Continuum models of dispersion in multilane traffic flow

Abstract

We present a series of continuum models to describe the effect of lane changing on multilane traffic with different wavespeeds in each lane. The models describe the propagation of small amounts of traffic on a uniform background so that the wavespeeds can be approximated as constant. The continuity equations for each lane are coupled by a lane changing term, and represents an extension of the work of Munjal and Pipes (1971). In our model we to allow the two wavespeeds to be different. This speed differential causes shearing of the traffic; concentration tends to circulate along the road such that anomalies are transferred from the slow lane to the fast lane and back again. This effect is not present in the Munjal and Pipes' model, in which the wavespeeds in each lane are assumed to be equal.