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Presentation
Representing the Fundamental Diagram: the Pursuit of Mathematical Elegance and Empirical Accuracy (Paper # 10-1354)
Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting (2010)
  • Haizhong Wang
  • Jia Li
  • Qian-Yong Chen
  • Daiheng Ni, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Abstract

The fundamental diagram, as the graphical representation of the relationships among traffic flow, speed, and density, has been the foundation of traffic flow theory and transportation engineering. 75 years after the seminal Greenshields model, a variety of models have been proposed to mathematically represent the speed-density relationship which underlies the fundamental diagram. Observed in these models was a clear path toward two competing goals: mathematical elegance and empirical accuracy. As the latest development of such a pursuit, this paper presents a family of speed-density models with varying numbers of parameters. All of these models perform satisfactorily and have physically meaningful parameters. In addition, speed variation with traffic density is accounted for; this enables statistical approaches to traffic flow analysis. The results of this paper not only improve our understanding of traffic flow but also provide a sound basis for transportation engineering studies.

Publication Date
2010
Citation Information
Haizhong Wang, Jia Li, Qian-Yong Chen and Daiheng Ni. "Representing the Fundamental Diagram: the Pursuit of Mathematical Elegance and Empirical Accuracy (Paper # 10-1354)" Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting (2010)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/daiheng_ni/14/