Methodology to develop a driving cycle for a given mode and traffic corridor; case study for Galle Road, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract

A driving cycle is a speed time profile which represents the driving characteristics of a selected area. This can be of use to both legislative and non legislative purposes such as development of emission inventory, determination of fuel consumption etc. As driving cycles are dependent on the traffic constituents, driver behaviour and road conditions established driving cycles cannot be used in Sri Lanka. Hence the objective of this research is to develop a methodology and to constructa driving cycle(s) which represent given set of conditions in Sri Lanka such that it can be use to establish emission inventory in future. To achieve these objectives, it is necessary to collect and analyse the on road speed-time data on selected routes which will represent the driving patterns of urban or rural conditions. Due to the restriction of time and resources, study was limited to one transport corridor, anurban condition and for light vehicles only. A sample driving cycle was developed based on the data collected on the Galle Road, section from Katubedda to Fort using on board method. Cycle was developed using micro trip based cycle construction and computer application was developed to aid this purpose. In this study we observed average speed 21.37km/h, average running speed 25.78km/h, average acceleration 2.03km/h/s and average deceleration 2.02km/h/s with acceleration, deceleration, cruising and idling proportions of 27.37%, 23.70%, 31.43.6 and 17.49% respectively for selected urban condition. This study would facilitate the further studies on development of driving cycles for other conditions and could be of use for traffic engineering studies development.