Estimation of PCU Using Artificial Neural

Network Technique and Capacity Analysis on

Mr. Mohshin Khan 103116045

Guided by
Dr. S. Moses Santhakumar, Professor, NIT Trichy

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INTRODUCTION

❖ Estimation of Passenger Car Unit (PCU) value is important for traffic capacity analysis and other
relevant applications such as measurement of the Level of Service (LoS) and the development of
macroscopic and microscopic traffic flow models.

❖ In developing countries like India, a higher degree of heterogeneity in traffic can be seen because of
the plying of various categories of vehicles on the same carriageway. Also, the traffic flow
characteristics in developing countries are quite different from those in developed countries.

❖ Since, traffic flow is influenced by the traffic proportion and type of vehicles in the mixed traffic
stream therefore, PCU values are usually assigned to different categories of vehicles in order to
normalize the traffic flow to a common base of Passenger Car Units per hour (PCU/hr).

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❖ Study of several microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of highway traffic is essentially
required for design and maneuverability of roadway facilities.

❖ For an efficient and increased vehicular traffic, better roadway infrastructure is required to handle
higher capacity. Thus for effective traffic operations there is a need to find the traffic volume and
estimate roadway capacity.

❖ Capacity of highway is defined as the number of vehicles passing through a certain section of the
highway in a specified time interval under the prevailing roadway and traffic conditions(HCM 2010).

❖ The capacity estimation of roads is done by using various traditional models as well as by
developing microscopic simulation models. This research work mainly focuses on the comparative
study of methods used for estimation of PCU and Capacity.

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OBJECTIVES

❖ To estimate the Passenger Car Unit (PCU) values of the vehicles using Artificial Neural
Network (ANN) technique.

❖ To analyse the capacity of the multilane divided intercity highway using the data
recorded by Transportable Infra-Red Traffic Logger (TIRTL).

❖ To compare the estimated PCU values and capacity values with the values
recommended in Indian Highway Capacity Manual (Indo-HCM): 2017 and Indian Road
Congress (IRC)- 64: 1990.

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THE TRANSPORTABLE INFRA-RED TRAFFIC LOGGER (TIRTL)

❖ New technological device like the transportable infrared traffic logger (TIRTL), which is an automated Infra-Red (IR)
sensor-based device which is capable of recording traffic parameters like lane-based classified volume count, speed,
headway, spacing, gap, clearance, etc.

❖ TIRTL consists of a transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) which is connected to 12 Volts DC powered batteries externally.

❖ The transmitter is the source of infra-red beams used to detect the traffic whereas the receiver detects disturbances in the
infra-red beams caused by the wheels of passing vehicles.

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❖ The infrared beam transmission between the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) of the TIRTL.

❖ The TIRTL device uses intelligent software to analyse the timings of the light pulses to record various vehicle
parameters like length, width, time-stamp, speed, headway, etc.

❖ It is also capable of recording the lane-based vehicle classification. This is recorded in the .csv format as
output file.

❖ The setup of the TIRTL instrument across the intercity highway is shown in the below figure.

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 Literature Survey
Sl No. Authors (Year) Critical Findings
1 Chandra and Sinha They incorporated the dynamic characteristics of a vehicle in determining the PCU
(2001) value of a vehicle. To determine PCU values, they used the ratio of clearing speed
and to the space area ratio.

2 Al-Kaisy et al. (2005) Al-Kaisy et al. (2005) considered Queue Discharge Flow (QDF) capacity as the
equivalency criterion in developing the PCE factors and concluded that the PCU is
influenced by these variables due to the higher proportion in the traffic stream.

3 Dhamaniya and Chandra They proposed a methodology to convert heterogeneous traffic volume in vehicle
(2013) per hour to homogeneous PCU per hour without determining PCU factors for
individual vehicles type by using the stream equivalency factors.

4 Mehar et al.(2014) They developed Passenger Car Unit at different Level of services for capacity analysis
of multilane interurban highways.

5 Al-zerjawi (2016) Proposed PCU as the ratio of density of passenger cars to density of trucks to
determine the PCUs for trucks and estimated the free-flow speeds on the multilane
highways.

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ESTIMATION OF CAPACITY

❖ Traffic data is extracted to obtain 5-minute speed data and traffic flow data for each vehicles category

❖ Speed data obtained for every 5-minute count interval are converted to average speed for each vehicles in
traffic stream to obtain average spot speed and stream speed for each vehicle category.

❖ The observed traffic volume is altered in an identical numeral of vehicles by use of passenger car unit.

❖ Dynamic PCU value is to convert the heterogeneous traffic stream into homogeneous flow stream.

❖ Greenshield’s Linear Model (GLM) is applied to estimate the Capacity where the PCU values are determined.

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In Greenshield’s Linear Model,

❖ The speed–density relation is a straight line, having maximum speed when traffic flow is low and zero speed when vehicles are
in jam condition.

❖ The speed volume relationship is parabolic having maximum volume at a density equal to half the jam density. The
relationship between speed, flow and density is given by

𝑢 = 𝑢𝑓− [𝑢𝑓]∗𝑘
𝑘j
Where,
𝑢 𝑖𝑠 the mean speed at density is 𝑘
𝑢𝑓 is the free flow-flow speed
𝑘𝑗 is jam density.
We Know that, q = k ∗ u
Where,
q is the traffic flow in PCU/hr
k is the density in PCU/Km
u is the space mean speed (SMS) in Km/hr

Capacity ,(𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥) = 𝑢𝑓∗𝑘𝑗

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REFERENCES
1. Al-Kaisy, A., Y. Jung, and H. Rakha. Developing Passenger Car Equivalency Factors for Heavy Vehicles during Congestion. Journal of Transportation
Engineering, 2005. 131: 514–523.

2. Al-Zerjawi, A. K. R. Estimation of Free Flow Speeds and Passenger Car Equivalent Factors for Multilane Highways. International Journal of Scientific &
Engineering Research, 2016. 7: 721–727.

3. Chandra,S., and Sinha, S. Effect of Directional Split and Slow-moving Vehicles on Two Lane Capacity. Journal of Road & Transport Research, 2001. 10
No:4.

4. Chandra, S. Capacity estimation procedure for two lane roads under mixed traffic conditions. Journal of Indian Road Congress, 2004. 165, 139-170.

5. Dhamaniya, A., and S. Chandra. Concept of Stream Equivalency Factor for Heterogeneous Traffic on Urban Arterial Roads. Journal of Transportation
Engineering, 2013. 139: 1117–1123. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)te.1943-5436.0000581.

6. Dhamaniya, A., Chandra, S. Mid block capacity of urban arterial roads in India. Indian Highways, 2014. 42, 39-51.

7. Greenshields, B.D. A Study in Highway Capacity, Highway research Board, Proceedings, 1935. 14: 448-477.

8. Indian Roads Congress. 1990. Guidelines for Capacity of Roads in Rural Areas. IRC-64, The Indian Roads Congress, Jamnagar House, Shahjahan Road,
New Delhi, India.

9. Indian Highway Capacity Manual (Indo-HCM), (2017), Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, India.

10. Mehar, A., Chandra, S., Velmurugan, S. Passenger Car Units at Different Levels of Service for Capacity Analysis of Multilane Interurban Highways in
India, Journal of transportation engineering, ASCE, 2014.140:81-88.

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 Thank
You…

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