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| Author(s): |
Marcia Lika Mon Ma
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2008-05-07 |
| Examining board members: |
Jose Reynaldo Anselmo Setti;
André Carlos Ponce de Leon Ferreira de Carvalho;
Helena Beatriz Bettella Cybis;
Felipe Issa Kabbach Junior;
Manoel Henrique Alba Soria
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| Advisor: | Jose Reynaldo Anselmo Setti |
| Abstract | |
The objective of this thesis was to adapt Highway Capacity Manual 2000 level of service analysis procedure for two-lane highways with passing lanes for the typical traffic conditions found in the state of the São Paulo. Similarly to the HCM-2000, the parameter values were obtained using the TWOPAS simulation model, which was previously calibrated through a genetic algorithm. The calibrated TWOPAS was validated to assure a realistic representation of the traffic flow characteristics observed at São Paulo highways by the model. The TWOPAS calibration was carried out with average travel speed and percent of vehicles in platoon data collected in 10 segments (with and without auxiliary lanes) which were deemed representative of typical \"paulista\" two-lane highways. Truck characteristics were obtained from several truck scales and complemented with data from manufacturer catalogues and trade magazines. Calibration results show that the genetic algorithm was able to reduce the model absolute mean error from 15.2% to 9.7%. An independent data set was used for model validation: the differences between simulated and observed values found at the validation stage closely match the errors found in the HCM-2000 development. Using the calibrated version of TWOPAS, the fundamental traffic relationship for the two-lane highways in São Paulo was obtained and new values for the parameter used by HCM procedure was obtained through controlled simulation experiments. A comparison between level of service estimates and observed service levels in the five segments with auxiliary lanes was carried out using the original and proposed adaptation of HCM procedure. The results show that the parameter values proposed in this study provide more accurate estimates than the original parameter values given in the HCM-2000. (AU) | |