On Driver Anticipation, Two-Regime Flow, Fundamental Diagrams, and Kinematic-Wave Theory

Paul Nelson ()
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Paul Nelson: Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3112

Transportation Science, 2006, vol. 40, issue 2, 165-178

Abstract: The Cellular Automata (CA) Model CA-184a is introduced as a simplified traffic model that incorporates a rudimentary representation of driver anticipation. Simulations of single-loop and dual-loop acquisition of density-flow data upstream of a bottleneck are shown to display either a considerable similarity to density-flow data commonly so observed in vehicular traffic (i.e., two-regime flow, including an “inverted-lambda” shape), or a well-defined but clearly unrealistic density-flow relationship (fundamental diagram, FD), depending sensitively on the details of how the data are acquired. Simulation on a closed loop leads to stationary equilibria that provide a well-defined FD that is not manifestly unrealistic. The kinematic-wave model (KWM), employed with this closed-loop stationary equilibrium FD, provides results that agree arguably well, with some caveats, with the time-series data (upstream of the bottleneck) that generated the two-regime inverted-lambda FD. The source of the sensitivity of density-flow data to details of data acquisition is a strong correlation, in enqueued flow, between observed speeds and position relative to the bottleneck. This correlation, along with demand fluctuations near saturation, accounts for the departure from kinematic-wave predictions of simulated loop-based density-flow observations upstream of a bottleneck.

Keywords: traffic flow theory; congested flow; driver behavior and traffic stream properties; kinematic waves; two-regime models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:40:y:2006:i:2:p:165-178

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