Chapter 6

Fundamental Principals
of Traffic Flow
Dr. Yahya Sarraj
Faculty of Engineering
The Islamic University of Gaza
Traffic flow theory involves mathematical
relationships among the primary elements of a
traffic stream:
flow, density, and speed.
help the traffic engineer in planning, designing,
and evaluating the effectiveness such as:
adequate lane lengths for storing left-turn
the average delay at intersections and freeway
ramp merging areas,
the level of freeway performance
simulation
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
6.1 TRAFFIC FLOW ELEMENTS
6.1.1 Time-Space Diagram

The time-space diagram is a graph that
describes the relationship between:
the location of vehicles in a traffic stream and
the time
as the vehicles progress along the highway.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
6.1.2 Primary Elements of Traffic Flow
flow,
density,
speed
the gap or headway between two vehicles in a traffic stream

Flow
Flow (q) is the equivalent hourly rate at which vehicles pass a point on
a highway during a time period less than 1 hour.

It can be determined by:
Where
n = the number of vehicles passing a point in the roadway in T sec
q = the equivalent hourly flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Density:
Density (k)
sometimes referred to as concentration,
the number of vehicles traveling over a unit
length of highway at an instant in time.
The unit length is usually 1 kilometer (km)
the unit of density is vehicles per km (veh/km).
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Speed:

Speed (u) is the distance traveled by a vehicle
during a unit of time.
It can be expressed in miles per hour (mi/h) ,
kilometers per hour (km/h), or
feet per second (ft/sec).
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Time mean speed :
is the arithmetic mean of the speeds of vehicles
passing a point on a highway during an interval
of time.
The time mean speed is found by:
where
n = number of vehicles passing a point on the highway
U
i
= speed of the i
th
vehicle (m/sec)
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Space mean speed :
is the harmonic mean of the speeds of vehicles
passing a point on a highway during an interval
of time.
the total distance traveled by two or more vehicles on a
section of highway divided by the total time required by
these vehicles to travel that distance.
This is the speed that is involved in flow-density
relationships.

Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
The space mean speed is found by:

Where:
U
s
= space mean speed (m/sec)
n = number of vehicles
t
i
= the time it takes the i
th
vehicle to travel
across a section of highway (sec)
U
i
= speed of the i
th
vehicle (m/sec)
L = length of section of highway (m)

The time mean speed is always higher
than the space mean speed.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Time Headway
Time headway (h) is the difference between the
time the front of a vehicle arrives at a point on
the highway and the time the front of the next
vehicle arrives at that same point.
Time headway is usually expressed in seconds.
For example, in the time space diagram (Figure
6.1), the time headway between vehicles 3 and
4 at d1 is h 3 4.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Space Headways
Space headway (d) is the distance
between the front of a vehicle and
the front of the following vehicle and
is usually expressed in meter (feet).
The space headway between
vehicles 3 and 4 at time t 5 is d 3 4
(see Figure 6.1).
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Example 6.1 Determining Flow, Density,
Time Mean Speed, and Space Mean
Speed
Figure 6.3 shows vehicles traveling
at constant speeds on a two-lane
highway between sections X and Y
with their positions and speeds
obtained at an instant of time by
photography.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Example 6.1 .
An observer located at point X
observes the four vehicles passing
point X during a period of T sec.
The velocities of the vehicles are
measured as 45, 45, 40, and 30
km/h, respectively. Calculate the
flow, density, time mean speed, and
space mean speed.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Example 6.1 .
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Figure 6.3 Locations and Speeds of Four Vehicles on a Two-Lane Highway at an Instant of Time
Solution: The flow is calculated by

Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
6.2 FLOW-DENSITY RELATIONSHIPS
The general equation relating
flow, density, and space mean speed
is given as:
Flow = density space mean speed
q = ku
s


Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Space mean speed = (flow) (space headway)
u
s
= qd
Where:
d = (1/k) = average space headway
Density = (flow) (travel time for unit distance)
k = qt
Where:
t is the average time for unit distance.

Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Average space headway =
(space mean speed) (average time headway)

d = u
s
h

Average time headway =
(average travel time for unit distance)
(average space headway)
h = td
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
6.2.1 Fundamental Diagram of
Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Figure 6.4 Fundamental Diagrams of Traffic Flow
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
Figure 6.4 Fundamental Diagrams of Traffic Flow
6.2.2 Mathematical Relationships
Describing Traffic Flow
Mathematical relationships describing traffic
flow can be classified into two general
categories:
macroscopic and microscopic
depending on the approach used in the
development of these relationships.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow
6.2.2 Mathematical Relationships
Describing Traffic Flow
The macroscopic approach considers flow
density relationships whereas
the microscopic approach considers
spacings between vehicles and speeds of
individual vehicles.
Fundamental Principals of Traffic Flow