Traffic Flow Pattern Based Approach to Predict Real Driving Emission Test Routes

Due to the poor representation of NEDC emission test, the European Commission put into the force a new procedure, which contains both a laboratory test and a real word driving test. In this new test procedure, even though WLTC replaces NEDC, it is required to test the vehicle under real traffic conditions, which contains urban, rural and highway segments. Due to the new emission regulation, considerable number of academic work focus on the creation of RDE (Real Driving Emission) routes and RDE tests. In this study, it is introduced a new methodology for creating potential RDE routes. The routes, created in MATLAB code by using Istanbul road data containing a half an hour average trip records were used to predict a probable RDE test road. This model creates a number of RDE routes starting from defined coordinates and then analyses all alternative routes with respect to traffic flow rate and RDE boundary conditions identified by the European Commission. The routes obtained using the methodology developed are tested in real life conditions and evaluated according to actual existing traffic conditions. The agreement between the results of the method and the results of the actual driving test is limited in urban road section. However, for rural and highway road sections, there is a significant agreement between the predictions and actual test results.