Ramp Metering

NCHRP Report 505 Harwood et al. developed a truck speed profile model (TSPM) implemented in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to anticipate when an added climbing lane might be warranted. This design tool computes the expected speed of a truck at each location of a site of interest.  Truck characteristics inputs: desired speed, and initial speed   Roadway characteristics inputs: vertical profile, and  elevation above sea level   

ITE Traffic Engineering Handbook The ITE Traffic Engineering Handbook (2009) provides maximum acceleration rates of tractor-semitrailer trucks on level grade from a stopped position to merging speeds of 10-50 mi/h, in 10 mi/h increments, at various initial speeds. As shown below, for a given initial speed, acceleration rates decrease with increase of merging speeds.

SwashSim Research Papers References