Title: A simple explicit model approximating the relationship between speed and density of vehicular traffic on urban roads

Authors: Abhik Kumar Das; Jai Asundi

Addresses: Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, Dr. Raja Ramanna Complex, Raj Bhavan Circle, High Grounds, Bangalore – 560001, India. ' Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, Dr. Raja Ramanna Complex, Raj Bhavan Circle, High Grounds, Bangalore – 560001, India

Abstract: With the increase in simulation of urban environments for the purpose of planning, modelling vehicular traffic has become important. Since empirical evidence on traffic flow is relatively sparse, models are being increasingly used for planning urban roads and environments. In this paper, a simple, explicit model is proposed to approximate the speed versus density of vehicular traffic flow. The model, which uses two parameters derived from simple measurements of real-time traffic data, allows for a prediction of the approximate relationship for congested as well as uncongested vehicular traffic flow. The proposed model is especially useful in conditions where available data is sparse and can be invaluable for the modelling and simulation of urban environments.

Keywords: vehicular traffic; speed-density modelling; explicit model; traffic speed; traffic density; vehicle speeds; vehicle densities; simulation; traffic flow; urban roads; traffic congestion; congestion prediction; sparse data.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2012.049039

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2012 Vol.8 No.2/3, pp.195 - 204

Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

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