Existence and Computation of Solutions of a Model of Traffic Involving Hysteresis

Abstract

The meaning of weak solutions of a nonconservative hyperbolic system with discontinuous coefficients modeling traffic flows involving hysteresis is defined. An upwinding approximation scheme for the model is shown to be total variation diminishing. Vehicles' speeds and drivers' hysteresis states satisfy maximum and minimum principles. The limit of a convergent subsequence generated by the approximation scheme is shown to be a weak solution of the model if it is piecewise $C^1$, establishing the existence of such solutions.