Modeling the driver's behavior on second-order macroscopic models of vehicular traffic flow

This paper deals with the modeling and qualitative analysis, with special attention to hyperbolicity analysis, of a large class of second-order hydrodynamic traffic flow models. These models are obtained from conservation equations for mass and momentum properly closed by constitutive relations related to the modeling of the behaviour of drivers in the flow. The first part of the paper deals with defining the general mathematical setting for modeling second-order hydrodynamic equations of traffic flow related to conservation of mass and momentum, and the second part with analyzing the qualitative properties of some specific models. In particular, it is shown how some models known in the literature can be obtained as particular cases of the above framework. Finally, the third part develops a hyperbolicity analysis which is also referred to some specific models. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.