This paper investigates the analytical and numerical solutions to wide moving jams in traffic flow. Under the framework of the Lagrange coordinates, a semi-discrete model and a continuum model correlate with each other, in which the former model approaches the latter as the increment ∆M in the former model vanishes. This implies that the solution to a wide moving jam in the latter model, which can be analytically derived using the known theory, can be conceivably taken as an approximation to that of the former model. These results were verified through numerical simulations. Because a detailed understanding of the traffic phase "wide moving jam" is very important for the further development of Kerner's three-phase traffic theory, this study helps to explain the empirical features of traffic breakdown and resulting congested traffic patterns that are observed in real traffic.

This paper studies steady-state traffic flow on a ring road with up-and down-slopes using a semi-discrete model. By exploiting the relations between the semi-discrete and the continuum models, a steady-state solution is uniquely determined for a given total number of vehicles on the ring road. The solution is exact and always stable with respect to the first-order continuum model, whereas it is a good approximation with respect to the semi-discrete model provided that the involved equilibrium constant states are linearly stable. In an otherwise case, the instability of one or more equilibria could trigger stop-and-go waves propagating in certain road sections or throughout the ring road. The indicated results are reasonable and thus physically significant for a better understanding of real traffic flow on an inhomogeneous road.

The phase-plane analysis is used to study the traveling wave solution of a recently proposed higher-order traffic flow model under the Lagrange coordinate system. The analysis identifies the types and stabilities of the equilibrium solutions, and the overall distribution structure of the nearby solutions is drawn in the phase plane for the further analysis and comparison. The analytical and numerical results are in agreement, and may help to explain the simulated phenomena, such as the stop-and-go wave and oscillation near a bottleneck. The findings demonstrate the model ability to describe the complexity of congested traffic.

A traveling wave solution to the Aw-Rascle traffic flow model that includes the relaxation and diffusion terms is investigated. The model can be approximated by the well-known Kortweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. A numerical simulation is conducted by the first-order accurate Lax-Friedrichs scheme, which is known for its ability to capture the entropy solution to hyperbolic conservation laws. Periodic boundary conditions are applied to simulate a lengthy propagation, where the profile of the derived KdV solution is taken as the initial condition to observe the change of the profile. The simulation shows good agreement between the approximated KdV solution and the numerical solution.