RELATIONSHIPS OF FLOW PARAMETERS AND TRAFFIC FLOW MODELS
Example 1: In a study of a highway, two platoons of vehicles were timed over a distance of 0.75 km.
The first platoon had a flow of 2520 veh/h and took 60 seconds while the second platoon
with a flow of 3600 veh/h took 72 seconds. Using the Greenshields model and these
observation compute;
i. The free-flow speed.
ii. The jam density for the section of the highway.
iii. The maximum flow of traffic.
Solution: Since we assume a linear relationship between the speed and the density,
the two platoons will form two points along the straight line graph that
joins the free flow speed and the speed at jam density.
i. Average speeds:
0.75km 3600 hs
u1 45km/h
60 s
0.75km 3600 hs
u2 37.5km/h
72s
ii. Densities:
q1 2520 veh
k1 h
56veh/km
u1 45 km
h
q2 3600 veh
k2 h
96veh/km
u2 37.5 km
h
iii. Equation of the line has a form of;
u u1 m(k k1) using the values obtained above
45 37.5 7 .5 3
m 0.1875
56 96 40 16
3 3
u 45 k 56 and u k 55.5
16 16
iv. From which;
i. The free-flow speed is 55.5 km/h (the u-intercept in the
equation)
ii. The jam density is at u = 0
55.5 16
k 296 veh/km
3
iii. The maximum flow is
ufk j 55.5 296
qm 4107veh/h
4 4
Example 2: Study data shows that the flow - density relationship of a highway is given by
q 294.735u 64u lnu
Estimate the following values;
i. The free-flow speed.
ii. The speed at the maximum flow.
iii. The maximum flow of traffic.
iv. The density at the maximum flow.
Solution:
i. The free flow speed occurs when the flow is zero:
0 294.735u 64u lnu
294.735
lnu 4.605234
64
u e4.605234 100km/h
ii. The speed at the maximum flow:
dq u
0 294.735 64 lnu
du u
294.735 64 230.735
lnu 3.605234
64 64
uqmax e3.605234 36.79031km/h
iii. The maximum flow;
qmax (294.735 36.79031) 64 36.79031 ln 36.79031 2355 veh /h
iv. Density at maximum flow;
q
q uk from which k
u
2355
k qmax 64 veh/km
36.79031
TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 2 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.
Tutorial Problem 01:
A section of a highway is known to have a free flow speed of 120 km/h and capacity of
3600 veh/h. Traffic count that was made for 1 hour counted 2000 vehicles that passed
the observation point, which was located within the section.
By assuming the Greenshield model, find;
i. The space mean speed of the traffic.
ii. The density of the traffic.
Solution:
uf k j 4 qmax 4 3600
i. From qmax we have kj 120 veh/km
4 uf 120
u2 kj kj 120 2
q uk k j u k ju u2 and 0 u2 k ju q u 120u 2000
uf uf uf 120
0 u2 120u 2000 u 100 u 20
u1 = 100 km/h and u2 = 20 km/h
Both of these two speeds are possible (or feasible) as can be seen from the
speed-flow diagram.
q
ii. From q uk we have k
u
2000 2000
k1 20 veh/km and k2 100 veh/km
100 20
Exercise: Solve the same question with the following data;
uf = 100 km/h, qcap = 3600 veh/h and q = 3000 veh counted in 1 hour.
Solution: Solutions for the exercise are;
kj = 144 veh/h,
u1 = 70.4 km/h u2 = 29.6 km/h
k1 = 42.6 veh/km k2 = 101.4 veh/km
TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 3 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.
Tutorial Problem 02:
a. A north – south highway has 4 lanes in each direction. The capacity of the
northbound direction is 8200 veh/h/lane having a free-flow speed of 110 km/h.
Calculate;
i. The speed at maximum flow rate,
ii. The density maximum flow rate, and
iii. The jam density.
b. If a one-hour vehicle count in the northbound direction for the outside lane gives
7034 vehicles in a non-congested condition, calculate the space mean speed of
these 7034 vehicles.
Solution:
a. The maximum flow rate qmax = 8200 veh/h/lane
dq 2k q
At maximum flow; uf 1 max
0
dk kj
2k qmax
Since uf 0 then 1 0
kj
kj uf
And therefore kq Likewise uq
max
2 max
2
110km / h
i. Speed at qmax uq 55 km/h
max
2
qmax 8200veh / h / ln
ii. Density at qmax kq 149.0909 veh/km/ln
max
uq max
55km / h
iii. Jam density k j 2 kq max
2 149.0909 298.1818 298 veh/km/ln
u2
b. From q kj u we have
uf
u2 298.1818u2
q 7034 298.1818 u 298.1818u
110 110
298.1818u2
0 298.1818u 7034
110
b b2 4ac
Using quadratic formula u1,2 we find;
2a
TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 4 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.
u1 = 75.73982 km/h and u2 = 34.26018 km/h
As the observed flow is less than qmax, the highway will be operating with
uncongested flow, and therefore the space mean speed will be the higher of the
two.
i.e. u = 75.7 km/h
TRAFFIC ENGINEERING Page 5 TOMEKA C. L. T. G.