A Novel Speed–Density Relationship Model Based on the Energy Conservation Concept

This paper makes a basic assumption that energy conservation exists, between psychological potential and a vehicle's kinetic energy, in the driver's psychological field based on the driver's mental activities. A virtual spring is used to describe the storage and release of psychological potential energy. Under the aforementioned conditions, we established a macroscopic traffic flow model with conservation law. Each parameter in the new model is physically meaningful and explicit. Additionally, the model can fit field data consistently well, both in free-flow and congested situations. The results of this paper prove the rationality of the energy conservation concept in traffic flow, which improves the understanding of traffic flow and provides a new theoretical foundation.