A combined first and second order model for a junction with ramp buffer (Q2679842)

The authors establish a new model for the 1-to-1 junction with onramp which couples the LWR (Lighthill-Whitham-Richards) model to boundary conditions of the second-order traffic model. One of the main differences between this new model and the known existing LWR models is the shape of the supply function at the junction, which allows for formation of congestion when the incoming road is congested. A discussion of the new supply function is presented. It is shown that the fluxes at the junctions are only dependent on the densities of the adjacent roads. A Godunov scheme is proposed to compute solutions to the first- and second-order models. Numerical studies show that the augmented LWR model is able to capture the capacity drop phenomenon.