A System Dynamics Simulation to Estimate  Roundabout Entry Capacity by Adopting Three  Different Methods

Raquim N. Zehawi; Qusay W. Ahmed

doi:10.24237/djes.2018.11406

Authors

Raquim N. Zehawi
raquim_zehawi@yahoo.com
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Diyala, Iraq
Qusay W. Ahmed Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Diyala, Iraq

Keywords:

Roundabout, System Dynamics, Capacity, Traffic Simulation

Abstract

Many models were introduced to estimate the roundabout entry capacity from 1980s until now. In the United States, transportation agencies adopted three different models from 1994 until 2010. The Austroads, the UK, and the HCM 2010 methods. In this paper, these three methods were used to analyze the field traffic data of Al-Quds roundabout, located near Baqubah City, simultaneously by utilizing a system dynamics model. The collected data included turning movements, circulating flows, and field calculated entry capacities whenever possible during the observation period which lasted for 14 consecutive hours. A comparison is then conducted on the resulting entry capacities and their variation over time. The results showed that the calculated capacity according to Austroads method is the highest at all times while the UK method was always a little lower and the HCM 2010 method was always the least on all entries. The UK method capacity estimates were the closest to the field measured capacities for they returned the least RMSE on all entries. Field capacities showed some tendency towards the Austroads results in the north and south bound entries which carry about 66% of the total traffic. While, field capacities showed more proximity towards the HCM capacity results in the east and the west bound entries which carry 34% of the total traffic.

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