A comprehensive benchmarking study on the performance of continuum models.
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Critical discussions on the performance of the models regarding each of the benchmarking criteria.
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Models that explicitly account for congestion wave speed in their governing equations perform robustly.
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Issues in the calibration procedure are investigated.
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The performance index designed for calibration purposes is not a suitable measure for evaluating the real-world performances.
Abstract
Numerous continuum models have been proposed for freeway traffic, but their performance for real-world traffic flows has not been rigorously evaluated and compared in the literature. This paper conducts a comprehensive benchmarking study on single-pipe continuum models by using traffic data from the German A5 autobahn. Model families are examined, and the best representative models are selected within the families. A set of benchmarking criteria is designed, ranging from the operational measures (e.g., delay and travel time) as well as the complex traffic phenomena (i.e., oscillations, capacity drop, and hysteresis phenomena). Suitable real-world traffic scenarios are carefully selected concerning the benchmarking criteria, and the selected models are comprehensively assessed for real-world scenarios. The paper comprehensively discusses the performances of each model regarding each aspect of the benchmarking criteria.
