Mixed Initial-Boundary Value Problems for Scalar Conservation Laws: Application to the Modeling of Transportation Networks

This article proves the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution to a scalar conservation law on a bounded domain. A weak formulation of hybrid boundary conditions is needed for the problem to be well posed. The boundary conditions are represented by a hybrid automaton with switches between the modes determined by the direction of characteristics of the system at the boundary. The existence of the solution results from the convergence of a Godunov scheme derived in this article. This weak formulation is written explicitly in the context of a strictly concave flux function (relevant for highway traffic). The numerical scheme is then applied to a highway scenario with data from the I210 highway obtained from the California PeMS system. Finally, the existence of a minimizer of travel time is obtained, with the corresponding optimal boundary control.