Modeling road surface potholes within the macroscopic flow framework

Abstract

The continual wearing of road surfaces results to crack and holes called potholes. These road surface irregularities often elongate travel time. In this paper, a second-order macroscopic traffic model is therefore proposed to account for these road surface irregularities that affect the smooth flow of vehicular traffic. Though potholes do vary in shape and size, for simplicity the paper assumes that all potholes have conic resemblances. The impact of different sized potholes on driving is experimented using fundamental diagrams. Besides, the width of these holes, driver reaction time amid these irregularities also determine the intensity of the flow rate and vehicular speed. Moreover, a local cluster analysis is performed to determine the effect of a small disturbance on flow. The results revealed that the magnitude of amplification on a road surface with larger cracks is not as severe as roads with smaller size holes, except at minimal and jam density where all amplifications quickly fade out.

Evaluating the Effect of Road Surface Potholes Using a Microscopic Traffic Model

“…In [35], a model was proposed to examine the impact of road surface conditions on traffic flow. The results obtained reveal that a well-maintained road surface improves both traffic flow and speed [1]. However, this model does not characterize the quantitative effect of road surface conditions, in particular, the combined effect [35].…”

“…Road surfaces develop cracks and holes over time which lead to the formation of potholes [1]. Potholes are an important factor in road networks, particularly in developing countries.…”

“…Potholes are formed when water penetrates cracks in the road surface commonly caused by wear. This is exacerbated by extreme weather conditions, heavy traffic, and poor drainage [1]. Potholes cause traffic delays and accidents [3].…”

“…Explicit expressions were given in [36] to characterize the effect of road surface conditions on traffic flow. In addition, a macroscopic traffic model was developed in [1] which considers potholes. Similar models have been developed which consider road surface conditions but to date, there are no microscopic traffic models.…”

Macroscopic Analysis Of The Viscous-Diffusive Traffic Flow Model

“…As stated in Table 1, earlier formulations are devoid of either the diffusion or viscous term. As such, most recent model presentations and analyses also fellow suite [2,4,7,17,27,41] with few considering the effect of stochasticity [4,42]. Concerning traffic stability, the steady-state condition of a viscous second-order macroscopic traffic flow model was performed by [1].…”