Analysis of Traffic States Based on Distributed Constant Circuit Model

There are some research projects on the analysis of traffic states by using mathematical models. In this article, we propose a new method based on a distributed constant circuit, namely an electrical circuit based on distributed elements. In this method the distributed constant circuit is regarded as a traffic circuit. The voltage on the distributed constant circuit is regarded as traffic pressure, like the previous works based on the lumped elements on the lumped constant circuit. However, these previous works have some difficulties on the definition of the traffic pressure. In virtue of the distributed elements composed of not Resistance, but Inductance and Capacitance, the input voltage does not augment unreasonably. The analogy between traffic circuit and electrical circuit becomes more reasonable. Moreover, the status of traffic light is also taken into account. The validity of our proposed method was confirmed by some simulations based on distributed constant circuits.