Continuum modeling of freeway traffic flows:State-of-the-art,challenges and future directions in the era of connected and automated vehicles

Connected and automated vehicles(CAVs)are expected to reshape traffic flow dynamics and present new challenges and opportunities for traffic flow modeling.While numerous studies have proposed optimal modeling and control strategies for CAVs with various objectives(e.g.,traffic efficiency and safety),there are uncertainties about the flow dynamics of CAVs in real-world traffic.The uncertainties are especially amplified for mixed traffic flows,consisting of CAVs and human-driven vehicles,where the implications can be significant from the continuum-modeling perspective,which aims to capture macroscopic traffic flow dynamics based on hyperbolic systems of partial differential equations.This paper aims to highlight and discuss some essential problems in continuum modeling of real-world freeway traffic flows in the era of CAVs.We first provide a select review of some existing continuum models for conventional human-driven traffic as well as the recent attempts for incorporating CAVs into the continuum-modeling framework.Wherever applicable,we provide new insights about the properties of existing models and revisit their implications for traffic flows of CAVs using recent empirical observations with CAVs and the previous discussions and debates in the literature.The paper then discusses some major problems inherent to continuum modeling of real-world(mixed)CAV traffic flows modeling by distinguishing between two major research directions:(a)modeling for explaining purposes,where making reproducible inferences about the physical aspects of macroscopic properties is of the primary interest,and(b)modeling for practical purposes,in which the focus is on the reliable predictions for operation and control.The paper proposes some potential solutions in each research direction and recommends some future research topics.

Incident indicators for freeway traffic flow models

Developed in this paper is a traffic flow model parametrised to describe abnormal traffic behaviour.In large traffic networks,the immediate detection and categorisation of traffic incidents/accidents is of capital importance to avoid breakdowns,further accidents.First,this claims for traffic flow models capable to capture abnormal traffic condition like accidents.Second,by means of proper real-time estimation technique,observing accident related parameters,one may even categorize the severity of accidents.Hence,in this paper,we suggest to modify the nominal Aw-Rascle(AR)traffic model by a proper incident related parametrisation.The proposed Incident Traffic Flow(ITF)model is defined by introducing the incident parameters modifying the anticipation and the dynamic speed relaxation terms in the speed equation of the AR model.These modifications are proven to have physical meaning.Furthermore,the characteristic properties of the ITF model is discussed in the paper.A multi stage numerical scheme is suggested to discretise in space and time the resulting non-homogeneous system of PDEs.The resulting systems of ODE is then combined with receding horizon estimation methods to reconstruct the incident parameters.Finally,the viability of the suggested incident parametrisation is validated in a simulation environment.

A Piecewise Switched Linear Approach for Traffic Flow Modeling

Traffic modeling is a key step in several intelligent transportation systems（ITS） applications. This paper regards the traffic modeling through the enhancement of the cell transmission model. It considers the traffic flow as a hybrid dynamic system and proposes a piecewise switched linear traffic model. The latter allows an accurate modeling of the traffic flow in a given section by considering its geometry. On the other hand, the piecewise switched linear traffic model handles more than one congestion wave and has the advantage to be modular. The measurements at upstream and downstream boundaries are also used in this model in order to decouple the traffic flow dynamics of successive road portions. Finally, real magnetic sensor data, provided by the performance measurement system on a portion of the Californian SR60-E highway are used to validate the proposed model.

Iterative learning control approach for ramp metering

An iterative learning control scheme is developed to the traffic densitycontrol in a macroscopic level freeway environment. With rigorous analysis, the proposed intelligentcontrol scheme guarantees the asymptotic convergence of the traffic density to the desired one. Thecontrol scheme is applied to a freeway model, and simulation results confirm the efficacy of theproposed approach.