Traffic Platoon Dispersion Modeling

The objective of this work is to present the current state of the art in modeling the dispersion of traffic platoons, to present a new mechanism suggested by current models, and to test that mechanism with detailed field data for at least one site. A field study using video data collection is described. Travel time distributions from the field study are compared with the same from the microscopic TEXAS Model for Intersection Traffic; statistical similarity is shown; and the use of this model to simulate data is validated for this site. A mechanism based on Diffusion Theory and suggested by the Recurrence Model is presented and applied using empirical support from field data. This mechanism is shown to provide accurate platoon dispersion modeling for this site. A comparison with the Diffusion Model shows nearly exactly similar results and a comparison with the Recurrence Model shows improved results. Suggestions are made for future work in this area.