Impact of Unsteady Disturbance on Multi-lane Traffic Flow

Abstract

In this paper, we study on multi-lane traffic flow of up to four lanes experiencing non-linear, unsteady disturbance. The analysis is done based on car-following computation using a modified optimal velocity model. The unsteady disturbance to homogeneous flow is exerted as the stop-and-go motion of the leading car in the first lane. The strength of the disturbance is quantified with the duration time of the stop; its effect is evaluated from the time variation of local car flux. In general, multi-lane flow is less sensitive to the strength of the disturbance than single-lane flow is. In the multi-lane flow, once a weak disturbance causes a triggering lane change, it in turn induces successive disturbances and lane changes, eventually forming much fluctuated flow. Therefore, the strength of the initial disturbance becomes less important. The degradation in the car flux of such fluctuated multi-lane flow is better than that in unstable single-lane flow. The transient car flux is influenced mainly by the val...