ARTICLE IN PRESS

Physica A 373 (2007) 713–720

www.elsevier.com/locate/physa

Expansion, compression and triangular shockwaves in traffic

flow above critical point
Tunetoshi Onouchi, Takashi Nagatani
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Division of Thermal Science, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu 432-8561, Japan
Received 17 May 2006
Available online 27 June 2006

Abstract

We study the formation of shockwaves from an initial condition of the pulse form in supercritical flow of traffic by using
the optimal velocity model. The jam with the pulse form propagates with changing the initial form. The wave velocity is
derived numerically and analytically. The dependence of wave velocity on headway is clarified. When the headway is lower
than the safety distance, the rear of initial pulse evolves to the expansion shockwave, while the front of initial pulse evolves
to the compression shockwave if the headway is higher than the safety distance. The dependence of wave velocity on
headway determines whether either expansion or compression waves evolve to the shockwave. After the rear of initial pulse
collapses with the front, the wave evolves to the triangular shockwave. It is shown that the triangular shockwave is
described by the Burgers equation.
r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Traffic dynamics; Shockwave; Wave velocity; Burgers equation; Phase separation; Nonlinear wave

1. Introduction

Transportation problems have attracted considerable attention in the field of physics [1–5]. Traffic flow is a
kind of many-body system of strongly interacting vehicles. Mobility is nowadays one of the most significant
ingredients of a modern society. Traffic jams prevent significantly mobility of vehicles. Jams are typical
signature of the complex behavior of traffic flow. Traffic jams have been studied by several traffic models: car-
following models, cellular automaton (CA) models, gas kinetic models, and hydrodynamic models [6–25].
Recent studies reveal physical phenomena such as the nonequilibrium phase transitions and the nonlinear
waves [1–5].
It has been shown that the jamming transition is very similar to the conventional phase transitions and
critical phenomena even if the traffic flow is a nonequilibrium system [1]. The phase diagram similar to the
gas–liquid phase transition has been found. The phase separation curve, spinodal line, and critical point have
been derived for traffic, by using the car-following models. The freely moving traffic, stop- and go-wave traffic,
and homogeneous congested traffic correspond, respectively, to the gas, coexisting, and liquid phases.

Corresponding author. Fax: +81 53 4781048.

E-mail address: tmtnaga@ipc.shizuoka.ac.jp (T. Nagatani).

0378-4371/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physa.2006.05.038
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714 T. Onouchi, T. Nagatani / Physica A 373 (2007) 713–720

Recently, Berg and Woods [26] have studied the time evolution of a step jam to the dispersive adjustment
wave under the open boundary condition. They have shown that the adjustment takes the form of a nonlinear
traveling wave followed by either another traveling wave or dispersive wave further downstream matching the
downstream headway. It has been found that the different types of adjustments are classified in a phase
diagram depending on the upstream and downstream headways and the response time (inverse of the
sensitivity) of the optimal-velocity model. However, it has been unclear how the adjustment is related with the
jamming transition.
Nagai et al. [27] have studied the transformation of a traveling jam with the pulse form in traffic flow under
a periodic condition. They have found that the traveling jams are classified into three types of waves. They
have presented the region map (phase diagram) of three nonlinear waves.
Generally, it is known that the shockwave formation when compressing a gas is due to such characteristic
property that a sound velocity increases with density. Therefore, compression wave evolves to shockwave for
gases, while expansion wave does not form shockwave. The transformation of a finite-amplitude wave is
connected highly with the dependency of wave velocity on density. However, the dependency of wave velocity
on density for traffic is little known until now.
In this paper, we study the shockwave formation and the dependence of wave velocity on headway
(density) for traffic. We derive the wave velocity from the optimal velocity model analytically. We clarify the
dependence of wave velocity on density and compare the analytical wave velocity with numerical result. We
show that the shockwave formation is explained by the dependence of wave velocity on headway.

