77th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (November 24, 2024 — November 26, 2024)

P2685652: Multi-scale dynamics of nonlinear traffic waves

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Authors

• JUNYI JI, Vanderbilt University
• Derek Gloudemans, Vanderbilt University
• Gergely Zachár, Vanderbilt University
• William Barbour, Vanderbilt University
• Jonathan Sprinkle, Vanderbilt University
• Benedetto Piccoli, Rutgers University - Camden
• Daniel Work, Vanderbilt University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2024.GFM.P2685652

Traffic waves, commonly referred to as stop-and-go traffic or phantom jams, are nonlinear waves that arise spontaneously in traffic flow, traveling in the opposite direction of vehicle motion. These waves are a common experience for commuters during peak-hour traffic, manifesting as repeated cycles of slowing down and speeding up. These waves emerge from the complex interaction of vehicles and propagate through traffic, causing congestion and delays. Despite their ubiquitous nature, the underlying dynamics of traffic waves have long been challenging to observe and analyze at a detailed level due to the multiple scales involved, both in space and time.Our newly developed instrument, I-24 MOTION, a state-of-the-art 240-camera system, captures the multi-scale dynamics of traffic waves. This unique instrument provides a granular view of all the individual vehicles motions in 6 kilometers for 4 hours per day, while simultaneously capturing the larger-scale propagation of traffic waves. The unprecedented resolution and scope of the data collected enable us to visualize traffic waves as they generate, propagate, merge, bifurcate, and dissipate across hours and kilometers, ubiquity never observed before.The included visualization demonstrates the complex, nonlinear behavior of traffic waves, which can be considered chaotic due to the presence of human behaviour in the system. The 3D plot highlights the spatio-temporal dynamics, with the red part represents the waves, illustrating how these waves evolve and interact over space and time. Our observations provide new insights into the nature of traffic wave dynamics, revealing phenomena that were previously unobservable. It offers a deeper understanding of traffic behavior and paves the way for improved traffic management strategies, potentially leading to more efficient freeway traffic systems.