A Heuristic Method for Identifying Near-Optimal Defending Strategies for a Road Network Subject to Traffic Congestion

Mengyao Gao, Bo Zhang, Vicki M. Bier () and Tao Yao
Additional contact information
Mengyao Gao: Pennsylvania State University
Bo Zhang: IBM Research-china
Vicki M. Bier: University of Wisconsin
Tao Yao: Pennsylvania State University

A chapter in Game Theoretic Analysis of Congestion, Safety and Security, 2015, pp 143-158 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In this study we investigate the vulnerability of road networks to interdictions. We consider that an intentional attacker wants to maximize the congestion level on the network by interdicting some links of the network. The drivers are assumed to be selfish and always choose the route that minimizes the individual travel cost. In this case, network traffic flow follows user equilibrium (UE) traffic assignment, which however is affected by the interdiction initiated by the attacker. In this problem, the role of the defender is to minimize the damage that can be caused by an attack. A heuristic method is developed to solve for near-optimal attack (interdiction) and defense strategies, the effectiveness of which is demonstrated by simulation results. Numerical experiments are conducted to examine factors that influence the application of this method. Specifically, we compare the efficiency of this method when applied to different Cartesian grid-like networks. Managerial insights into the vulnerability and defense of road networks are drawn from the analysis.

Keywords: Travel Time; Road Network; Traffic Flow; Cartesian Grid; User Equilibrium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ssrchp:978-3-319-11674-7_6

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783319116747

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-11674-7_6

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Series in Reliability Engineering from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().