Kinetics of segregation in a two-lane highway traffic flow

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Abstract
A particle-hopping model is presented to simulate the segregation of cars on a two-lane highway which consists of a slow lane and a fast lane. The changing of cars between the slow and fast lanes is taken into account. When a fast (slow) car overtakes (is overtaken by) a slow (fast) car on the slow (fast) lane, the fast (slow) car shifts to the fast (slow) lane. By satisfying the demand for faster movement, a segregation of cars occurs. The car densities, velocities and currents on the slow and fast lanes are calculated by computer simulation. The velocity distributions on the two lanes are also shown. It is found that the traffic current is enhanced by the changing of cars between two lanes. The kinetics of segregation between the slow and fast lanes is described in terms of a Boltzmann-like kinetic equation. The kinetic equation is solved by a numerical method. The velocity distributions, car densities, velocities and currents obtained from the kinetic equation are compared with the simulation results.