2. Model, phase diagram, and theoretical wave velocity

We consider the traffic of vehicles flowing on a single-lane highway. It is of interest to know how the initial
density profile evolves to different waves in case of periodic boundary conditions. We study the distinct types
of nonlinear waves, which evolve from the initial condition. The transformation of a finite-amplitude wave is
connected highly with the dependency of wave velocity on headway (density). For example, the shockwave
formation when compressing a gas is due to such characteristic property that a sound velocity increases with
density. However, the dependency of a small-amplitude wave velocity on density for traffic is definitely
different from that of gases. We derive the wave velocity from the car-following model analytically. We clarify
the dependence of wave velocity on density.
We use the optimal velocity model for the single-lane traffic flow. The characteristics of the optimal velocity
model have been clarified. The optimal velocity model is described by the following equation of motion of
vehicle i:


d2 xi dxi
¼ a V ðDxi Þ
, (1)
dt2 dt
where V ðDxi Þ is the optimal velocity, xi ðtÞ is the position of vehicle i at time t, Dxi ðtÞð¼ xiþ1 ðtÞ
xi ðtÞÞ is the
headway of vehicle i at time t, and a is the sensitivity (the inverse of the delay time).
A driver adjusts the vehicle velocity to approach the optimal velocity determined by the observed headway.
The sensitivity a allows for the time lag t ¼ 1=a that it takes the vehicle velocity to reach the optimal velocity
when the traffic is varying. Generally, it is necessary that the optimal velocity function has the following
properties: it is a monotonically increasing function and it has an upper bound (maximal velocity). The
optimal velocity of vehicles has been given by
vmax
V ðDxi Þ ¼ ½tanhðDxi
xc Þ þ tanhðxc Þ, (2)
2
where vmax is the maximal velocity of vehicles and xc is the safety distance of vehicles.
The jamming transition is very similar to the conventional phase transitions and critical phenomena. The
coexisting curve, spinodal line, and critical point have been obtained numerically and analytically [1]. The
freely moving traffic, stop- and go-wave traffic, and homogeneous congested traffic correspond, respectively,
to the gas, coexisting, and liquid phases. In the coexisting phase, the boundary between the freely moving and
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homogeneous congested phases propagates backward on the highway as a nonlinear (stop- and go-) wave with
kink–antikink form. The kink–antikink wave has been obtained by a solution of modified KdV equation.
The critical point, spinodal line, and coexisting curve are given, respectively, by
ðDx0;c ; ac Þ ¼ ðxc ; 2V 0 ðxc ÞÞ, (3)

a ¼ 2V 0 ðDx0;s Þ, (4)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
5V 0 ðxc Þð2V 0 ðxc Þ=a
1Þ
Dxco;1 ¼ xc
 000 
V ðxc Þ
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
5V 0 ðxc Þð2V 0 ðxc Þ=a
1Þ
and Dxco;2 ¼ xc þ  000  , ð5Þ
V ðxc Þ

where V0 (xc) is the derivative of the optimal velocity function at xc, V 0 ðDx0;s Þ is the derivative of the optimal
velocity function at Dx0;s , and V 000 ðxc Þ is the third derivative at xc. The phase diagram of (Dx0, a)-space is
shown in Fig. 1, where vmax ¼ 2 and xc ¼ 4:5.
We derive the wave velocity of a disturbance with small amplitude in homogeneous state of vehicles from
Eq. (1). Eq. (1) has the following solution of homogeneous headway distribution:
xi;0 ðtÞ ¼ hi þ V ðhÞt, (6)
where h is the headway between vehicles and V(h) is the optimal velocity at headway h.
Let yi (t) be small deviations from the homogeneous solution (6): xi ðtÞ ¼ xi;0 ðtÞ þ yi ðtÞ. Then, the linearized
equation is obtained from Eq. (1):


d2 yi 0 dyi
¼ a V ðhÞDy i
, (7)
dt2 dt
where Dyi ðtÞð¼ yiþ1 ðtÞ
yi ðtÞÞ and V0 (h) is the derivative of optimal velocity function at headway h. By
expanding Dyi ðtÞ ¼ Y expðIki þ ztÞ, one obtains
z2 ¼ aðeIk
1ÞV 0 ðhÞ
az. (8)
By solving Eq. (8) with z, one obtains
 
