Steady-state traffic flow on a ring road with up- and down-slopes

Chun-Xiu Wu, Peng Zhang, S.C. Wong and Keechoo Choi

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2014, vol. 403, issue C, 85-93

Abstract: Steady-state traffic flow on a ring road with up- and down-slopes is investigated using a semi-discrete model. By exploiting the relations between the semi-discrete and continuum models, a steady-state solution is uniquely determined for a given total number of vehicles on a ring road. The solution is exact and always stable with respect to the first-order continuum model, whereas it is a good approximation with respect to the semi-discrete model provided that the involved equilibrium constant states are linearly stable. In other cases, the instability of one or more equilibria could trigger stop-and-go waves propagating in certain sections of road or throughout the ring road. The indicated results are reasonable and thus physically significant for better understanding of real-world traffic flow on inhomogeneous roads, such as those with junctions or bottlenecks.

Keywords: Semi-discrete model; Inhomogeneous road conditions; Discontinuous fluxes; Bottleneck; Instability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:403:y:2014:i:c:p:85-93

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2014.02.016

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