Traffic flow velocity disturbance characteristics and control strategy at the bottleneck of expressway

In the three-phase traffic flow studies, the traffic flow characteristic at the bottleneck section is a hot spot in the academic field. The controversy about the characteristics of the synchronized flow at bottleneck is also the main contradiction between the three-phase traffic flow theory and the traditional traffic flow theory. Under the framework of three-phase traffic flow theory, this paper takes the on-ramp as an example to discuss the traffic flow characteristics at the bottleneck section.In particular, this paper mainly conducts the micro-analysis to the effect of lane change under the two lane conditions, as well as the effect of the on-ramp on the main line traffic flow. It is found that when the main road flow is low, the greater the on-ramp inflow rate, the higher the average speed of the whole road section. As the probability of vehicles entering from the on-ramp increases, the flow and the average speed of the main road are gradually stabilized, and then the on-ramp inflow vehicles no longer have a significant impact on the traffic flow. In addition, this paper focuses on the velocity disturbance generated at the on-ramp, and proposes the corresponding on-ramp control strategy based on it, and the simulation verified that the control strategy can reasonably control the traffic flow by the on-ramp, which can meet the control strategy requirements to some extent.

An environment-friendly control method for congestion flow ahead of expressway toll stations

To alleviate the resulting increase in energy consumption and emissions and other issues caused by the traffic congestion ahead of the expressway toll station, a novel traffic flowcontrol method is put forward based on the environment-friendly conception. The technical thinking of inducing the slowly moving traffic into a batch pass is determined based on the conclusion of the research, traffic flowtheory and traffic sensing detection technology. The model of stop times is established and the parameters of the system are optimized in accordance with the principle of minimizing the fuel consumption. The optimal location selection of traffic control lights and Detector 2 for queue of different lengths at toll stations are calculated based on the model. Finally, the effect of the congestion flowcontrol system is verified via the Paramics simulation system. The result shows that the control system is capable of reducing90% of fuel consumption for vehicles going through toll stations.

Capacity models on expressway near a bus bay stop with an access

To determinate the expressway capacity near a bus bay stop with an access, capacity models on the expressway near a bus stop with an access were developed on the basis of gap acceptance theory and queuing theory. Depending on a bus stop position to an entrance or an exit ramp, the capacity models were developed for four cases. Bus bay stops with overflow and bus bay stops without overflow were considered. A comparison of simulation experiment and model calculation was carried out. Results show that the suggested models have high accuracy and reliability, at bus arrival rate below 60 vehicles per hour(veh/h) or vehicle volumes at the entrance and the exit below 200 passenger cars units per hour(pcu/h), and there are no significant difference in the capacities for four cases. When bus arrival rate is above 240 veh/h, the capacities of all four cases will decline rapidly. With berth number increasing, the increasing of the capacities is no obvious for four cases. As the bus arrival rate and vehicle volumes at the entrance and the exit increase, bus stops located downstream of an entrance and upstream of an exit have a remarkably effect on the capacities. The latter case is much heavier than the former. Those results can be used to traffic design and optimization on urban expressway near a bus stop with an access.

Detailed string stability analysis for bi-directional optimal velocity model

The class of bi-directional optimal velocity models can describe the bi-directional looking effect that usually exists in the reality and is even enhanced with the development of the connected vehicle technologies. Its combined string stability condition can be obtained through the method of the ring-road based string stability analysis. However, the partial string stability about traffic fluctuation propagated backward or forward was neglected, which will be analyzed in detail in this work by the method of transfer function and its H∞ norm from the viewpoint of control theory. Then, through comparing the conditions of combined and partial string stabilities, their relationships can make traffic flow be divided into three distinguishable regions, displaying various combined and partial string stability performance. Finally, the numerical experiments verify the theoretical results and find that the final displaying string stability or instability performance results from the accumulated and offset effects of traffic fluctuations propagated from different directions.