TIME-DEPENDENT FLOWS IN BOTTLENECKS (shockwaves)

Stationary flow
Traffic on a stretch of a road is said to be stationary if an observer does not detect
movement in an arbitrary area of the time-space diagram. Traffic is stationary if all the
vehicle trajectories are parallel and equidistant.

Shockwaves
The fundamental diagram of traffic flow for 2 adjacent sections of a highway with different
capacities is shown in figure below:

This figure describes the phenomenon of backups and queuing on a highway due to a sudden
reduction of the capacity of the highway known as bottleneck condition. (e.g. from 4 lanes to 2
lane). The sudden reduction in capacity could be due to a crash, reduction in the number of lanes,
restricted bridge sizes, work zones, a signal turning red etc. creating a situation where the
capacity on a highway suddenly changes from C1 to a lower value of C2 with a corresponding
change in optimum density from K0a to a value of K0b.

When such a condition exists and the normal flow and density on the highway are relatively
high, the speed of the vehicles will have to reduce while passing the bottleneck. The point at
which speed reduction takes place can be approximately noted by turning on of the brake lights
of the vehicle.
An observer will see that this point moves upstream as traffic continuous to approach the vicinity
of indicating an upstream movement of the point at which flow and density change.
This phenomenon is usually referred to as a shockwave in the traffic stream. The phenomenon
also exists when the capacity suddenly increases but in this case the speeds of the vehicles tend
to increase as the vehicle pass the section of the road where the capacity increases.
Types of shockwaves
These can be:
i. Frontal stationary shockwaves
ii. Backward forming shockwaves
iii. Backward recovering shockwaves
iv. Rear stationery & forward recovery shockwaves
Frontal stationary shockwaves
These are formed when the capacity suddenly reduces to zero at an approach or set of lanes
having the red indication at a signalized intersection. OR when the highway is completely closed
because of a serious incident. In this case a frontal stationary shockwave is formed at the stop
line of the approach or lanes that have a red signal indication. These type of shockwaves occur at
locations where the capacity is reduced to zero.
Backward forming shockwaves
These are formed when the capacity is reduced below the demand flow rate resulting in the
formation of (q) upstream of bottleneck. The shockwaves move upstream with its location at any
time indicating the number of q at the time.
Backward recovering shockwaves
These are formed when the demand flow rate becomes less than the capacity of the bottleneck.
This would imply that the restriction causing the capacity reduction has been removed. This
would happen for example when the signals at an approach or set of lanes on a signalized
intersection change from red to green.
Rear stationery & forward recovery shockwaves
These are formed when the demand flow rate upstream of the bottleneck is first higher than the
capacity of the bottleneck and then the demand flowrate reduces the capacity of the bottleneck to
express this, consider a 4 lane one direction highway that leads to a 2 lane tunnel in an urban
area.
During the off-peak period when the demand capacity is less than the tunnel capacity no
shockwave is formed, however when the demand capacity becomes higher than the tunnel
capacity during the peak hour, a backward forming shockwave is formed this shockwave
continues to move upstream of the bottleneck as long as the demand flow is higher than the
tunnel capacity. However, as the end of the peak period approaches the demand flow rate tends
to decrease until it is the same as the tunnel capacity.
At this point, a rare stationery shockwave is formed until (the demand flow becomes less than
the tunnel capacity resulting in the formation of a forward recovery shockwave and this is
shown in figure below:
Velocity of shockwaves
W1

P Q
Let us consider 2 different densities of traffic K1 and K2 along a straight highway as shown in the
figure, where K1 > K2. Let us also assume that these densities are separated by the line W1
representing the shockwave moving at a speed Uw. if the line W moves in the direction of the
arrow (i.e. direction of flow of traffic), Uw is positive with U, equal to the space mean speed of
vehicles in the area with density K (i.e section P) the speed of the vehicles in this area relative to
the line W is given as,
Ur1 = (U1 - Uw)
To find the number of vehicles crossing line W from P during a time period t,
𝑁1 𝑁1 𝑁1
Density K1 = = =
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑥 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑈𝑟1 𝑡
𝑁1
K1 = = 𝑁1 = K1𝑈𝑟1 𝑡
𝑈𝑟1 𝑡

