The effects of accelerating lane in the on-ramp system

Usually there is an accelerating lane as an on-ramp merges with the main road. How the length of this section and the traffic regulations influence the traffic behaviors has seldom been investigated. In this paper, we study this issue using the cellular automata traffic flow model. We find that (i) the permission of lane changing from main road to the accelerating lane will deteriorate the capacity of the road, hence it should be forbidden; (ii) when lane changing from main road to accelerating lane is forbidden, the introduction of an accelerating lane can improve the capacity of the on-ramp system.     

城市快速路系统的元胞自动机模型与分析

使用元胞自动机模型研究包含出入匝、主路和辅路的城市快速路系统的交通问题,为不同类型的路段定义了三种不同的换道规则.模拟结果表明,高入匝流量容易导致主路、匝道及其上游出现拥堵,高出匝流量容易使匝道出口车流与辅路内侧道车流发生冲突.入匝流量比较高时,主辅路为双车道的系统可以延缓交通拥堵和减少通行时间;当入匝流量较低时,双车道改善了单车道下辅路的通行状况. 关键词： 交通流 元胞自动机 换道规则 匝道     

Modeling U-turn traffic flow

Median U-turns are sometimes installed to improve the traffic flow at busy intersections by eliminating left turns. Using a microscopic traffic model, we confirmed the presence of transitions from free flow to congested flow with increasing car inflow density. In addition, our proposed rules inside a U-turn curve, which accounted for safety issues and an asymmetric lane changing behavior (outer-to-inner vs. inner-to-outer lane transitions), predicted the speed distribution of cars after the U-turn curve. We found that U-turn curves installed for improving traffic flow at busy intersections produced their desired effects only when there is minimal interaction between cars.     

Effect of road structure on the capacity of a signalized road intersection

In this paper, we use the stochastic Nagel--Schreckenberg (NaSch) model to investigate the influence of a special right-turning lane connecting two main roads on the capacity of a signalized road intersection. It is found that the magnitude of right-turning traffic flow and the linking position of the special right-turning lane can greatly influence the capacity of the signalized road intersection. The relation between traffic flow and entering probability for different distances between the entrance (exit) of the special right-turning lane and the road intersection is simulated and analysed. The corresponding spatiotemporal pattern and phase diagram on different sections of the main road are given under the condition of close proximity to the signalized road intersection, stop-and-go traffic occur and obstruct the intersection. On the contrary, unchanged flux is maintained as the distance exceeds a critical values. All the studies indicate that setting a special right-turning lane by choosing a suitable location near a signalized road intersection can relieve the load of current traffic on the main road and maintain traffic flow.     

A new lattice model of traffic flow with the anticipation effect of potential lane changing

A new lattice model of traffic flow is presented by taking into account the anticipation of potential lane changing on front site on single lane. The stability condition of the extended model is obtained by using the linear stability theory. The modified KdV equation near the critical point is constructed and solved through nonlinear analysis. And the phase space of traffic flow in the density-sensitivity space could be divided into three regions: stable, metastable and unstable ones, respectively. Numerical simulation also shows that the consideration of lane changing probability in lattice model can stabilize traffic flow, which implies that the new consideration has an important effect on traffic flow in lattice models.     

Traffic states and jamming transitions induced by a bus in two-lane traffic flow

We study the traffic states and jamming transitions induced by a bus (slow car) in a two-lane traffic of cars. We use the dynamic model which is an extended one of the optimal velocity model to take into account the lane changing. The fundamental (flow-density) diagram is presented. The fundamental diagram changes highly by introducing a bus on a two-lane roadway. It is found that there are the six distinct states for the two-lane traffic flow including a bus. The spatio-temporal patterns are presented for the distinct traffic states. The dynamical state of traffic changes with density of cars. It is shown that the dynamical transitions among the distinct traffic states occur at some values of density. The phase diagram (region map) is shown for the two-lane traffic flow including a bus.     

Influence of lateral discomfort on the stability of traffic flow based on visual angle car-following model

Due to the poor road markings and irregular driving behaviors, not every vehicle is positioned in the center of the lane. The deviation from the center can cause discomfort to drivers in the neighboring lane, which is referred to as lateral discomfort (or lateral friction). Such lateral discomfort can be incorporated into the driver stimulus–response framework by considering the visual angle and its changing rate from the psychological viewpoint. In this study, a two-lane visual angle based car-following model is proposed and its stability condition is obtained through linear stability theory. Further derivations indicate that the neutral stability line of the model is asymmetry and four factors including the vehicle width and length, the lateral separation and the sensitivity regarding the changing rate of visual angle have large impacts on the stability of traffic flow. Numerical simulations further verify these theoretical results, and demonstrate that the behaviors of diverging, merging and lane changing can break the original steady state and cause traffic fluctuations. However, these fluctuations may be alleviated to some extent by reducing the lateral discomfort.     

