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Title:

Optimal Control of Variable Speed Limits for Freeway Operation Under the Rain

Accession Number:

01594132

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

Rainfall has a negative impact on freeway safety and mobility. Variable speed limits (VSL) system adjust freeway speed limits in real-time according to traffic state and weather condition, which can reduce rainfall’s impact on traffic operation. The scheme of variable speed limits system for the rain scenario is described first, then the calculation models for safe speed under the rain condition are built, with the consideration of the changes of visibility and pavement friction coefficient due to rainfall. A revised METANET model is adopted to describe traffic state under rain weather, and an optimal method of variable speed limits using model predictive control approach is presented, aiming to maximize total travel distance of all vehicles. A part of G4 freeway in China is selected to evaluate the proposed VSL control method, and simulation experiments are conducted using VISSIM simulator. The results show that, using VSL control, the average speed improves from 77.2 km/h to 83.9 km/h (increased by 8.7%), and the total travel distance increases from 105471 km to 115596 km (increased by 9.6%), while the maximum speed difference of adjacent sections decreases from 12.8 km/h to 8.6 km/h (reduced by 32.8%). All the statistics indicate that the proposed VSL control method can improve the mobility and safety of freeway under the rain.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB20 Standing Committee on Freeway Operations.

Monograph Accession #:

01584066

Report/Paper Numbers:

16-5628

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Zhang, Cunbao
Zhou, Bin
Qiu, Tony Z
Zhong, Ming

Pagination:

15p

Publication Date:

2016

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Identifier Terms:

METANET (Computer program)

Geographic Terms:

China

Subject Areas:

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2016 Paper #16-5628

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Jan 12 2016 6:27PM