But 𝑁1 = (U1 - Uw) K1 𝑡

Similarly, the speed of vehicles in the area with density K2 (section Q) relative to line W is given
as;
𝑈𝑟2 = U1 - Uw
N2 = 𝑈𝑟2 K1 𝑡
N2 = (U2 - Uw) K2 𝑡
Since the net change is zero (assuming no generation or dissipation)
𝑁1 = N2 = (U1 - Uw) K1 𝑡
= (U2 - Uw) K2 𝑡
= (U1 - Uw) K1 = (U2 - Uw) K2 (t cancels out)
U2 K2 - U1 K1 = - Uw K1 + Uw K2 = Uw (K2 - K1)………………………………………...(1)
If the flow rates in sections P and Q are q1 and q2 respectively, then,
 q1 = K1 U1 and q2 = K2 U2
substituting q1 and q2 for U1 K1 and K2 U2 in equation (1) gives:
𝑞2 −𝑞1
q2 - q1 = Uw (K2 - K1) Uw = ( )
𝐾2 −𝐾1

Fig 6.9 also shows a traffic conditions that exists at an approach of a signalized intersection
when the signal intersection when the signal indication is green then changes to red at the end of
the green phase and changes to green again at end of red phase. When the signal indication is
green, the flow is normal as shown in section 1.
When the signals change to red at time t1 two new conditions are formed immediately. Flow
from this approach is stopped creating section 2 immediately downstream of the stop-line with a
density of 0 and flow of 0, at the same time all vehicles immediately upstream on the stop-line at
stationary forming section 3 where the flow is 0 and density is the jam density, this results in the
formation of the frontal shockwave with velocity 󠆘Ꞷ23 and the backward forming shockwave with
the 󠆘velocity 󠆘Ꞷ13.
at the end of the red phase at time t2 when the signal indication changes to green again, the flow
rate at the stop light changes from 0 to the saturation flow rate. this is shown in section 4. this
results 󠆘in 󠆘the 󠆘forward 󠆘moving 󠆘shockwave 󠆘Ꞷ24. the que length at this time i.e at the end of the red
phase is represented by the line RM. Also at this time, the backward recovery shockwave with
velocity 󠆘Ꞷ34 is formed that releases the queue as it moves upstream of the stop line. the
intersection of the backward forming and backward recovery shockwaves at point T at a time t3
indicates the position where the queue is completely dissipated with maximum queue length
being represented by the line ST.
the backward forming and backward recovery shockwaves also terminates at time t3 and a new
forward 󠆘moving 󠆘shockwave 󠆘with 󠆘Ꞷ14 is formed. when the forward moving shockwave crosses
the stop line at time t4 the flow changes at the stop line at time t4 from the saturated flow rate to
the original flow rate from section 1 and this continues until time t5 when the signal turns to red
again.
The 󠆘shockwave 󠆘velocity 󠆘Ꞷ12 is given by the expression
𝑞2 −𝑞1
Ꞷ12 =
𝐾2 −𝐾1
𝑞1 −𝑞2
=
𝑘1 −𝑘2
𝑞1 −0 𝑞1
= = = U1
𝑘1 −0 𝑘1

shockwave velocity Ꞷ13 is given as:

𝑞1 −𝑞3 𝑞1 −0 𝑞1
Ꞷ13 = = =
𝑘1 −𝑘3 𝑘1 −𝑘𝑗 𝑘1 −𝑘𝑗

The shockwave velocity Ꞷ23 is given as;

𝑞2 −𝑞3 0−0 𝑞1
Ꞷ23 = = = =0
𝑘2 −𝑘3 𝑘1 −𝑘𝑗 0−𝑘𝑗

Of course this confirms that this wave is stationary!

The shockwave Ꞷ24 is given as;
 𝑞2 −𝑞4 0−𝑞4
Ꞷ24 = = = U4
𝑘2 −𝑘4 𝑘𝑗 −𝑘4

The shockwave velocity Ꞷ34 is given as;

𝑞3 −𝑞4 0−𝑞4 −𝑞4
Ꞷ34 = = =
𝑘3 −𝑘4 𝑘𝑗 −𝑘4 𝑘𝑗 −𝑘4

The length of the queue at the end of the red signal is given as;
Distance = time x velocity

= ɤ x Ꞷ13
ɤ 𝑥 𝑞1
=
𝑘1 −𝑘𝑗

Note that flow = density x space mean speed

i.e. q 󠆘= 󠆘kȖs
𝑞
= 󠆘Ȗs =
𝑘

Note that also time ɤ = the length of time for the red indication. (the hatched line)
(Ꞷ23)
Example
The southbound approach of the signalized intersection carries a flow of 1000 veh/h/ln at a
velocity of 50 mi/h. the duration of the red signal indication for this approach is 15sec. if the
saturation flow is 2000veh/h/ln with a density of 75 veh/ln, the jam density is 150veh/mi.
determine the following:
a) The length of the queue at the end of the red phase
b) The maximum queue length
c) The time it takes for the queue to dissipate after the end of the red phase