CE 350-09 Transportation Engineering

Lab 6 – Saturation Flow Rate

Purpose - This lab is introduces the concepts of traffic flow that contribute to traffic signal
capacity. It is intended to provide an estimate of the saturation flow rate (maximum possible
flow), based upon vehicles departing a traffic signal.

Definition of Traffic Signal “Lost Time” – Drivers lose time decelerating and accelerating
related to red indications on traffic signals. During this lab students will estimate the lost time
for all vehicles in a queue, as they accelerate away from a traffic signal.

Definition of “Saturation Flow Rate” – This is maximum number of vehicles per hour per lane
when flow is saturated. It is estimated by determining the Saturation Headway, which is the time
headway (seconds) between vehicles during saturated flow.

Location – The lab will be conducted in the Traffic Management Center/Intelligent

Transportation Systems (TMC/ITS) Lab in room 2025 Shelby Hall.

Study Teams – This lab exercise will be conducted by the same three-person teams as used for
Lab 5. Report on your assigned lab day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday) at 2:00pm.

Lab Procedure – An intersection will be identified for the study. Your team will be assigned to
observe either through vehicles or left-turning vehicles. For each cycle, when the signal turns
green, record the time that each vehicle in the waiting queue passes over a fixed spot on the
pavement. Also record circumstances affecting the flow rate (lane widths, heavy vehicles,
emergencies, erratic maneuvers, Grandmother Good driver, etc.).

Data Collection – Once you begin collecting data, it is important to take data for enough
vehicles to achieve statistical reliability (i.e., a large enough sample size that you can estimate
the mean and variance with a controlled degree of confidence). Measure at least 10-15 signal
cycles, and measure all the vehicles per cycle that appear to be part of saturated flow.

Deliverable – Your client, Dr. Dan Turner of the Department of Civil, Construction and
Environmental Engineering, needs this data to calibrate a simulation model of McFarland
Boulevard. He requested that you provide (1) an estimate of the saturation flow rate, and (2) an
estimate of start-up lost time for the signal phase that you observed.

Format – This lab report requires a cover letter to your client, a report, appendices to the report,
and an invoice.

Due Date – Your lab report is due at the beginning of your next lab session.
Theory and Hints – Saturation Headway (h): the average headway that can be achieved by a
saturated, stable moving queue of vehicles passing through the signal [sec/veh]

Saturation Flow Rate (s): the flow rate in vehicles/hour that the lane group can carry of has the
traffic signal has green indication continuously [veh/hr/lane]

Example:

1) Raw Data

TABLE 1: Raw Data For CE 350 Saturation Flow Lab

Time Between Vehicles (s)
Car Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 Cycle 4 Cycle 5 Average
1 3.9 4.3 4.1 4.6 3.4 4.1
2 3.6 3.2 3.6 4.0 2.6 3.4
3 3.1 2.9 2.8 3.6 2.4 3.0
4 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.0 2.4
5 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.2
6 2.3 2.1 2.4 2.1 2.1 2.2
7 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.0
8 2.1 2.0 2.2 1.9 2.1 2.1
9 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0
10 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.8 1.9 1.9

2) Find Saturation Headway – Using the average headways, determine saturation headway by
statistics (regression) or plotting the average values.

3) Plotting Saturation Headway and Lost Time

On the example diagram below (Figure 1):

• Black bars are average headway (seconds), for the 1st vehicle in the platoon, 2nd vehicle,
3rd vehicle, etc. These values come from the last column in the raw data table.
• If you collect data from enough cycles during the steady flow period, the average
headways approach a uniform level. That level is the saturation headway (seconds).
• Draw a horizontal line for the saturation headway.
• The thick blue dashed line is an equation that fits the black bars. In other words it is the
equation for the average headway for any vehicle in a platoon at the signal, based upon
its position in the queue.
 Figure 1: Data Plot Used to Find Saturation Flow and Lost Time

Lost time = difference in the

saturation headway and the
actual headway

Saturation Headway

4) How to plot your own diagram

(a) Plot the average headway for each vehicle in the queue. Where the line eventually levels off
(or approximately levels off), that is the minimum or saturation headway. Draw a level line there
(like the red dashed line).

(b) For each average vehicle in the platoon, the difference in the actual headway and saturation
headway is the lost time for that vehicle. The sum of these measurements for all vehicles is the
lost time for that phase.

5) Calculate Saturation Headway and Saturation Flow

For this example, saturation headway (h) = 2.1 sec/veh

/lane

For the first few vehicles, the average headway is higher than the saturation headway. The first
three or four vehicles involve additional time as drivers need time to react to the green signal and
accelerate. When the signal turns green signal, the first vehicles begin accelerating but they do it
with differing timing and speeds. As more vehicles cross through the intersection, flow becomes
steady.
6) Calculate Lost Time

the additional time involved in each of these initial headways (longer than ‘h’ seconds)
Start-up lost time: the sum of the additional time involved in each of the initial headways

For the above example,