Microscopic Simulations of Oversaturated City Traffic: Features of Synchronised Flow Patterns

Understanding the physics of vehicular traffic and the emergence of traffic patterns in city traffic is important for the implementation of traffic management measures. Recently, the synchronised flow pattern has been found in empirical GPS probe vehicle data of oversaturated city traffic (Phys Rev E 90:032810, 2014 [13]). Traffic simulation models based on classical theories cannot reproduce this synchronised flow. We present simulation results of oversaturated city traffic with the stochastic microscopic Kerner-Klenov traffic flow model that is based on Kerner’s three-phase traffic theory. These results show features of synchronised flow. It is found that the drivers speed adaptation effect plays the key role in the understanding of the emergence of synchronised flow in oversaturated city traffic. The physical meaning of the speed adaptation effect in oversaturated city traffic is explained. The influence of the speed adaptation effect on the average speed and travel time in oversaturated city traffic is investigated.