A viscous continuum traffic flow model with consideration of the coupling effect for two-lane freeways

In this paper, the viscous continuum traffic flow model for a single lane is extended to the traffic flow for two-lane freeways. The proposed model is a higher-order continuum model considering the coupling and lane changing effects of the vehicles on two adjacent lanes. It results from integrating the Taylor series expansion of the viscous continuum traffic flow model proposed by Ge (2006 Physica A 371 667) into the multi-lane model presented by Daganzo (1997 Transpn. Res. B 31 83). Our proposed model may be used to describe non-anisotropic behaviour because of lane changing in multi-lane traffic. A linear stability analysis is given and the neutral stability condition is obtained. Also, issues related to lane changing, shock waves and rarefaction waves, local clustering and phase transition are investigated through a simulation experiment. The simulation results show that the proposed model is capable of explaining some particular traffic phenomena commonly observable in real world traffic flow.     

两车道交通流耦合格子模型与数值仿真

考虑两车道耦合效应的影响和换道效应,提出了改进的两车道交通流耦合格子模型.同时,改进了换道时的流量转移率,这样更符合实际交通情况.通过线性稳定性分析,得到了改进模型的稳定性条件.数值模拟结果也表明,模型通过考虑耦合作用信息,更好地再现了换道情况,同时也表明两车道间的耦合效应对两车道交通流存在不可忽视的影响.     

匝道系统减速车道对高速公路交通流的影响

主要研究匝道系统减速车道对高速公路交通流的影响.在开放边界条件下,以NaSch模型为基础,建立了含减速车道的出口匝道系统双车道元胞自动机交通流模型.通过计算机数值模拟,得出不同参数控制下的密度、速度、流量和车辆产生概率关系图像,并与不设减速车道的匝道系统进行比较. 关键词： 元胞自动机 匝道 减速车道 NaSch模型     

An Integrated Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Model for Studying Significant Factors Associated with Frequent Lane Changing

Frequent lane changes cause serious traffic safety concerns, which involve fatalities and serious injuries. This phenomenon is affected by several significant factors related to road safety. The detection and classification of significant factors affecting lane changing could help reduce frequent lane changing risk. The principal objective of this research is to estimate and prioritize the nominated crucial criteria and sub-criteria based on participants’ answers on a designated questionnaire survey. In doing so, this paper constructs a hierarchical lane-change model based on the concept of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with two levels of the most concerning attributes. Accordingly, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) procedure was applied utilizing fuzzy scale to evaluate precisely the most influential factors affecting lane changing, which will decrease uncertainty in the evaluation process. Based on the final measured weights for level 1, FAHP model estimation results revealed that the most influential variable affecting lane-changing is ‘traffic characteristics’. In contrast, compared to other specified factors, ‘light conditions’ was found to be the least critical factor related to driver lane-change maneuvers. For level 2, the FAHP model results showed ‘traffic volume’ as the most critical factor influencing the lane changes operations, followed by ‘speed’. The objectivity of the model was supported by sensitivity analyses that examined a range for weights’ values and those corresponding to alternative values. Based on the evaluated results, stakeholders can determine strategic policy by considering and placing more emphasis on the highlighted risk factors associated with lane changing to improve road safety. In conclusion, the finding provides the usefulness of the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to review lane-changing risks for road safety.     

Vehicular motion in counter traffic flow through a series of signals controlled by a phase shift

We study the dynamical behavior of counter traffic flow through a sequence of signals (traffic lights) controlled by a phase shift. There are two lanes for the counter traffic flow: the first lane is for east-bound vehicles and the second lane is for west-bound vehicles. The green-wave strategy is studied in the counter traffic flow where the phase shift of signals in the second lane has opposite sign to that in the first lane. A nonlinear dynamic model of the vehicular motion is presented by nonlinear maps at a low density. There is a distinct difference between the traffic flow in the first lane and that in the second lane. The counter traffic flow exhibits very complex behavior on varying the cycle time, the phase difference, and the split. Also, the fundamental diagram is derived by the use of the cellular automaton (CA) model. The dependence of east-bound and west-bound vehicles on cycle time, phase difference, and density is clarified.     

Effect of driver over-acceleration on traffic breakdown in three-phase cellular automaton traffic flow models

Based on simulations with cellular automaton (CA) traffic flow models, a generic physical feature of the three-phase models studied in the paper is disclosed. The generic feature is a discontinuous character of driver over-acceleration caused by a combination of two qualitatively different mechanisms of over-acceleration: (i) Over-acceleration through lane changing to a faster lane, (ii) over-acceleration occurring in car-following without lane changing. Based on this generic feature a new three-phase CA traffic flow model is developed. This CA model explains the set of the fundamental empirical features of traffic breakdown in real heterogeneous traffic flow consisting of passenger vehicles and trucks. The model simulates also quantitative traffic pattern characteristics as measured in real heterogeneous flow.     