V 0 ðhÞ2 2V 0 ðhÞ
0
z ¼ V ðhÞIk þ 1
ðIkÞ2 þ    . (9)
2 a

2.5
Neutral stability curve
Co-existing curve
2.0
Sensitivity

Stable
1.5

1.0
Unstable

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Headway

Fig. 1. Phase diagram of (Dx0,a)-space for vmax ¼ 2 and xc ¼ 4:5. The dotted line indicates the coexisting curve. The solid line represents
the spinodal line. The critical point exist at xc ¼ 4:5 and a ¼ ac ¼ 2:0.
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716 T. Onouchi, T. Nagatani / Physica A 373 (2007) 713–720

x2,0

Headway

x2,0-
x1,0=0.1

x1,0

Distance

Fig. 2. Headway profile of one density pulse as the initial condition on the single-lane highway. Maximal and minimal headways are
shown by Dx2;0 and Dx1;0 .

The wave velocity propagating backward is obtained:

vpop;t ¼ V 0 ðhÞ. (10)
Here, the value of wave velocity propagating backward is taken as a positive one. This is the wave
velocity expressed in terms of vehicle number i. Since xi ¼ hi, it is transformed to that described in terms of
real space xi
vpop;t ¼ V 0 ðhÞh. (11)
Eq. (11) is the wave velocity observed from a point of view of a driver. The wave velocity propagating
backward, which one observes on the roadway is given by
vpop;t ¼ V 0 ðhÞh þ V ðhÞ. (12)
Here the value of wave velocity propagating backward is taken as a positive one.
We study how the initial density pulse evolves to shockwaves. One density pulse is considered as the initial
headway profile. Fig. 2 shows the schematic illustration of one density pulse as the initial condition on the
single-lane highway. The maximal and minimal values of headway within the pulse are indicated by Dx2;0 and
Dx1;0 . The initial velocity is given by the optimal velocity corresponding to the initial headway:
vi ð0Þ ¼ V ðDxi ð0ÞÞ, (13)
where V ðDxi Þ is the optimal velocity function.
The initial density pulse evolves in time to the distinct shockwaves. At the front of the headway pulse,
vehicles enter a jam. The situation corresponds to decelerating traffic. At the rear of the pulse, vehicles emerge
from a jam. Its situation corresponds to accelerating traffic.

3. Simulation and result

We perform computer simulation for the vehicular traffic with the initial headway profile shown in Fig. 2 in
the case of periodic boundary conditions. We set the amplitude of headway pulse as 0.1 for considering a weak
wave. We solve numerically Eq. (1) with optimal velocity function (2) by using fourth-order Runge–Kutta
method where the time interval is Dt ¼ 1=128.
We carry out simulation by varying the values of initial headway Dx1;0 and sensitivity a4ac ð¼ 2:0Þ for
safety distance xc ¼ 4:5, maximal velocity vmax ¼ 2:0, and the number of vehicles N ¼ 1000
3000.
We study the transformation of the initial headway profile with one pulse shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3(a) shows
the time evolution of one density pulse at initial headway Dx1;0 ¼ 3:0 for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0 where the vehicle
number is 3000. The initial pulse propagates backward by transforming the form. The step at the rear of the
initial pulse evolves in time to the shockwave with a finite width, while the front of the pulse disperses more
and more with increasing time. The expansion wave at the rear results in the shockwave. Fig. 3(b) shows the
time evolution of one density pulse at initial headway Dx1;0 ¼ 5:0 for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0 where the vehicle
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Wave propagation
Wave propagation

5000
3.10 5000 4000
5.10
Headway

Headway
4000 3000
3.05 3000 5.05 2000 Time
2000 Time 1000
1000
3.00 0 5.00 0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 0 4 8 12x103
(a) Distance (b) Distance

Fig. 3. Time evolutions of one density pulse for the two cases of (a) Dx1;0 ¼ 3:0, (b) Dx1;0 ¼ 5:0, where a ¼ 3:0 and vehicle number
N ¼ 3000. Here, the headway profiles are displayed every one thousand time.

