Continuum modeling for two-lane traffic flow with consideration of the traffic interruption probability

Abstract

Considering the effects that the probability of traffic interruption and the friction between two lanes have on the car-following behaviour, this paper establishes a new two-lane microscopic car-following model. Based on this microscopic model, a new macroscopic model was deduced by the relevance relation of microscopic and macroscopic scale parameters for the two-lane traffic flow. Terms related to lane change are added into the continuity equations and velocity dynamic equations to investigate the lane change rate. Numerical results verify that the proposed model can be efficiently used to reflect the effect of the probability of traffic interruption on the shock, rarefaction wave and lane change behaviour on two-lane freeways. The model has also been applied in reproducing some complex traffic phenomena caused by traffic accident interruption.