有应急车辆影响的多车道交通流元胞自动机模型

在分析应急车辆对城市道路交通流影响的基础上, 引入让行状态参数、警笛影响区域和强制换道安全距离等特征变量, 修改换道规则, 建立了多车道元胞自动机模型, 并进行数值模拟. 结果表明, 车道数量和混合车辆比例系数在低密度范围内影响车辆速度及换道次数, 警笛影响区域参数改变了一定范围内车辆的换道次数, 应急车辆强制换道安全距离参数主要影响应急车辆的速度及换道次数.研究发现, 应急车辆对低密度交通流的扰动现象明显, 其与社会车辆相互作用参数的设置使得交通流元胞自动机模型更接近应急条件下实际交通运行. 关键词： 交通流 元胞自动机 应急车辆     

Traffic flow velocity disturbance characteristics and control strategy at the bottleneck of expressway

In the three-phase traffic flow studies, the traffic flow characteristic at the bottleneck section is a hot spot in the academic field. The controversy about the characteristics of the synchronized flow at bottleneck is also the main contradiction between the three-phase traffic flow theory and the traditional traffic flow theory. Under the framework of three-phase traffic flow theory, this paper takes the on-ramp as an example to discuss the traffic flow characteristics at the bottleneck section.In particular, this paper mainly conducts the micro-analysis to the effect of lane change under the two lane conditions, as well as the effect of the on-ramp on the main line traffic flow. It is found that when the main road flow is low, the greater the on-ramp inflow rate, the higher the average speed of the whole road section. As the probability of vehicles entering from the on-ramp increases, the flow and the average speed of the main road are gradually stabilized, and then the on-ramp inflow vehicles no longer have a significant impact on the traffic flow. In addition, this paper focuses on the velocity disturbance generated at the on-ramp, and proposes the corresponding on-ramp control strategy based on it, and the simulation verified that the control strategy can reasonably control the traffic flow by the on-ramp, which can meet the control strategy requirements to some extent.     

Analysis of the wave properties of a new two-lane continuum model with the coupling effect

A multilane extension of the single-lane anisotropic continuum model (GK model) developed by Gupta and Katiyar for traffic flow is discussed with the consideration of the coupling effect between the vehicles of different lanes in the instantaneous traffic situation and the lane-changing effect. The conditions for securing the linear stability of the new model are presented. The shock and the rarefaction waves, the local cluster effect and the phase transition are investigated through simulation experiments with the new model and are found to be consistent with the diverse nonlinear dynamical phenomena observed in a real traffic flow. The analysis also focuses on empirically observed two-lane phenomena, such as lane usage inversion and the density dependence of the number of lane changes. It is shown that single-lane dynamics can be extended to multilane cases without changing the basic properties of the single-lane model. The results show that the new multilane model is capable of explaining some particular traffic phenomena and is in accordance with real traffic flow.     

基于守恒高阶模型和支持向量机的多车道车辆换道模型

针对高速公路车辆换道问题, 提出一个多车道车辆换道模型。利用支持向量机(SVM)在多维特征下二分类问题的优势, 将SVM和Lagrange坐标下的高阶守恒模型(CHO)结合, 通过全离散跟车模型生成原始数据, 采用SMOTE(Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique)算法对数据进行预处理, 采用双指标评估度SVM进行训练, 建立多车道车辆换道仿真模型。仿真结果表明: 基于支持向量机和CHO模型的换道模型, 驾驶车能够就当前的驾驶环境, 准确地作出决策, 有效地模拟高速公路上真实的多车道驾驶情况。     

The effect of moving bottlenecks on a two-lane traffic flow

In this paper, we study the effect of moving bottlenecks on traffic flow. The full velocity difference （FVD） model is extended to the traffic flow on a two-lane highway, and new lane changing rule is proposed to reproduce the vehicular lane changing behavior. Using this model, we derive the fundamental current-density diagrams for the traffic flow with the effect of moving bottleneck. Moreover, typical time-space diagram for a two-lane highway shows the formation and dissipation of a moving bottleneck. Results demonstrate that the effect of moving bottleneck enlarges with the increase of traffic density, but the effect can be reduced by increasing the maximum velocity of heavy truck. The effects of multiple moving bottlenecks under different conditions are investigated. The effect becomes more remarkable when the coupling effect of multiple moving bottlenecks occurs.     

Presence of many stable nonhomogeneous states in an inertial car-following model

We present a single lane car- following model of traffic flow which is inertial and free of collisions. It demonstrates observed features of traffic flow such as existence of three regimes: free, nonhomogeneous congested (NHC) or synchronized, and homogeneous congested (HC) or jammed flow; bistability of free and NHC flow states in a range of densities, hysteresis in transitions between these states; jumps in the density-flux plane in the NHC regime; gradual spatial transition from synchronized to free flow; long survival time of jams in the HC regime. The model predicts that in the NHC regime there exist many stable states with different wavelengths, and noise can cause transitions between them.     

Mitigation of congestion at a traffic bottleneck with diversion and lane restrictions

Mitigation of congestion on a two-lane highway with an off-ramp and an on-ramp is simulated with three-phase traffic theory. Advanced travel information-the average velocity of vehicles near the bottleneck at an on-ramp-is used to divert vehicles at an upstream off-ramp. If enough vehicles divert, previously expanding synchronous flow congestion can be stalled and isolated to the region between the ramps. The introduction of lane restrictions (forbidding lane changing on the portion of highway between the ramps) in addition to diversion substantially reduces and essentially eliminates the congestion, restoring flow to nearly free-flow conditions.