English

Linearized Theory of Traffic Flow

Physics and Society 2015-04-10 v1

Abstract

The equation of motion of a general class of macroscopic traffic flow models is linearized around a steady uniform flow. A closed-form solution of a boundary-initial value problem is obtained, and it is used to describe several phenomena. Specifically, the scenarios examined involve a smooth velocity field in stop-and-go traffic, a discontinuous velocity field with shock waves in a traffic light problem, and discontinuous displacement fields in a problem where a single platoon of vehicles splits into two, and later merges back into one.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1412.7371,
  title  = {Linearized Theory of Traffic Flow},
  author = {Tal Cohen and Rohan Abeyaratne},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.7371},
  year   = {2015}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T07:42:18.616Z