TRAFFIC FLOW FUNDAMENTALS

Traffic flow fundamentals

 Traffic flow parameters

 Time space diagram

 Fundamental relationship between speed, flow

and density

 Fundamental diagram of traffic flow

 Macroscopic and microscopic traffic flow

models
 TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS
Macroscopic parameters
1. Speed
2. Flow
3. Density (or Concentration)
Microscopic parameters
1. Speed of individual vehicles
2. Time Headway (or Headway)
3. Space Headway (or Spacing)
Flow (q)

 The equivalent hourly rate at which

vehicles pass a point on a highway
during a time period less than 1 hour
Density (k)
Sometimes referred to as concentration

Number of vehicles traveling over a unit length of

highway at an instant of time. The unit length is
usually 1 km

Expressed as vehicles per km ( veh/km)

Density is difficult to measure directly, and Occupancy

is often used as a surrogate for density
Time Occupancy
A useful measure of traffic flow which can only be
measured if a detector is installed at a specific point on a
carriageway and is defined as the total time a detector is
occupied divided by the total time of observation. It is
given by

where ti = the detection time of the ith vehicle

Speed (u)
The distance traveled by a vehicle during a unit
of time.

It is expressed as kilometers per hour (km/h), or

meter per second (m/s)

There are two types of mean speeds : time mean

speed and space mean speed.
Time mean speed
(spot or instantaneous speed)
o Average speed of all vehicles passing a point on a
highway or lane over some specified time period.
Time mean speed

 Individual vehicle’s speed is measured at a

single point
 Arithmetic mean of the speeds
 Consider vehicles 1 to N traversing a
length D with speeds u1 to uN
Time mean speed
Space mean speed
o Average speed of all vehicles occupying a given
section of highway or lane over some specified time
period.
Space mean speed
 Individual vehicle’s speed is not directly measured
 Individual vehicle’s travel time across a pre-specified distance is measured
 Consider vehicles 1 to N traversing a length D with speeds u1 to uN
 Obtain average travel time
 Obtain space mean speed
Consider three cars with speed 20 km/h, 40 km/h
and 60 km/h traversing a length D.
At a point along D the Time mean speed would be
reported as 1 N
ut   ui =(20+40+60)/3 = 40 km/h
N i 1

Now, average travel time ,

1 D D D 1 N D
t     
3  20 40 60  N i1 ui
Space Mean Speed
D D 1 1
us   N  N   32.7km / h
t 1 D 1 1 1 1 1 1 
     
N i1 ui N i1 ui 3  20 40 60 
 Relationship between time mean speed and space
mean speed
 Time mean speed is greater or equal to space
mean speed
 The two speed have the following relationship

TMS and SMS

NP1

Consider three cars with speed 40 km/h, 50

km/h and 80 km/h traversing a length
20m.
Find time mean speed and space mean
speed
 Time Headway
 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.
 If all the time headways in the time period, t, over
which flow has been measured are added, then
Where,
hi= individual time headway
q= flow (veh/hr)
nt= number of vehicles in time interval t
hav= Average time headway

Thus flow is the inverse of the average time headway

Time Headway.....
For a 1.5 second/vehicle average headway,
the equivalent flow rate is given as:
Space headway
 Distance between the front of a vehicle and the front of
the following vehicle
 If all the space headways in the distance x over which
density has been measured are added, then
Where,
Si= individual headway
k= Density (veh/km)
nx= number of vehicles in length x
Sav= Average space headway

 Thus density is the inverse of the average space

headway
Macroscopic and Microscopic data comparison
Time-space diagram: Two vehicles
The fundamental relationship

 The relationship between the fundamental

variables of traffic flow, namely speed,
volume, and density is called the fundamental
relations of traffic flow.
 FLOW = DENSITY * SPACE MEAN SPEED
Q = KUs
Fundamental diagrams of traffic flow

 The relation between flow and density, density

and speed, speed and flow, can be represented
with the help of some curves.
 They are referred to as the fundamental
diagrams of traffic flow.
 Flow-density curve
 Speed-density diagram
 Speed-flow relation
 Combined diagrams
Flow density curve

 The flow and density varies with time and

location.

 The relation between the density and the

corresponding flow on a given stretch of road
is referred to as one of the fundamental
diagram of traffic flow.
Characteristics of an ideal flow-density
relationship
1. When the density is zero, flow will also be zero,since
there is no vehicles on the road.
2. When the number of vehicles gradually increases the
density as well as flow increases.
3. When more and more vehicles are added, it reaches a
situation where vehicles can’t move. This is referred to
as the jam density or the maximum density. At jam
density, flow will be zero because the vehicles are not
moving.
4. There will be some density between zero density and jam
density, when the flow is maximum. The relationship is
normally represented by a parabolic curve as shown in
figure 31:3
 The point O refers to the case with zero density and
zero flow.

 The point B refers to the maximum flow and the

corresponding density is kmax.

 The point C refers to the maximum density kjam and

the corresponding flow is zero.

 OA is the tangent drawn to the parabola at o, and the

slope of the line OA gives the mean free flow speed,
ie the speed with which a vehicle can travel when
there is no flow.
Flow-density relationship

 It can also be noted that points D and E

correspond to same flow but has two different
densities.
 Further, the slope of the line OD gives the
mean speed at density k1 and slope of the line
OE will give mean speed at density k2.
 Clearly the speed at density k1 will be higher
since there are less number of vehicles on the
road.
 Speed-Density Relationship
Max speed 0 density

uf
Max density 0 speed
 k 

u  u f 1 
 k 
 
Speed

Density kj
34
 Speed-Density Relationship
90
80
Average speed (mph)

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

D e nsity (p cp m p l)
35
 Flow-Density Relationship
 k 
u  u f 1   and q  ku
 k 
 j 
uf
 q  uf k 
Flow

k2
kj

qcap Optimum density

kcap kj Density
36
 Flow-Density Relationship

3000
2500
Flow (pcphpl)

2000

1500
1000
500
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Density (pcpmpl)
37
Flow – density (and speed)

qm

Slope of these
Flow (veh/hr)

lines is the space

B mean speed at
this density

0 km kj
0 KB
Concentration (veh/mi)

Do the dimensional analysis

 Speed-Flow Relationship
 k 
u  u f 1   and q  ku
 k 
 j 
uf kj
Speed

 q  k ju  u2
uf
“Optimal” speed
for flow
ucap
maximization

qcap= kcapucap

qcap Flow
39
 Speed-Flow Relationship

90
A ve ra g e sp e e d (m p h )

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
F low (pcphpl) 40
 Speed-Flow-Density Relationship
(Greenshield’s Linear Model)
uf

ucap

qcap

qcap

kcap kj 41
 Special Case

• Greenshield’s  k 
u  u f 1  
Model  k 
– Linear  j 

• (Only) When uf kj
ucap  kcap 
Greenshield’s 2 2
Model holds,
k ju f
qcap  kcapucap 
4
42
Que 1

 The free mean speed on a roadway is found

to be 80kmph. Under stopped condition the
average spacing between is 6.9m. Determine
the capacity flow.
Que 2

 A study of flow at a particular location

resulted in a calibrated speed-density
relationship as follows. v = 52.5 (1 - 0.01 k).
For this relationship, determine free flow
speed, jam density, maximum flow.
Microscopic Models

 The most famous one is the Car Following

models ,where the driver adjusts his or her
acceleration according to the conditions in
front
 Car-Following Model
Assumptions
 Cars can not pass each other
 A car in 1-D can move and accelerate forward based on
two parameters :
The headway distance between the current car and
The one in front, and their speed difference.
Microscopic Models