3.10 5.10

3.08 5.08

Headway 5.06
Headway

3.06

3.04 5.04

3.02 5.02

3.00 5.00

1000 2000 3000 9 10 11 12 13x103

(a) Distance (b) Distance

Fig. 4. (a) Headway profile obtained for Dx1;0 ¼ 3:0and a ¼ 3:0 at t ¼ 6500. The rear represents the expansion shockwave, while the front
displays the dispersive compression wave. (b) Headway profile obtained for Dx1;0 ¼ 5:0 and a ¼ 3:0 at t ¼ 6500. The front represents the
compression shockwave, while the rear displays the dispersive expansion wave.

number is 3000. The initial pulse propagates backward by transforming the form. The front of the initial pulse
evolves in time to the shockwave with a finite width, while the step at the rear of the pulse disperses more and
more with increasing time. The compression wave at the front results in the shockwave.
Fig. 4(a) shows the plot of headway against distance for initial headway Dx1;0 ¼ 3:0 and sensitivity
a ¼ 3:0 at time t ¼ 6500 where the vehicle number is 1000. Because the pulse propagates backward, the rear
represents the expansion shockwave, while the front displays the dispersive compression wave. This expansion
shockwave has not been observed in gases. Thus, the formation of expansion shockwave is characteristic for
traffic flow. Fig. 4(b) shows the plot of headway against distance for initial headway Dx1;0 ¼ 5:0 and sensitivity
a ¼ 3:0 at time t ¼ 6500. The front represents the compression shockwave, while the rear displays the
dispersive expansion wave. This compression shockwave is similar to that of gases.
We derive numerically the wave velocity by calculating the moving distance of the shock front against time.
Fig. 5 shows the plot of wave velocity nprop,d against initial headway Dx1;0 for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0. Open
circles, squares, and triangles indicate, respectively, the values of wave velocity observed from a driver for
sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0. The solid curve represents the theoretical wave velocity (11) obtained by analytical
method. The simulation result is consistent with the theoretical curve. The wave velocity increases with initial
headway, reaches the maximal value at safety distance xc ¼ 4:5, and then decreases with increasing
initial headway. Thus, the wave velocity exhibits the positive dependence on initial headway for Dx1;0 oxc ,
while it displays the negative dependence on initial headway for Dx1;0 4xc . When initial headway Dx1;0 is less
than safety distance xc, the wave velocity in the region of long headway is higher than that in the region
of short headway. Therefore, the expansion wave results in the shockwave. On the other hand, if initial
headway Dx1;0 is higher than safety distance xc, the wave velocity in the region of long headway is less than
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5
V'(
x1,0)
x1,0
4 a=3.0
a=4.0

Wave velocity
3 a=5.0

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Initial headway

Fig. 5. Plot of wave velocity vprop;d against initial headway Dx1;0 for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0. Open circles, squares, and triangles
indicate, respectively, the values of wave velocity observed from a driver for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0. The solid curve represents the
theoretical wave velocity (11) obtained by analytical method.

300

x1,0=2.0
x1,0=4.0
x1,0=6.0
250
x1,0=3.0
x1,0=5.0
x1,0=7.0
Shock thickness

200

150

100

50

0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Time

Fig. 6. Plots of shock thickness against time for various values of initial headway Dx1;0 at sensitivity a ¼ 3:0.

