COMBINED CELLULAR AUTOMATON MODEL FOR MIXED TRAFFIC FLOW WITH NON-MOTORIZED VEHICLES

Abstract

To depict the mixed traffic flow consisting of motorized (m-) and non-motorized (nm-) vehicles, a new cellular automaton model is proposed by combining the NaSch model and the BCA model, and some rules are also introduced to depict the interaction between m-vehicles and nm-vehicles. By numerical simulations, the flux-density relations are investigated in detail. It can be found that the flux-density curves of m-vehicle flow can be classified into two types, corresponding to small and large density regions of nm-vehicles, respectively. In small density region of nm-vehicles, the maximum flux as well as the critical density decreases with the increase of nm-vehicle density. Similar characteristics can also be found in large density region of nm-vehicles. However, compared with the former case, the maximum flux is much lower, the phase transition from free flow to congested flow becomes continuous and thus the corresponding critical points are non-existent. The flux-density curves of nm-vehicle flow can also be classified into two types. And interestingly, the maximum flux and the corresponding density decrease first and keep constant later as the density of m-vehicle increases. Finally, the total transport capacity of the system is investigated. The results show that the maximum capacity can be reached at appropriate proportions for m-vehicles and nm-vehicles, which induces a controlling method to promote the capacity of mixed traffic flow.