0000000001137368
AUTHOR
Raffaele Mauro
showing 15 related works from this author
A statistical approach for calibrating a microsimulation model for freeways
2014
In this paper the calibration of a traffic microsimulation model based on speed-density relationships is presented. Hypothesis test was applied in the calibration process to measure the closeness between empirical data and simulation outputs and determine whether the difference between (observed and simulated) speed-density relationships was statistically significant. Statistical regressions between the variables of traffic flow were developed by using traffic data observed at the A22 Brenner Freeway, Italy. Similar relationships were obtained for a test freeway segment in uncongested conditions of traffic flow by using the Aimsun microscopic simulator; thus on field conditions were reprodu…
Comparative Analysis of Four New Alternative Types of Roundabouts: “Turbo”, “Flower”, “Target” and “Four-Flyover” Roundabou
2016
Analysis of literature shows that “modern roundabouts” nowadays exist in all European countries, as well as in more than 60 countries elsewhere in the world. Nowadays, a growing number of studies, presented in scientific and professional literature, point out a poor traffic safety characteristics of “standard” two-lane roundabouts and lower capacity then was expected. These problems are resolved in more ways in different countries; however the solution, whereby the number of conflict spots is diminished has proven to be the most successful. Lower number of conflict spots is one of characteristics of the alternative types of roundabouts. The alternative types of roundabouts are usually more …
Traffic simulation models calibration using speed–density relationship: An automated procedure based on genetic algorithm
2016
Calibration of traffic models.Calibration as optimization problem.Use of genetic algorithm. This paper presents the first results of a research which applied a genetic algorithm to calibrate a microscopic traffic simulation model based on speed-density relationships. A large set of traffic data collected from the A22 Freeway, Italy, was used and a comparison was performed between the field measurements and the simulation outputs obtained for a test freeway segment by using the Aimsun microscopic simulator.The calibration was formulated as an optimization problem to be solved based on a genetic algorithm; the objective function was defined in order to minimize the differences between the sim…
Turbo-Roundabout: Case Study of Driver Behavior and Kinematic Parameters of Light and Heavy Vehicles
2019
AbstractThis research compared kinematic and behavior parameters of light and heavy vehicles at turbo-roundabouts. This is of interest because heavy vehicles can influence turbo-roundabout function...
Analysis of Kinematic Parameters and Driver Behavior at Turbo Roundabouts
2018
This study focuses on both vehicle kinematic parameters (speed and acceleration) and behavior parameters (critical interval and follow-up time) of drivers at turbo-roundabouts. Empirical evaluations of such parameters can be helpful in calibrating traffic microsimulation models or assigning behavior parameters to closed-form capacity models in turbo-roundabouts (gap-acceptance capacity models) and are also related to evaluation of vehicles pollutant emissions. The research was based on traffic process observed in the first turbo-roundabout implemented in the city of Maribor in Slovenia. In 2016 a great number of traffic samples were taken with high-frame-rate video recordings [>50 frames pe…
Evaluation of the Safety Performance of Turbo Roundabouts by Means of a Potential Accident Rate Mode
2015
Turbo roundabouts are a particular road intersection layout, designed to increase the safety of double-lane roundabouts, while maintaining their excellent capacity. The main feature of this new concept of roundabout is the impossibility to move from one lane to another, provided by physical barriers marking the lanes. The paper shows an application to turbo roundabouts of a potential accident rate model, aiming to evaluate their safety improvement. Themodel is based on the concept of potential conflict: each vehicle involved in a general intersection performs a series of maneuvers which potentially imply a crash, according to the actual traffic. The number of accidents related to each criti…
Contribution to the platoon distribution analysis in steady-state traffic conditions
2014
The traffic flow analysis and the relevant vehicle distribution (“free-moving” or “platooned” vehicles) on highway facilities at uninterrupted flow has always had fundamental importance in Highway Engineering, with special reference to topics like traffic operations, car accidents, road safety and air pollution emissions. In light of this, the study suggests a calculation algorithm as a random test generator to simulate a steady state traffic flow and to provide time headways. Thanks to the outcome produced by numerical simulations, we analysed platoon distributions within traffic flows in a steady-state regime and showed the results of numerical analyses carried out by traffic random proce…
Comparative life-cycle assessment of conventional (double lane) and non-conventional (turbo and flower) roundabout intersections
2016
Abstract This research studied and compared different construction techniques for the road subgrade, embankment and pavement of different types of roundabout intersections in order to assess their environmental sustainability. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out on double lane, turbo- and flower roundabouts. We considered virgin materials and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) for the pavement construction. Also the environmental effects due to in situ lime stabilization of fine-grained soils were assessed in order to reduce the use of virgin material in road subgrades. The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) can lead to a significant reduction in pollutant emissions and energy …
