Validation of Van Aerde's simplified steadystate car-following and traffic stream model

Abstract The research reported in this paper validates Van Aerde's simplified steady-state car-following and traffic stream motion model, identifies valid input parameter ranges, and compares the model performance to other single and multi-regime models. In addition, the paper demonstrates that the Pipes linear car-following model produces the commonly known inverted V-shaped flow-density relationship. The paper also derives the relationship between the kinematic wave speed and the facility capacity, jam density, and free-flow speed for the Pipes and Van Aerde models. The study demonstrates that the Van Aerde functional form offers a superior fit to field data when compared to Newell's nonlinear single-regime model and Pipes linear dual-regime model. Specifically, the Van Aerde model is shown to fit data from different roadway types using different data aggregation intervals with a quality of fit that is superior to multi-regime models, without the need to deal with the complexities associated with the selection of regime break points.