Ebook: Traffic Flow Dynamics: Data, Models and Simulation

This textbook provides a comprehensive and instructive coverage of vehicular traffic flow dynamics and modeling. It makes this fascinating interdisciplinary topic, which to date was only documented in parts by specialized monographs, accessible to a broad readership. Numerous figures and problems with solutions help the reader to quickly understand and practice the presented concepts. This book is targeted at students of physics and traffic engineering and, more generally, also at students and professionals in computer science, mathematics, and interdisciplinary topics. It also offers material for project work in programming and simulation at college and university level.

The main part, after presenting different categories of traffic data, is devoted to a mathematical description of the dynamics of traffic flow, covering macroscopic models which describe traffic in terms of density, as well as microscopic many-particle models in which each particle corresponds to a vehicle and its driver. Focus chapters on traffic instabilities and model calibration/validation present these topics in a novel and systematic way. Finally, the theoretical framework is shown at work in selected applications such as traffic-state and travel-time estimation, intelligent transportation systems, traffic operations management, and a detailed physics-based model for fuel consumption and emissions.

---

This textbook provides a comprehensive and instructive coverage of vehicular traffic flow dynamics and modeling. It makes this fascinating interdisciplinary topic, which to date was only documented in parts by specialized monographs, accessible to a broad readership. Numerous figures and problems with solutions help the reader to quickly understand and practice the presented concepts. This book is targeted at students of physics and traffic engineering and, more generally, also at students and professionals in computer science, mathematics, and interdisciplinary topics. It also offers material for project work in programming and simulation at college and university level.

The main part, after presenting different categories of traffic data, is devoted to a mathematical description of the dynamics of traffic flow, covering macroscopic models which describe traffic in terms of density, as well as microscopic many-particle models in which each particle corresponds to a vehicle and its driver. Focus chapters on traffic instabilities and model calibration/validation present these topics in a novel and systematic way. Finally, the theoretical framework is shown at work in selected applications such as traffic-state and travel-time estimation, intelligent transportation systems, traffic operations management, and a detailed physics-based model for fuel consumption and emissions.

---

This textbook provides a comprehensive and instructive coverage of vehicular traffic flow dynamics and modeling. It makes this fascinating interdisciplinary topic, which to date was only documented in parts by specialized monographs, accessible to a broad readership. Numerous figures and problems with solutions help the reader to quickly understand and practice the presented concepts. This book is targeted at students of physics and traffic engineering and, more generally, also at students and professionals in computer science, mathematics, and interdisciplinary topics. It also offers material for project work in programming and simulation at college and university level.

The main part, after presenting different categories of traffic data, is devoted to a mathematical description of the dynamics of traffic flow, covering macroscopic models which describe traffic in terms of density, as well as microscopic many-particle models in which each particle corresponds to a vehicle and its driver. Focus chapters on traffic instabilities and model calibration/validation present these topics in a novel and systematic way. Finally, the theoretical framework is shown at work in selected applications such as traffic-state and travel-time estimation, intelligent transportation systems, traffic operations management, and a detailed physics-based model for fuel consumption and emissions.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Front Matter....Pages 5-5
Trajectory and Floating-Car Data....Pages 7-12
Cross-Sectional Data....Pages 13-24
Representation of Cross-Sectional Data....Pages 25-36
Spatiotemporal Reconstruction of the Traffic State....Pages 37-51
Front Matter....Pages 53-53
General Aspects....Pages 55-65
Continuity Equation....Pages 67-80
The Lighthill–Whitham–Richards Model....Pages 81-126
Macroscopic Models with Dynamic Velocity....Pages 127-155
Elementary Car-Following Models....Pages 157-180
Car-Following Models Based on Driving Strategies....Pages 181-204
Modeling Human Aspects of Driving Behavior....Pages 205-224
Cellular Automata....Pages 225-238
Lane-Changing and Other Discrete-Choice Situations....Pages 239-255
Stability Analysis....Pages 257-301
Calibration and Validation....Pages 303-338
The Phase Diagram of Congested Traffic States....Pages 339-352
Front Matter....Pages 353-353
Traffic Flow Breakdown and Traffic-State Recognition....Pages 355-366
Travel Time Estimation....Pages 367-377
Fuel Consumption and Emissions....Pages 379-401
Introduction....Pages 1-4
Back Matter....Pages 423-503
Model-Based Traffic Flow Optimization....Pages 403-422

---

This textbook provides a comprehensive and instructive coverage of vehicular traffic flow dynamics and modeling. It makes this fascinating interdisciplinary topic, which to date was only documented in parts by specialized monographs, accessible to a broad readership. Numerous figures and problems with solutions help the reader to quickly understand and practice the presented concepts. This book is targeted at students of physics and traffic engineering and, more generally, also at students and professionals in computer science, mathematics, and interdisciplinary topics. It also offers material for project work in programming and simulation at college and university level.

The main part, after presenting different categories of traffic data, is devoted to a mathematical description of the dynamics of traffic flow, covering macroscopic models which describe traffic in terms of density, as well as microscopic many-particle models in which each particle corresponds to a vehicle and its driver. Focus chapters on traffic instabilities and model calibration/validation present these topics in a novel and systematic way. Finally, the theoretical framework is shown at work in selected applications such as traffic-state and travel-time estimation, intelligent transportation systems, traffic operations management, and a detailed physics-based model for fuel consumption and emissions.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Front Matter....Pages 5-5
Trajectory and Floating-Car Data....Pages 7-12
Cross-Sectional Data....Pages 13-24
Representation of Cross-Sectional Data....Pages 25-36
Spatiotemporal Reconstruction of the Traffic State....Pages 37-51
Front Matter....Pages 53-53
General Aspects....Pages 55-65
Continuity Equation....Pages 67-80
The Lighthill–Whitham–Richards Model....Pages 81-126
Macroscopic Models with Dynamic Velocity....Pages 127-155
Elementary Car-Following Models....Pages 157-180
Car-Following Models Based on Driving Strategies....Pages 181-204
Modeling Human Aspects of Driving Behavior....Pages 205-224
Cellular Automata....Pages 225-238
Lane-Changing and Other Discrete-Choice Situations....Pages 239-255
Stability Analysis....Pages 257-301
Calibration and Validation....Pages 303-338
The Phase Diagram of Congested Traffic States....Pages 339-352
Front Matter....Pages 353-353
Traffic Flow Breakdown and Traffic-State Recognition....Pages 355-366
Travel Time Estimation....Pages 367-377
Fuel Consumption and Emissions....Pages 379-401
Introduction....Pages 1-4
Back Matter....Pages 423-503
Model-Based Traffic Flow Optimization....Pages 403-422
....