Empirical Differences Between Time Mean Speed and Space Mean Speed

Victor Knoop (), Serge P. Hoogendoorn () and Henk van Zuylen ()
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Victor Knoop: Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Serge P. Hoogendoorn: Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Henk van Zuylen: Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

A chapter in Traffic and Granular Flow ’07, 2009, pp 351-356 from Springer

Abstract: Summary Insight into traffic flow characteristics is often gained using local measurements. To determine macroscopic flow characteristics, time aggregation of microscopic information is required. Usually, a data collection system stores values averaged over time. However, it is well known that a time mean average overestimates the influence of faster vehicles, and consequently overestimates the mean speed. As a direct result, densities, computed from flow and speed, are underestimated. This paper compares the time mean speed and space mean speed, using data of individual car passages on a motorway road stretch. We show that the differences between time mean and space mean averages are substantial, up to a factor four. In particular in the lower speed regions the error is big. We indicate the considerable consequences for the jam density and shock wave speed. Finally, a fundamental diagram based on correctly averaged microscopic data can be fitted much better.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-77074-9_36

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