EXERCISE 3

PLATOON DISPERSION ANALYSIS

CE 5203 TRAFFIC FLOW AND CONTROL

ADITYA NUGROHO
HT083276E

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2010
 Department of Civil Engineering
CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Platooning represents the clustering of traffic in urban arterial road networks. The dispersion
of vehicle platoons occurs due to the differences in the desired speeds of the various drivers
that make up the platoon. In this Exercise 3 the objectives are:
 To understand how to traffic flows propagate macroscopically
 Apply PLATOON DISPERSION analysis
 Predict the arrival distribution pattern downstream flows at Commonwealth Ave West
intersections

Prediction of platoon dispersion is important for determining the traffic arrivals at

downstream intersections to assess the need for signal coordination and to optimize the signal
timing plans in coordinated signal systems.

2.0 PLATOON DISPERSION METHOD

A vehicle platoon is defined as a group of vehicles travelling together in the Highway

Capacity Manual (HCM 2000). Major parameters of the vehicle platoon characteristics
include platoon headway, and platoon speed should be selected as fundamental variables. It is
important to select a proper value of the headway.

The value of headway can be determined based on the headway data analysis in Exercise 2.
Meanwhile, for vehicle speed data collection, it is appropriate to measure by spot speed
measurement from videotape data and multitimer software.

2.1 Data collection

In observing the platoon dispersion downstream at Commonwealth Ave West, it is essential to

address the problems that signify the importance of the study. This study was done by
identifying the field data requirement such as position where vehicle traffic flows are recorded
and ensure a short time interval for measurement. Figure 1 shows the site arrangement for
video recording purposes and road geometry of study site (note that the estimation length of
road geometry was obtained from Google EarthPro 5.2).

Jl. Lempeng
(minor road)
Reference
Stop line
point
17 m

3
2
1
Spot speed 12 m

200 m
Figure 1 Study site

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CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

Vehicle platoon have been measured using video camera and and data has been extracted
using appropriate computing software called MultiTimer. In this Exercise 2, several points
should be considered before do the measuring of time headway.
 A reference line- a certain line should be set as a reference to count vehicles.
 Flow record- Flows were recorded per 5 second, when the vehicles pass a reference
point on a lane measured from front bumper to front bumper. Two reference point
were selected fot this study. A referencepoint nearby tunnel nosing and Jalan lempeng
junction (merging area).
 Headway record – As headway data for lane 1 and 2 has been collected in exercise 2,
additional headway data record is needed for Jln Lempeng.
 Speed record - two reference line in the same direction has been set to determine spot
speed in Clementi Ave 6 (see Figure 1)
 Vehicles type- Although it is important to measure the platoon dispersion by vehicles
composition where heavy vehicles may affect the platoon size at downstream section.
However, to simplify our exercise, we do not consider vehicle type.

2.2 Speed and platoon measurement

Along the Clementi Avenue 6 there is uncontrolled junction where Jalan Lempeng is minor
road. The vehicle exit from Jalan Lempeng has no right of way at cross roads, but is the duty
of a driver when approaching a major road to go dead slow and to give way to traffic on the
major road. Therefore it can be assume that, the speed of vehicle at major road would be not
disturbed by minor road section.

In order to measure the speed, we play the recorded video and set of reference line (see Figure
1), therefore the time of every single vehicle passing through a particular length can be
measured. Therefore spot speed can be measure by following equations:

D
u(i)= 3.6 (1)
t2(i)  t1(i)

where, ( ) is spot speed (km/h) of vehicle i, D is the measuring distance (m), D=12m, 1( )
is the front bumper entering time (s) and t2(i) is the front bumper exit time (s).

Vehicle platoon dispersion can be measured by employed the Pacey’s diffusion theory which
assume that the vehicles could travel independently, therefore the probability that trip travel
time between and + equals to the probability of speed between and + . Thus, the
travel time distribution can be expressed as ( ) ,

1 (1/1/ )/(2s2 )
g( )= 2
e (2)
 s 2

where, s denotes = / , and denotes travel time and average travel time respectively.
Suppose that ( ) and ( ) are the flow profiles of upstream and downstream respectively,
with discrete intervals of =1 interval, the flow profile at time interval j will be

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CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

qd (t )= qu (i)g( ji) (3)

3.0 Speed analysis

In order to make simplified the analysis of speed, I will not included the speed when the
traffic is congested. The speed would be only calculated in normal traffic condition. In
addition, it is also assume that the vehicle from Clementi Avenue 6 would not make a left turn
to minor road. Therefore it is assume the speed distribution would not disturbed by minor
road (Jl. Lempeng).

