AN EXTENDED MACROSCOPIC MODEL FOR TRAFFIC FLOW

This paper presents a model of traffic on a highway based on the macro scopic description of traffic as a compressible fluid. We take the com putationally efficient model of Papageorgiou and test it on field data . We extend the model to flow under the influence of traffic-obstructi ng incidents. In applications where the interest is in mass phenomena and real time computation, a macroscopic model is preferable over micr oscopic models. This model also permits systematic parameter identific ation, which makes it more useful for real traffic systems. The influe nce of incidents on the highway is included in the model and it is pos sible to tune its parameters for flow under incidents. This allows the model to compute the effect of incidents on flow capacity using field data.