A multisource transportation network model explaining allometric scaling

Abstract

The universal scaling relationship between an attribute and the size of a system is widespread in nature and society and is known as allometric growth. Previous studies have explained that the allometric growth exponent of single-source systems is uniquely determined by the dimension. However, the phenomenon that the exponent shows diversity in some systems, such as rivers, freight transportation and gasoline stations, lacks a reasonable explanation. In this paper, we hold the view that allometric growth may originate from efficient delivery from sources to transfer sites in a system and propose a multisource transportation network model that can explain diversified allometric growth exponents. We apply this model to some multisource systems, and the results show that our model successfully reproduces the diversity of the allometric growth exponent.