WE describe here a network of strings and springs in which cutting a string that supports a weight results in a rise of the weight at equilibrium. In an analogous electronic circuit of passive two-terminal devices (resistors and Zener diodes), adding a current-carrying path increases the voltage drop across the circuit. These systems are mechanical and electrical analogues of a paradox of congested traffic flow1,2. Along with similar hydraulic and thermal analogues, they show how non-intuitive equilibrium behaviour can arise in physical networks made up of classical components.
%0 Journal Article
%1 cohen91
%A Cohen, Joel E.
%A Horowitz, Paul
%D 1991
%J Nature
%K braess nature paradox
%N 6337
%P 699--701
%R 10.1038/352699a0
%T Paradoxical Behaviour of Mechanical and Electrical Networks
%V 352
%X WE describe here a network of strings and springs in which cutting a string that supports a weight results in a rise of the weight at equilibrium. In an analogous electronic circuit of passive two-terminal devices (resistors and Zener diodes), adding a current-carrying path increases the voltage drop across the circuit. These systems are mechanical and electrical analogues of a paradox of congested traffic flow1,2. Along with similar hydraulic and thermal analogues, they show how non-intuitive equilibrium behaviour can arise in physical networks made up of classical components.
@article{cohen91,
abstract = {WE describe here a network of strings and springs in which cutting a string that supports a weight results in a rise of the weight at equilibrium. In an analogous electronic circuit of passive two-terminal devices (resistors and Zener diodes), adding a current-carrying path increases the voltage drop across the circuit. These systems are mechanical and electrical analogues of a paradox of congested traffic flow1,2. Along with similar hydraulic and thermal analogues, they show how non-intuitive equilibrium behaviour can arise in physical networks made up of classical components.},
added-at = {2016-06-05T10:26:10.000+0200},
author = {Cohen, Joel E. and Horowitz, Paul},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2bd041f5a4e9101444d45367ce7cd59d7/ytyoun},
doi = {10.1038/352699a0},
interhash = {4e124033fd8e23945091e2c739be490b},
intrahash = {bd041f5a4e9101444d45367ce7cd59d7},
journal = {Nature},
keywords = {braess nature paradox},
month = aug,
number = 6337,
pages = {699--701},
timestamp = {2016-06-05T12:44:39.000+0200},
title = {Paradoxical Behaviour of Mechanical and Electrical Networks},
volume = 352,
year = 1991
}