Table 1 Descriptive statistic of vehicles speed

Properties Lane 1 Lane 2

No of vehicles (N) 96 104
Mean 30.55205 28.84571
Median 30.95396 28.53369
Mode 29.1498 29.77257
Standard Deviation 6.351596 4.753509
Minimum 17.63265 20.81928
Maximum 42.60355 43.9471

The normal probability plot and goodness of fit test has been done (see Appendix).

4.0 Downstream flow profile

Downstream flow profile was done by consider the inbound traffic flow from the Jln.
Lempeng, assuming that mean and standard deviation of vehicle speed from Jln Lempeng
would be follow the outermost lane of Clementi Avenue 6, and there is no reduction speed to
simplified the calculation, please see the Appendix in detail of calculation. In addition it is
also assume that the inbound traffic from Jln Lempeng also would use outermost lane until
reach the downstream point.

Calculation was done for all lanes to derive the journey time distribution from the reference
point to a location 200m downstream. Therefore, we can analyze Lane 1 and Lane 2
downstream pattern flow profile. As journey time is continuous variable, we need to group
journey time into discrete intervals. In this exercise, 1 min interval is employed for simplified
calculation. Following table and figure represent the journey time of vehicles on each lane.

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CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

Lane 1
Mean 30.5521 Average journey time 3.927723
Std dev 6.3516 S = Std.dev/D 0.052930
D 2

t g(t)
0,50
1 0.000
2 0.000 0,45
3 0.277 0,40
4 0.469 0,35
5 0.177
0,30
6 0.053
7 0.017 0,25
8 0.006 0,20
9 0.002 0,15
10 0.001
0,10
11 0.001
12 0.000 0,05
13 0.000 0,00
14 0.000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
15 0.000

Figure 2 Vehicle journey time of lane 1

Lane 2
Mean 28.846 Average journey time 4.160
Std dev 4.754 S = Std.dev/D 0.040
D 2

t g(t)
0,70
1 0.000
2 0.000
0,60
3 0.071
4 0.611 0,50
5 0.240
6 0.050 0,40
7 0.010
8 0.002 0,30
9 0.001
0,20
10 0.000
11 0.000
0,10
12 0.000
13 0.000 0,00
14 0.000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
15 0.000

Figure 3 Vehicle journey time of lane 2

From the above journey time data, downstream flows can be measured by the Pacey’s
diffusion theory. To simplified the calculation procedure, I only consider 15 minutes upstream

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CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

flow. Thus, vehicles platoon for 200m downstream point for the each lane is shown below.
The traffic flow data which were recorded was used as the input data.

12

10

0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45
Upstream Flow Downstream Flow

Figure 4 Upstream and downstream flow for lane 1

30

25

20

15

10

0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45
Upstream Flow Downstream Flow

Figure 5 Upstream and downstream flow for lane 2 with additional traffic from Jalan
Lempeng

5.0 Conclusion

This study was carried out to determine the downstream distribution pattern of platoon
dispersion. The survey was observed located tunnel nosing of Clementi Ave 6 and Jalan
Lempeng junction. The analyses presented in the previous section shows the pattern of the
arrival distribution both from minor road and major road. The conclusions can be drawn from

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 Department of Civil Engineering
CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

the exercise is the accuracy of the speed measurements both of minor road and major road can
be improved if the angle spot camera has 2 spot point (upstream and downstream). The tail of
the platoon disperse skews to the right. In addition, following recommendations are needed to
improve platoon dispersion study:

 It is suggested that further study with other parameters of the vehicle platoon
characteristics such as platoon size and platoon speed should be carried out.
 The use of vehicle detectors device also recommended to acquire platoon information.
This is because it provides an analytical tool to study various effects of platoon
characteristics under different traffic conditions.
 It is necessary to analyze the delay of speed at major road which causes traffic from
minor junction such as Jln Lempeng.
 It is suggested that we need consider a Heavy Vehicle which would influenced the
platoon dispersion parameters. This is because the Heavy Vehicle journey time is
different with other vehicles.

REFERENCES

Google Earth Pro 5.2. Google.

