This report presents the results of the literature review conducted within the project "Modelling of traffic flow and driver behaviour in congestion (for the analysis of Automated Driver Assistance Systems)". The review covers the research into traffic flow behaviour whereas the driver behaviour is studied separately. The aim of the project is to develop an insight into the mechanisms of individual and collective driving behaviour in congested conditions, and to apply this knowledge to traffic consisting of a mixture of manually and (semi) automatically controlled vehicles. It is shown how traffic can be described at different levels of detail. Empirical observations on each of these levels help to understand the processes during congestion. This has lead to theories describing capacity drop, traffic hysteresis, perturbation wave propagation and different regimes of congested traffic flow. Since the 1950's several authors have proposed models that capture these phenomena. Microscopic models describe the dynamics of a vehicle-driver unit, while macroscopic models describe traffic flow dynamics at an aggregate level. Mesoscopic models can be seen as an intermediate model type that combines microscopic insight to derive a macroscopic model formulation based on gas-kinetic principles. From the literature survey some conclusions are drawn about knowledge gaps that need to be filled in the continuation of this project. Further work will include data analysis and the development of an empirical theory, a more detailed analysis of existing (mesoscopic) models describing congestion, model development and the implementation in this model of vehicle control. (A)
Samenvatting