Special Session 146: Nonlinear differential equations: control, delay, and boundary value problems

Structure of Optimal Solutions for Traffic Flow
Mauro Garavello
University of Milano-Bicocca
Italy
Co-Author(s):    Fabio Ancona, Annalisa Cesaroni, Giuseppe Maria Coclite
Abstract:
In the last years, starting with the seminal papers by Lighthill and Whitham \cite{LW} and Richards \cite{richards}, there was an increasing interest in conservation laws for the modeling of traffic flow in road networks, mainly justified by applications. Particularly, the problems of reducing congestions, car accidents, and pollution have been tackled with various approaches. We present, in this talk, a way for controlling traffic flow, through a control function acting at the level of junctions \cite{a-c-c-g-1}. We introduce the concept of solution, we show that the solution exists and that, in some cases, the input-output map is continuous. It is also addressed the problem of minimization of functionals describing traffic performance indexes \cite{a-c-c-g-2}. Finally, in the case of $1$-$1$ junctions, the structure of optimal solutions is presented \cite{a-c-c-g-3}. \bibitem{a-c-c-g-1} F. Ancona, A. Cesaroni, G. M. Coclite, M. Garavello. On the optimization of conservation law models at a junction with inflow and flow distribution controls. SIAM J. Control Optim. 56 (2018), no. 5, pp. 3370-3403. \bibitem{a-c-c-g-2} F. Ancona, A. Cesaroni, G. M. Coclite, M. Garavello. On optimization of traffic flow performance for conservation laws on networks. Minimax Theory Appl. 6 (2021), no. 2, pp. 205-226. \bibitem{a-c-c-g-3} F. Ancona, A. Cesaroni, G. M. Coclite, M. Garavello. On the structure of optimal solutions of conservation laws at a junction with one incoming and one outgoing arc. arXiv 2507.10090. \bibitem{LW} M. J. Lighthill, G. B. Whitham. On kinematic waves. II. A theory of traffic flow on long crowded roads. Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Ser. A. 229 (1955), pp. 317-345. \bibitem{richards} P.I. Richards. Shock waves on the highway. Operations Res. 4 (1956), pp. 42-51.