TFT Webinars: Irene Martinez -- June 4th @ 11am EST
Rafegh Aghamohammadi
Dear colleagues, it is our honor to announce:
Optimal Location Problem for Variable Speed Limit Application Areas
Speaker: Irene Martinez, PhD Candidate, UC, Irvine
Date & Time: Thursday, June 4th, 11:00 AM EST
Link: https://gatech.bluejeans.com/2831735251 NOTE: You don't need to install the bluejeans app, just click join with browser.
Abstract:
Some studies consider variable speed limit (VSL) control as a viable
option to prevent traffic breakdown at bottlenecks by limiting the mainline
flow with reduced speed limits. However, few studies consider the location of
the application area as a design variable of the problem. In this talk, we will
explain why the location of a VSL control area is crucial to prevent the
capacity drop phenomenon at lane drop bottlenecks. We first define two types of
stationary states, congested and uncongested, inside a lane
drop bottleneck assuming the Lighthill-Whitham Richards model with bounded
acceleration. The characteristics of these stationary states and their
admissible conditions will be discussed. If the speed limit imposed is low
enough, the location of the VSL application area is irrelevant to ensure an
uncongested stationary state inside the bottleneck. However, for a given range
of speed limits, the location of the VSL application area should be designed
carefully to allow for uncongested stationary states and prevent the occurrence
of the capacity drop. We formulate an optimization problem and show that,
contrary to the general belief, the larger the speed limit, the farther the VSL
application area should be from the bottleneck. To the best of our knowledge,
this is the first study to analytically identify, formulate, and solve the
optimal location problem for variable speed limit application areas. It makes
fundamental contributions to both traffic flow theory (by analyzing the
stationary states for VSL-controlled bottlenecks) and traffic control (by
determining the optimal location of a VSL application area). Moreover, the
results presented are of practical relevance because they can help to establish
some guidelines for practitioners to implement VSL control strategies.
Short Bio:
Irene Martinez (BSc and MSc Civil Engineering, UPC BarcelonaTech, MSc
Transportation Systems Engineering, University
of California, Irvine 2019) is a PhD Candidate at the University of
California, Irvine working under the supervision of Prof. Wenlong Jin. She is
interested in traffic flow modeling and the mitigation of traffic congestion in
the era of autonomous, connected, and shared mobility. Her research work has
been published in Transportation Research Part B and Part C journals, and she
has presented at the International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic
Theory 2019, several Transportation Research Board Annual Meetings and other
conferences. Irene has received, among
other awards, the "Abertis International Prize for Transportation Research
in 2014" and the "Young Researchers TRA VISIONS 2018 Second place
award" and several fellowships during her studies.
