An experimental validation of two Boltzmann-type statistical models for multi-lane traffic flow

THE CONCEPTS ARE DESCRIBED ON WHICH TWO SPECIFIC BOLTZMANN-TYPE STATISTICAL MODELS FOR MULTI-LANE TRAFFIC FLOW, DEVELOPED BY PRIGOGINE ET AL., HAVE BEEN VALIDATED EXPERIMENTALLY FOR THE TIME-INDEPENDENT AND SPACE-HOMOGENEOUS CASE. THIS EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS DOES NOT DETERMINE THE RELATIVE MAGNITUDE OF THE RELAXATION, INTERACTION AND ADJUSTMENT TERMS INDIVIDUALLY, BUT TAKES THE TWO SPECIFIC BOLTZMANN- TYPE EQUATIONS IN THEIR ENTIRETY AND ASSESSES THEIR ABILITY TO DESCRIBE THE RESULTS GIVEN BY THE EXPERIMENTAL DATA. THE SPEED DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS OBTAINED FROM THE EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS ARE COMPARED WITH THE THEORETICAL RESULTS PREDICTED BY THE BOLTZMANN-TYPE STATISTICAL MODELS. THE USE OF THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS DATA WHICH WERE OBTAINED FROM FIXED-POINT MEASUREMENTS OF TIME-HEADWAYS AND SPEEDS ON EACH LANE OF A TWO-LANE UNIDIRECTIONAL FREEWAY ARE DESCRIBED. ONLY THE CONSTANT FLOW PERIODS OF THESE DATA WERE USED, AND THEY COVERED A FLOW RANGE FROM 1348 CARS/HR TO 3695 CARS/HR FOR BOTH LANES. /AUTHOR/