From experiments to hydrodynamic traffic flow models: I—modelling and parameter identification

This paper deals with the design and parameter identification of hydrodynamic models based on the mass density conservation equation properly closed by suitable relations linking mass velocity to the local density profiles. The contents are proposed in three parts. First, various experimental data are phenomenologically interpreted and constrained into suitable analytic models. Then the above models are used to close the conservation equation for mass density thus obtaining an evolution equation for the local density and mass velocity. Finally, the proposed models are critically analyzed toward further developments and improvements.