https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2009-00093-7
Derivation of a fundamental diagram for urban traffic flow
ETH Zurich, UNO D11, Universitätstr. 41, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Corresponding author: a dhelbing@ethz.ch
Received:
11
July
2008
Revised:
22
December
2008
Published online:
14
March
2009
Despite the importance of urban traffic flows, there are only a few theoretical approaches to determine fundamental relationships between macroscopic traffic variables such as the traffic density, the utilization, the average velocity, and the travel time. In the past, empirical measurements have primarily been described by fit curves. Here, we derive expected fundamental relationships from a model of traffic flows at intersections, which suggest that the recently measured fundamental diagrams for urban flows can be systematically understood. In particular, this allows one to derive the average travel time and the average vehicle speed as a function of the utilization and/or the average number of delayed vehicles.
PACS: 89.40.Bb – Land transportation / 47.10.ab – Conservation laws and constitutive relations / 51.10.+y – Kinetic and transport theory of gases
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2009