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Equilibrium analysis of a stochastic model of traffic flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

W. J. Gordon
Affiliation:
Brown University
G. F. Newell
Affiliation:
Brown University

Abstract

A. J. Miller has proposed a stochastic model for the study of highway traffic in one direction along a two-lane road in which the desired speed of a vehicle is sampled from a continuous probability distribution and queues of vehicles are Poisson distributed on the highway. Miller has derived the equilibrium expression for the relation between the spacial densities of all vehicles and the spacial densities of those which are freely travelling. This relationship takes the form of a non-linear integral equation which is left unsolved. The present model differs from the original only in the assumption of a discrete distribution of desired speeds. Although the derivations of the equilibrium equations are based upon different arguments from those of Miller, these relations transform to the corresponding integral equations in the limit of a continuous speed distribution. The main body of the paper is devoted to a detailed investigation of the case of two speeds and asymptotic results are obtained for three speeds.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1964

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References

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