SHOCK WAVES ON THE HIGHWAY

A SIMPLE THEORY OF TRAFFIC FLOW IS DEVELOPED BY REPLACING INDIVIDUAL VEHICLES WITH A CONTINUOUS 'FLUID' DENSITY AND APPLYING AN EMPIRICAL RELATION BETWEEN SPEED AND DENSITY. CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE RESULTING THEORY ARE A SIMPLE GRAPH-SHEARING PROCESS FOR FOLLOWING THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRAFFIC WAVES IN TIME AND THE FREQUENT APPEARANCE OF SHOCK WAVES. THE EFFECT OF A TRAFFIC SIGNAL ON TRAFFIC STREAMS IS STUDIED AND FOUND TO EXHIBIT A THRESHOLD EFFECT WHEREIN THE DISTURBANCES ARE MINOR FOR LIGHT TRAFFIC BUT SUDDENLY BUILD TO LARGE VALUES WHEN A CRITICAL DENSITY IS EXCEEDED. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 4, pp 42-51, 7 FIG, 7 REF
• Authors:
  • Richards, P I
• Publication Date: 0

Media Info

• Serial:
  • OPERATIONS RESEARCH
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: NEWELL, GORDON F.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Density; Empirical methods; Highways; Shock waves; Speed; Time; Traffic flow theory; Traffic signals; Vehicles; Waves
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227121
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 13 2004 6:56PM