Capacity and safety analysis of hard-shoulder running (HSR). A motorway case study
2016
Abstract Operational motorway conditions can be improved by introducing traffic flow management and control systems, such as ramp metering (RM), high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, real-time variable speed limits (VSLs), reversible lanes (RL), automated highway systems (AHS) and hard-shoulder running (HSR). The effects of such devices need to be examined in terms of capacity and safety. This paper examines the case study of the Italian motorway A22, which is supposed to be equipped with an HSR system implemented along 128 km in order to reduce congestion with consequent improvement in levels of service (LOS). We studied the traffic processes (capacity, flow distribution between lanes, relia…
Right-turn Bypass Lanes at Roundabouts: Geometric Schemes and Functional Analysis
2012
Right-turn bypass lanes can be implemented in conventional and innovative roundabout intersections to increase the capacity and improve the global functional performances. The Right-turn bypass lanes (also called slip lanes) can be distinguished according to the planimetric layout and the entry control type (stop, yield slip or Free Flow acceleration lane). This paper presents a closed-form model for the estimation of capacity, delays and level of service of roundabout equipped with Right-turn bypass lanes, considering the effect of geometric slip lane schemes, control type, vehicular and pedestrian flow. In order to examine the traffic conditions which can benefit from slip lane roundabout…
Speed Stochastic Processes and Freeway Reliability Estimation: Evidence from the A22 Freeway, Italy
2013
In this paper, a criterion for predicting the reliability of freeway traffic flow is presented. The idea is based on an analysis of spot speed time series divided into sequences of events of random and homogeneous traffic processes. For each process, the flow rate and density were calculated; then the relationships between parameters of spot speed processes and vehicular density were obtained. Using these relationships and a simulation procedure for the spot speed process, a formulation for predicting the reliability of traffic flow moving along the offside lane on the freeway roadway was derived. Through this formulation and the measurements of flow rate and speed, the probability of insta…
Traffic Flow Variables Estimation: An Automated Procedure Based on Moving Observer Method. Potential Application for Autonomous Vehicles
2019
Abstract The estimation of traffic flow variables (flow, space mean speed and density) plays a fundamental role in highways planning and designing, as well as in traffic control strategies. Moving Observer Method (MOM) allows traffic surveys in a road, or in a road network. This paper proposes a novel automated procedure, called MOM-AP based on Moving Observer Method and Digital Image Processing (DIP) Technique able to automatically detect (without human observers) and calculate flow q, space mean speed vs and density k in case of stationary and homogeneous traffic conditions. In order to evaluate how reliable is the MOM-AP, an experiment has been carried out in a segment of one two-lane si…
Automated highway systems and hard-shoulders running: A case study
2016
The purpose of this research was to evaluate the increase of capacity of existing motorway resulting from the implementation of relatively new traffic control strategies, as the automated highway systems (AHS) and the hard-shoulder running (HSR). Was examined the Italian motorway A22, belonging to Trans-European Road Network, corridor Helsinki - La Valletta. Many traffic surveys were done (year 2014) in several road sections. For each of them have been carried out the flow diagrams, the traffic flow parameters (capacity C, free flow speed vf,jam density kjam) and the relationship between flow rate of lane (right lane Qright and passing lane Qpass) and total flow rate Qt. The current carriag…
Developing Passenger Car Equivalents for Freeways by Microsimulation
2015
Abstract In this paper a method of estimation of the passenger car equivalents for heavy vehicles on freeway is described. The variation in traffic quality was evaluated basing on a traffic demand characterized by different percentages of heavy vehicles. Aimsun micro-simulator was used to isolate traffic conditions difficult to capture on field, to replicate them to have a number of data as much as possible numerous, and to quantify the fundamental variables of traffic flow, namely the speed, flow, density, for a test freeway segment. Model calibration was accomplished by using traffic data collected at observation sections on the A22 Brenner Freeway, Italy. In order to check to what extent…
Evaluation of motorway reliability based on the identification of spot speed stochastic processes. The case of A22 motorway, Italy
2012
The evaluation of motorway reliability is a subject of great interest for researchers of traffic engineering. For easy recognizable reasons, this subject is very important in theoretical studies and for applications, e.g. evaluation of capacity and traffic control on motorway. In this paper the different conceptions of reliability in technical and scientific literature are compared with the following definition: reliability of traffic stream, for a time interval T, is “the conditioned probability that level of speed spot process does not decrease during T as far as the section in which limit density is reached, given that the level at instant zero is equal to the average speed corresponding…