Highway Capacity Manual. 2000. Special Report 209, 4th Ed., TRB, National Research
Council, Washington, D.C.,
May, A. D. (1990), Traffic Flow Fundamentals, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Traffic Monitoring Guide, 3rd Ed. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Traffic Flow Theory A State-of-the-Art Report (2001). Committee on Traffic Flow Theory
and Characteristics (AHB45). TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.,

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CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

Appendix 1 Vehicle speed probability normal plot

Normal Probability Lane 1

0.997
0.99
0.98
0.95
0.90

0.75
Probability

0.50

0.25

0.10
0.05
0.02
0.01

0.003
25 30 35 40
Data

Normal Probability Lane 2

0.997
0.99
0.98
0.95
0.90

0.75
Probability

0.50

0.25

0.10
0.05
0.02
0.01
0.003
20 25 30 35 40
Data

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 Department of Civil Engineering
CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

Appendix 2 Headway distribution of Jalan Lempeng

Jl Lempeng
60 100%

50 80%
40
60%
Frequency

30
40% Actual
20
CDF
10 20%

0 0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718192021222324252627282930
Time(s)

Flow t (min) Lane 3 Lane 4 J Lempeng

1 4 5 10
2 10 10 10
3 8 6 7
4 4 5 6
5 5 4 11
6 11 6 12
7 6 7 5
8 6 18 8
9 7 10 9
10 6 12 7
11 7 7 10
12 8 15 8
13 4 5 6
14 10 22 4
15 4 4 6
16 8 7 8
17 5 18 4
18 4 5 4
19 7 7 9
20 5 13 6
21 6 8 11
22 6 7 9
23 7 4 9
24 7 7 10
25 6 11 7
26 11 7 3
27 7 9 5
28 5 12 10
29 5 11 5
30 6 8 7
195 270 226

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Lane 1 g(t) 6.48E-43 4.05E-05 0.277012 0.469297 0.177092 0.052672 0.016565 0.005877 0.00236 0.001058 0.000522 0.000279 0.000159 9.65E-05 6.13E-05 Flow
1 4 0.00
2 10 4 0.00
3 8 10 4 1.11
4 4 8 10 4 4.65
5 5 4 8 10 4 7.62
6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.84
7 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 5.27
8 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.71
9 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 8.12
10 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.83
11 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.53
12 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.56
13 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.50
14 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 7.10
15 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.60
16 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 4 6.60
17 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 10 7.11
18 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 8 6.28
19 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 4 6.52
20 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5 5.30
21 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 11 5.27
22 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 6 5.83
23 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 6 5.62
24 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 7 5.86
25 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6 6.25
26 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 7 6.75
27 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 8 6.66
28 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 4 7.63
29 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 10 8.71
30 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 4 7.12
31 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 8 5.72
32 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 5 5.51
33 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 4 4.17
34 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 7 1.49
35 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 5 0.46
36 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 6 0.16
37 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 6 0.06
38 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 7 0.03
39 6 5 5 7 11 6 7 0.01
40 6 5 5 7 11 6 0.01
41 6 5 5 7 11 0.00
42 6 5 5 7 0.00
43 6 5 5 0.00
44 6 5 0.00
45 6 0.00
195.60

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 Department of Civil Engineering
CE 5203 Traffic Flow and Control

Lane 2 g(t) 1.42E-79 1.18E-09 0.071313 0.611157 0.239599 0.049525 0.009925 0.002263 0.000605 0.000189 6.74E-05 2.7E-05 1.2E-05 5.76E-06 2.98E-06 Flow
1 15 0.00
2 20 15 0.00
3 13 20 15 0.00
4 11 13 20 15 1.07
5 15 11 13 20 15 10.59
6 18 15 11 13 20 15 16.74
7 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 14.26
8 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 12.05
9 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 13.96
10 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 16.18
11 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 14.40
12 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 21.20
13 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 20.01
14 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 18.84
15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 17.82
16 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15 20.11
17 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20 15.18
18 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 13 20.61
19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 11 14.24
20 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 15 14.60
21 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 18 18.48
22 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 12 12.83
23 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 26 14.57
24 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 19 17.51
25 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 19 18.25
26 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 17 16.40
27 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 23 14.17
28 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 11 15.83
29 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 26 16.65
30 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 10 12.45
31 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 15 13.63
32 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 22 18.67
33 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 9 16.97
34 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 16 14.27
35 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 19 4.65
36 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 19 0.96
37 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 16 0.20
38 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 13 0.05
39 15 16 22 14 10 18 17 0.01
40 15 16 22 14 10 18 0.00
41 15 16 22 14 10 0.00
42 15 16 22 14 0.00
43 15 16 22 0.00
44 15 16 0.00
45 15 0.00
488.41

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