1000
a=3.0
800
a=4.0
Shock thickness

600 a=5.0

400

200

0
2 3 4 5 6 7
Initial headway

Fig. 7. Plots of the saturated thickness against initial headway for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0.

that in the region of short headway. Therefore, the compression wave results in the shockwave similarly to the
case of gases.
We study the shockwave thickness by varying initial headway and sensitivity. The thickness of shockwave is
defined as the difference between x coordinates at headways 1:05 Dx1;0 and 0:95 Dx2;0 (see Fig. 2). Fig. 6 shows
the plots of shock thickness against time for various values of initial headway Dx1;0 at sensitivity a ¼ 3:0. Here,
the shock thickness is that of expansion shockwave for Dx1;0 oxc , while the shock thickness is that of
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8000
a=3.0
6000 a=4.0

Time constant
a=5.0

4000

2000

0
2 3 4 5 6 7
Initial headway

Fig. 8. Plots of time constant against initial headway for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0.

3.10 6.10

3.08 6.08

6.06
Headway

3.06
Headway

3.04 6.04

3.02 6.02

3.00 6.00
10.5 11.0 11.5 12.0 12.5 13.0x103 192 193 194 195 196 197x103
(a) Distance (b) Distance

Fig. 9. (a) Headway profile obtained at t ¼ 100; 000 for Dx1;0 ¼ 3:0 where vehicle number is 1000. The wave displays a triangular
shockwave. (b) Headway profile obtained at t ¼ 100; 000 for Dx1;0 ¼ 6:0. The wave displays a triangular shockwave with the opposite
slope to (a).

compression shockwave for Dx1;0 4xc . The shock thickness increases with time and saturates at a constant
value in time. We study the dependence of the saturated value of shock thickness on initial headway Dx1;0 .
Fig. 7 shows the plots of the saturated thickness against initial headway for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0. The
shock thickness increases with initial headway, reaches a maximal value at Dx1;0 ¼ xc , then decreases, and
again increases slowly with initial headway. The maximal value of thickness at Dx1;0 ¼ xc increases with
sensitivity. The thickness depends little on sensitivity except for the neighborhood of safety distance.
We derive such time constant that the shockwave saturates, by the exponential fitting in Fig. 6. Fig. 8
shows the plots of time constant against initial headway for sensitivity a ¼ 3:0; 4:0; 5:0. The time
constant exhibits the maximal value at safety distance xc. The maximal value of time constant at Dx1;0 ¼ xc
increases with sensitivity. The time constant depends little on sensitivity except for the neighborhood of
safety distance.
We study the transformation of shockwaves after the expansion (compression) shockwave collides with the
dispersive compression (expansion) wave at Dx1;0 oxc ðDx1;0 4xc Þ. Fig. 9(a) shows the headway profile
obtained at t ¼ 100; 000 for Dx1;0 ¼ 3:0 where vehicle number is 1000. After the expansion shockwave collides
with the dispersive compression wave and after a large time, the wave becomes a triangular shockwave.
Fig. 9(b) shows the headway profile obtained at t ¼ 100; 000 for Dx1;0 ¼ 6:0. Similarly, after the compression
shockwave collides with the dispersive expansion wave and after a large time, the wave becomes a triangular
shockwave. The slope of triangular shockwave in Fig. 9(a) has an opposite sign to that in Fig. 9(b). The
triangular shockwave has the left uphill for Dx1;0 oxc , while it has the right uphill for Dx1;0 4xc . The triangular
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shockwave is described by the Burgers equation [28]. The Burgers equation has been derived from the optimal
velocity model (1) when the sensitivity is higher than the critical value [1,28].

4. Summary

We have investigated the time evolution of a traveling jam with the one density pulse for supercritical flow
of traffic by the use of the optimal velocity model. We have studied how does the one density pulse transform
with increasing time above the critical point. We have shown that when the headway is lower than the safety
distance, the rear of initial pulse evolves to the expansion shockwave, while if the headway is higher than the
safety distance, the front of initial pulse evolves to the compression shockwave. We have clarified that the
dependence of wave velocity on headway determines whether either expansion or compression waves evolve to
the shockwave. We have found that after the rear of initial pulse collapses with the front, the wave evolves to
the triangular shockwave. We have shown the dependencies of wave velocity on the initial headway and
sensitivity.
Thus, we have shown that the formation and propagation of shockwaves for Dx1;0 oxc are definitely
different from those for Dx1;0 4xc .

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