Visco-elastic traffic flow model

To increase our understanding of the operations of traffic system, a visco-elastic traffic model was proposed in analogy of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics. The traffic model is based on mass and momentum conservations, and includes a constitutive relation similar to that of linear visco-elastic fluid...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhu, Zuojin, Yang, Chun
Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105597
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/17053
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/atr.186
_version_ 1811677743148957696
author Zhu, Zuojin
Yang, Chun
author2 School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
author_facet School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Zhu, Zuojin
Yang, Chun
author_sort Zhu, Zuojin
collection NTU
description To increase our understanding of the operations of traffic system, a visco-elastic traffic model was proposed in analogy of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics. The traffic model is based on mass and momentum conservations, and includes a constitutive relation similar to that of linear visco-elastic fluids. The further inclusion of the elastic effect allows us to describe a high-order traffic model more comprehensively because the use of relaxation time indicates that vehicle drivers adjust their time headway in a reasonable and safe range. The self-organizing behaviour is described by introducing the effects of pressure and visco-elasticity from the point of view in fluid mechanics. Both the viscosity and elasticity can be determined by using the relaxation time and the traffic sound speed. The sound speed can be approximately represented by the road operational parameters including the free-flow speed, the jam density, and the density of saturation if the jam pressure in traffic flows is identical to the total pressure at the flow saturation point. A linear stability analysis showed that the traffic flow should be absolutely unstable for disturbances with short spatial wavelengths. There are two critical points of regime transition in traffic flows. The first point happens at the density of saturation, and the second point occurs at a density relating on the sound speed and the fundamental diagram of traffic flows. By using a triangular form flow–density relation, a numerical test based on the new model is carried out for congested traffic flows on a loop road without ramp effect. The numerical results are discussed and compared with the result of theoretical analysis and observation data of traffic flows.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T02:42:13Z
format Journal Article
id ntu-10356/105597
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T02:42:13Z
publishDate 2013
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/1055972019-12-06T21:54:15Z Visco-elastic traffic flow model Zhu, Zuojin Yang, Chun School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering To increase our understanding of the operations of traffic system, a visco-elastic traffic model was proposed in analogy of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics. The traffic model is based on mass and momentum conservations, and includes a constitutive relation similar to that of linear visco-elastic fluids. The further inclusion of the elastic effect allows us to describe a high-order traffic model more comprehensively because the use of relaxation time indicates that vehicle drivers adjust their time headway in a reasonable and safe range. The self-organizing behaviour is described by introducing the effects of pressure and visco-elasticity from the point of view in fluid mechanics. Both the viscosity and elasticity can be determined by using the relaxation time and the traffic sound speed. The sound speed can be approximately represented by the road operational parameters including the free-flow speed, the jam density, and the density of saturation if the jam pressure in traffic flows is identical to the total pressure at the flow saturation point. A linear stability analysis showed that the traffic flow should be absolutely unstable for disturbances with short spatial wavelengths. There are two critical points of regime transition in traffic flows. The first point happens at the density of saturation, and the second point occurs at a density relating on the sound speed and the fundamental diagram of traffic flows. By using a triangular form flow–density relation, a numerical test based on the new model is carried out for congested traffic flows on a loop road without ramp effect. The numerical results are discussed and compared with the result of theoretical analysis and observation data of traffic flows. 2013-10-30T04:40:57Z 2019-12-06T21:54:15Z 2013-10-30T04:40:57Z 2019-12-06T21:54:15Z 2013 2013 Journal Article Zhu, Z., & Yang, C. (2013). Visco-elastic traffic flow model. Journal of advanced transportation, 47(7), 635-649. 0197-6729 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105597 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/17053 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/atr.186 en Journal of advanced transportation
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
Zhu, Zuojin
Yang, Chun
Visco-elastic traffic flow model
title Visco-elastic traffic flow model
title_full Visco-elastic traffic flow model
title_fullStr Visco-elastic traffic flow model
title_full_unstemmed Visco-elastic traffic flow model
title_short Visco-elastic traffic flow model
title_sort visco elastic traffic flow model
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105597
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/17053
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/atr.186
work_keys_str_mv AT zhuzuojin viscoelastictrafficflowmodel
AT yangchun viscoelastictrafficflowmodel