such
elements include traffic signals, stop signs,
and other types of controls.

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


TYPES OF VOLUME MEASUREMENTS
Because there is considerable variation in the
volume of traffic, several type of volume
measurements are commonly adopted for
design purposes.

1. AVERAGE
(AADT)
2. AVERAGE
(AAWT)
3. AVERAGE
4. AVERAGE

ANNUAL DAILY TRAFFIC


ANNUAL WEEKLY TRAFFIC
DAILY TRAFFIC (ADT)
WEEKLY TRAFFIC (AWT)

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


SPEED is defined as the rate of motion, as
distance per unit time.
Spot speed - instantaneous speed or the speed
at a certain time.
Average speed is defined in two ways:
1. Time-mean Speed
2. Space-mean Speed

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Time-mean Speed arithmetic mean of the
vehicle speeds observed at some designated
point along the roadway.

where:
t = time-mean speed in unit distance per time.
ui = spot speed of the ith vehicle
n = number of measured vehicle

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Space-mean Speed determined on the basis of the
time necessary for a roadway to travel some known
length of the roadway.

where:
s = space-mean speed in unit distance per time.
l = length of roadway used for travel time
measurement of vehicles
t = average travel time
ti = time of the ith vehicle

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Sample problem:
(time-mean speed vs space-mean speed)
1. The speeds of five vehicles were measured
(with radar) at the midpoint of a 0.5-mile
section of roadway. The speeds measured were
44, 42, 51, 49, and 46 mi/h. Assuming all
vehicles were travelling at constant speed over
this section of the roadway section, calculate
the time-mean speed and space-mean speeds.

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


TRAFFIC DENSITY is defined as

where:
k = traffic densityin vehicles per unit distance.
n = number of vehicles occupying some length
of roadway at some specified time.
l = length of roadway
s= spacing of vehicles

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


THE FUNDAMENTAL EQUATION OF TRAFFIC FLOW
Based on the definitions presented, a simple
identity provides the basic relationship among
traffic flow, speed(space-mean), and density.

q = uk
where:
q = traffic flow, typically in veh/h
u = space-mean speed, typically in units of mi/h or km/h
K= density, in units of veh/mi or veh/km

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Other Important Parameters:
TIME HEADWAY The time between the passage of
the front bumpers of successive vehicles at some
designated highway points.

t = duration of time interval


hi = time headway of the ith vehicle (the elapsed time
betweet the arrival of the vehicles i and i-1)
n = number of measured vehicle time headways at
some designated roadway point.

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Other Important Parameters:
SPACING - is defined as the distance between
successive vehicles in a traffic stream as
measured from front bumber to front bumber.
Also known as distance headway.
Some additional relationships including spacing
and time headway are:
*ave. k = 1/(ave. s)
*ave. h = (ave. s)/(ave. us)
*ave. q = 1/(ave. h)

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Other Important Parameters:
LANE OCCUPANCY is the measure of the
sum of the lengths of vehicles on a given
roadway section.
R=sum of vehicle lengths/length of roadway
To estimate density (k) given the occupancy,
k = R/average lengths of vehicles

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Other Important Parameters:
CLEARANCE and GAP
g = h ( L / us ) and c = g x us
where: g = mean gap (sec)
L = mean length of vehicles
c = mean clearance
h = mean headway
us = mean speed

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Sample problems:
2. Calculate the rate of flow of vehicles
from the following data:
TIME PERIOD VOLUME(VEHICLES)
4:00-4:15 700
4:16-4:30 812
4:31-5:00 1635
TOTAL 3147

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Sample problems:
3. Four vehicles 18, 20, 21, 22 ft long,
are distributed over a length of a
freeway lane 500 ft long. What is the
occupancy and density?

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


Sample problems:
4. Vehicle time headways and spacings
were measured at a point along the
highway, from a single lane, over the
course of an hour. The average values
we calculated as 2.5s/veh for headway
and 61m/veh for spacing. Calculate the
average speed of the traffic.

TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS


REFERENCES
Hoel, L. & Garber, N. (2007). Traffic & Highway
Engineering 4th Ed. University of Virginia: Cengage
Learning
Khisty, C. & Lall, B. (1998). Transportation
Engineering: an Introduction. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall
Mannering, F., Kilareski, W., & Washburn, S. (2007).
Principles of Highway Engineering and Traffic
Analysis. John Wiley & Sons.
Matthew, T. & Krishna Rao, K. (2007). Introduction to
Transportation Engineering. NPTEL Online Courses

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