Macroscopic characteristics of dense road networks

Abstract

In the continuum modeling of traffic networks, a macroscopic cost-flow function (MCF) and macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD) can be used to represent the fundamental relationships between traffic quantities such as speed, flow, and density. The MCF governs the steady-state cost-flow relationship, whereas the MFD represents the instantaneous inter-relationship between speed, flow, and density of traffic streams. This thesis explores the influence of network topologies on the MCF and MFD. The Hong Kong road system is divided into unit-sized road networks with various physical characteristics for which the network structure and signal timings are reserved. By universally scaling the origin-destination (OD) matrices of the morning peak, traffic conditions ranging from free-flow to congestion are created for microscopic simulation. From the simulation results, an MCF that relates the average journey time and the number of vehicles traveling through the network in one hour and an MFD that relates space to the mean speed and average density aggregated across 300s intervals are derived. The MCF and MFD are calibrated with mathematical models for each network. The density of roads, junctions, and signal junctions all influence the value of the macroscopic parameters in the MCF and MFD, and predictive equations are constructed that relate the macroscopic parameters to the network topological characteristics. Based on the fitting performance of the mathematical models, recommendations are made for selecting MCF and MFD models for continuum modeling.