IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v387y2008i16p4349-4366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of maximum traffic flow and its breakdown on congested freeways

Author

Listed:
  • Bassan, Shy
  • (Avi) Ceder, Avishai

Abstract

This study analyzes the dynamic behavior of traffic flow over time by deriving the theoretical value of flow oscillations convergence (F̃) following the breakdown of traffic flow. Modeling traffic flow fluctuations over time reflects two basic zones: the increasing demand zone that terminates approximately when the maximum flow is attained, and the oscillations zone that reflects the fluctuations of flow until its stabilization. The models in the flow-time plane introduce a new concept of “stable maximum flow” particularly for design purposes. Both converged values and observed recovery flow values represent the end of the recovery phase transition where the traffic stream approaches the free flow regime through lower flow conditions than the maximum flow conditions. A comparison between breakdown starting times and times of the maximum flow shows that in most cases, when one breakdown period (OB) is experienced, breakdown starts 21–50 min after observing the maximum flow. Modeling changes in traffic flows in the flow-time plane is emphasized for OB or multiple breakdown period (MBP) cases. The analysis of frequent OB and infrequent MBP cases allow for better controlling of the traffic flow by maintaining its flow level below maximum.

Suggested Citation

  • Bassan, Shy & (Avi) Ceder, Avishai, 2008. "Analysis of maximum traffic flow and its breakdown on congested freeways," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(16), pages 4349-4366.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:387:y:2008:i:16:p:4349-4366
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.02.058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437108002288
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2008.02.058?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Zhen-Hua & Zheng, Shi-Teng & Jiang, Rui & Tian, Jun-Fang & Zhu, Kai-Xuan & Di Pace, Roberta, 2022. "Empirical and simulation study on traffic oscillation characteristic using floating car data," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 605(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:387:y:2008:i:16:p:4349-4366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.