Evaluating the effect of road surface potholes using a microscopic traffic model

Date

2023

Authors

Ali, Faryal
Khan, Zawar Hussain
Khattak, Khurram Shehzad
Gulliver, Thomas Aaron

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Applied Sciences

Abstract

Road surface wear leads to the formation of cracks and holes known as potholes. Potholes disrupt the smooth flow of traffic and can lead to accidents. The Intelligent Driver (ID) model is commonly employed but it assumes uniform traffic behavior for all conditions. This oversimplified approach is unrealistic as it does not consider the impact of real-world factors such as potholes on traffic patterns. This paper proposes a microscopic traffic model to address the impact of these road surface irregularities on traffic. The effect of small, medium, and large conical potholes is investigated using fundamental diagrams for traffic flow and velocity. The results obtained indicate that the proposed model outperforms the ID model as it can more accurately characterize how potholes and driver sensitivity affect vehicle behavior.

Description

Keywords

potholes, microscopic traffic, acceleration exponent, intelligent driver model

Citation

Ali, F., Khan, Z. H., Khattak, K. S., & Gulliver, T. A. (2023). Evaluating the effect of road surface potholes using a microscopic traffic model. Applied Sciences, 13(15), 8677. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13158677