Jorge Laval

Associate Professor

Traffic flow theory, numerical solution methods and simulation of traffic flow models, queuing theory in transportation and dynamic congestion pricing.

Link to personal website: http://trafficlab.ce.gatech.edu/

Bio

Dr. Laval is an Assistant Professor at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Laval obtained his B.S. in Civil and Industrial Engineering from Uiversidad Catolica de Chile (1995), his M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (2001), and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (2004).

Prior to joining Georgia Tech doctor Laval held two consecutive Postdoc positions at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley, and at the French National Institute for Safety and Transportation Research (INRETS). After obtaining his B.S. he worked as a transportation engineer for five years at the Chilean Ministry of Public Works, where he conducted numerous traffic and revenue studies for urban and inter-urban road concessions. Dr. Laval serves on the editorial board Transportation Research Part B.

Recent Publications

  • Laval, J. A., Chilukuri, B. R., Guin, A., and Ben Amer, K. Effects of Weather, Truck Percentages, and Location on the Wave Speed on Congested Freeways. Submitted to ITE Journal, 2009.
  • Chilukuri, B. R and Laval, J. A. Traffic Signal Volume Warrants - A Delay Perspective. Submitted to ASCE, 2009.
  • J A Laval. Hysteresis in traffic flow revisited: an improved measurement method. Forthcoming in Transportation Research Part B, 2010. DOI information: 10.1016/j.trb.2010.07.006
  • Yin, Y., Lou, Y. and Laval, J. A. Optimal Dynamic Pricing Strategies for High-Occupancy/Toll Lanes. Forthcoming in Transportation Research Part C, 2010.
  • Laval, J. A. and Leclercq, L. Mechanism to describe stop-and-go waves: A mechanism to describe the formation and propagation of stop-and-go waves in congested freeway traffic. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A. October 13, 2010 368:4519-4541; doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0138
  • Ahn, S., J. A. Laval and Cassidy, M. Merging and Diverging Effects on Freeway Traffic Oscillations: Theory and Observation. Forthcoming in Transportation Research Record, 2010.
  • Laval, J. A. and Leclercq, L. Continuum Approximation for Congestion Dynamics Along Freeway Corridors. Transportation Science 44: 87 - 97, 2010.
  • Laval, J. A., Chen, D., Ben Amer, K., Guin, A and Ahn, S. Evolution of Oscillations in Congested Traffic: Improved Estimation Method and Additional Empirical Evidences. Transportation Research Record 2124:194-202, 2009.
  • J. A. Laval. Effects of Geometric Design on Freeway Capacity: Impacts of Truck Lane Restrictions. Transportation Research Part B, 43 (6): 720-728, 2009.
  • J A Laval. Graphical Solution and Continuum Approximation for the Single Destination Dynamic User Equilibrium Problem. Transportation Research Part B, 43 (1): 108-118, 2009.
  • J A Laval and L Leclercq. Microscopic modeling of the relaxation phenomenon using a macroscopic lane-changing model. Transportation Research Part B, 42 (6):511-522, 2008.

Recent Presentations

  • A theory on the formation of oscillations in congested traffic. Dynamics Days Europe conference, Sep. 2010.
  • Recent Advances in Traffic Flow Theory. IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems and Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, Dec. 2009.
  • A theory on the formation and propagation of stop-and-go waves in congested freeway traffic. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California at Berkeley, Sept. 2009.
  • The hysteresis in Traffic Flow revisited: new evidence and impact of measurement methods. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, April 2009.