Lagrangian-Space Based Travel Time Estimation Model for Non-Pipeline Corridor

The convenience of vehicle traffic flow models provides flexibility in conducting traffic state estimation based on data collected from moving sensors. In this paper, we propose a Lagrangian-space based travel time estimation model for the non-pipeline corridor. The model improves a previous presented travel time transition model (TTM) into non-pipeline cases by numerically implementing its source term. A numerical experiment based on a simulation model of Nanbei Expressway in Shanghai, China is used to evaluate the approach. The proposed model can track traffic breakdowns and recovery effectively. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the proposed estimator is 6.75%. The estimation error is caused by the fluctuation of mainline traffic flow. Furthermore, the ramp flow term that numerically implements the analytic source term needs to be rescaled using a coefficient to reduce its impact on numerical error.