Wave Velocity Estimation through Automatic Analysis of Cumulative Vehicle Count Curves

Abstract

A fundamental diagram of traffic flow (and thus wave velocity) under congested traffic conditions is estimated from cumulative vehicle count curves. A new method estimates jam density and congested wave velocity simultaneously on a macroscopic scale. Based on kinematic wave model properties, this method overcomes the drawbacks of existing estimation processes. The objective is to determine the optimal parameters of the kinematic wave model on field data by focusing on wave propagation. The proposed method is used to automatically estimate parameters of the fundamental diagram for the study site. The fundamental diagram is linear in its congested part at the macroscopic scale. A sensitivity analysis is performed to observe the impact of observation days and loop detector locations on wave velocity under congested traffic conditions.