Upper Bounds for the Critical Car Densities in Traffic Flow Problems

In most models of traffic flow, the car density $p$ is the only free parameter in determining the average car velocity $\langle v \rangle$. The critical car density $p_c$, which is defined to be the car density separating the jamming phase (with $\langle v \rangle = 0$) and the moving phase (with $\langle v \rangle > 0$), is an important physical quantity to investigate. By means of simple statistical argument, we show that $p_c < 1$ for the Biham-Middleton-Levine model of traffic flow in two or higher spatial dimensions. In particular, we show that $p_{c} \leq 11/12$ in 2 dimension and $p_{c} \leq 1 - \left( \frac{D-1}{2D} \right)^D$ in $D$ ($D > 2$) dimensions.Comment: REVTEX 3.0, 5 pages with 1 figure appended at the back, Minor revision, to be published in the Sept issue of J.Phys.Soc.Japa

Two Lane Traffic Simulations using Cellular Automata

We examine a simple two lane cellular automaton based upon the single lane CA introduced by Nagel and Schreckenberg. We point out important parameters defining the shape of the fundamental diagram. Moreover we investigate the importance of stochastic elements with respect to real life traffic.Comment: to be published in Physica A, 19 pages, 9 out of 13 postscript figures, 24kB in format .tar.gz., 33kB in format .tar.gz.uu, for a full version including all figures see http://studguppy.tsasa.lanl.gov/research_team/papers

Complex Dynamics of Bus, Tram and Elevator Delays in Transportation System

It is necessary and important to operate buses and trams on time. The bus schedule is closely related to the dynamic motion of buses. In this part, we introduce the nonlinear maps for describing the dynamics of shuttle buses in the transportation system. The complex motion of the buses is explained by the nonlinear-map models. The transportation system of shuttle buses without passing is similar to that of the trams. The transport of elevators is also similar to that of shuttle buses with freely passing. The complex dynamics of a single bus is described in terms of the piecewise map, the delayed map, the extended circle map and the combined map. The dynamics of a few buses is described by the model of freely passing buses, the model of no passing buses, and the model of increase or decrease of buses. The nonlinear-map models are useful to make an accurate estimate of the arrival time in the bus transportation

Towards a variational principle for motivated vehicle motion

We deal with the problem of deriving the microscopic equations governing the individual car motion based on the assumptions about the strategy of driver behavior. We suppose the driver behavior to be a result of a certain compromise between the will to move at a speed that is comfortable for him under the surrounding external conditions, comprising the physical state of the road, the weather conditions, etc., and the necessity to keep a safe headway distance between the cars in front of him. Such a strategy implies that a driver can compare the possible ways of his further motion and so choose the best one. To describe the driver preferences we introduce the priority functional whose extremals specify the driver choice. For simplicity we consider a single-lane road. In this case solving the corresponding equations for the extremals we find the relationship between the current acceleration, velocity and position of the car. As a special case we get a certain generalization of the optimal velocity model similar to the "intelligent driver model" proposed by Treiber and Helbing.Comment: 6 pages, RevTeX

Anisotropic effect on two-dimensional cellular automaton traffic flow with periodic and open boundaries

By the use of computer simulations we investigate, in the cellular automaton of two-dimensional traffic flow, the anisotropic effect of the probabilities of the change of the move directions of cars, from up to right ($p_{ur}$) and from right to up ($p_{ru}$), on the dynamical jamming transition and velocities under the periodic boundary conditions in one hand and the phase diagram under the open boundary conditions in the other hand. However, in the former case, the first order jamming transition disappears when the cars alter their directions of move ($p_{ur}\neq 0$ and/or $p_{ru}\neq 0$). In the open boundary conditions, it is found that the first order line transition between jamming and moving phases is curved. Hence, by increasing the anisotropy, the moving phase region expand as well as the contraction of the jamming phase one. Moreover, in the isotropic case, and when each car changes its direction of move every time steps ($p_{ru}=p_{ur}=1$), the transition from the jamming phase (or moving phase) to the maximal current one is of first order. Furthermore, the density profile decays, in the maximal current phase, with an exponent $\gamma \approx {1/4}$.}Comment: 13 pages, 22 figure

Experiences with a simplified microsimulation for the Dallas/Fort Worth area

We describe a simple framework for micro simulation of city traffic. A medium sized excerpt of Dallas was used to examine different levels of simulation fidelity of a cellular automaton method for the traffic flow simulation and a simple intersection model. We point out problems arising with the granular structure of the underlying rules of motion.Comment: accepted by Int.J.Mod.Phys.C, 20 pages, 14 figure

Optimizing Traffic Lights in a Cellular Automaton Model for City Traffic

We study the impact of global traffic light control strategies in a recently proposed cellular automaton model for vehicular traffic in city networks. The model combines basic ideas of the Biham-Middleton-Levine model for city traffic and the Nagel-Schreckenberg model for highway traffic. The city network has a simple square lattice geometry. All streets and intersections are treated equally, i.e., there are no dominant streets. Starting from a simple synchronized strategy we show that the capacity of the network strongly depends on the cycle times of the traffic lights. Moreover we point out that the optimal time periods are determined by the geometric characteristics of the network, i.e., the distance between the intersections. In the case of synchronized traffic lights the derivation of the optimal cycle times in the network can be reduced to a simpler problem, the flow optimization of a single street with one traffic light operating as a bottleneck. In order to obtain an enhanced throughput in the model improved global strategies are tested, e.g., green wave and random switching strategies, which lead to surprising results.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Alpha-particle-induced breakup of the deuteron

Alpha-particle-induced deuteron breakup reactions have been studied in single-counter measurements at incident alpha-particle energies of 41.6 and 29.3 MeV. Simultaneous differential and total cross-section measurements have been carried out on protons, deuterons, and alpha particles. Unambiguous evidence for final-state resonance effects in the alpha-nucleon interactions have been obtained, particularly from the proton energy spectra; the p3/2 alpha-nucleon resonances corresponding to the He5 and Li5 ground states play important roles. As anticipated, phase-space-factor and zero-range Born-approximation calculations failed to reproduce the observed energy spectra. A more exact analysis which explicitly includes the alpha-nucleon interactions, represented by Gammel-Thaler phenomenological potentials, does provide good agreement with the experimental results both in spectrum shape and in total breakup cross section

Analytical Results For The Steady State Of Traffic Flow Models With Stochastic Delay

Exact mean field equations are derived analytically to give the fundamental diagrams, i.e., the average speed - car density relations, for the Fukui-Ishibashi one-dimensional traffic flow cellular automaton model of high speed vehicles $(v_{max}=M>1)$ with stochastic delay. Starting with the basic equation describing the time evolution of the number of empty sites in front of each car, the concepts of inter-car spacings longer and shorter than $M$ are introduced. The probabilities of having long and short spacings on the road are calculated. For high car densities $(\rho \geq 1/M)$, it is shown that inter-car spacings longer than $M$ will be shortened as the traffic flow evolves in time, and any initial configurations approach a steady state in which all the inter-car spacings are of the short type. Similarly for low car densities $(\rho \leq 1/M)$, it can be shown that traffic flow approaches an asymptotic steady state in which all the inter-car spacings are longer than $M-2$. The average traffic speed is then obtained analytically as a function of car density in the asymptotic steady state. The fundamental diagram so obtained is in excellent agreement with simulation data.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 2 figure