Mathematical modeling of mixed-traffic in urban areas

Transportation is the means of mobility. Due to the growth in the population, rising traffic on road, delay in the movement of vehicles and traffic chaos could be observed in urban areas. Traffic congestion causes many social and economic problems. Because of the convenience and the quickness, motor-bikes gradually become the main travel mode of urban cities. In this paper, we extend the Lighthill–Whitham–Richards (LWR) traffic flow model equation into the mixed-traffic flow of two entities: car and motor-bike in a unidirectional single-lane road segment. The flow of cars is modeled by the advection equation and the flow of motor-bikes is modeled by the advection-diffusion equation. The model equations for cars and motor-bikes are coupled based on total traffic density on the road section, and they are non-dimensionalized to introduce a non-dimensional number widely known as Péclet number. Explicit finite difference schemes satisfying the CFL conditions are employed to solve the model equations numerically to compute the densities of cars and motor-bikes. The simulation of densities over various time instants is studied and presented graphically. Finally, the average densities of cars and motor-bikes on the road section are calculated for various values of Péclet numbers and mixed-traffic behavior are discussed. It is observed that the mixed-traffic behavior of cars and motor-bikes depends upon the Péclet number. The densities of motor-bikes and cars in the mixed-traffic flow approach the equilibrium state earlier in time for smaller values of Péclet number whereas densities take longer time to approach the equilibrium for the greater values of Péclet number.