Noise emission corrections at intersections based on microscopic traffic simulation

One of the goals of the European IMAGINE project, is to formulate strategies to improve traffic modelling for application in noise mapping. It is well known that the specific deceleration and acceleration dynamics of traffic at junctions can influence local noise emission. However, macroscopic traffic models do not always model intersections, and if they do, only the influence of intersections on travel time is incorporated. In these cases, it would be useful to know what increase or decrease in noise production can be expected at or near intersections. A correction factor for road crossings has been suggested in several national noise emission standards. The question is open whether such a correction factor should be included in future harmonized methods. In this paper, a case study is presented, consisting of a large set of microscopic traffic simulations and associated noise emission calculations, which provides some insight into the specific dynamics of the noise emission near different types of intersections. A spatial approach is used, in which inbound and outbound lanes are divided into deceleration, queuing and acceleration zones. Results from regression analysis on the numerical simulations indicate that meaningful relations between noise corrections and traffic flow parameters such as traffic intensity and composition can be deduced

Evaluation of City Planning Road Development Measures by Microscopic Traffic Simulation

This study was made on the development plan of Kawahara Avenue, a road project authorized in city planning of Miyazaki City in Japan. The Kawahara Avenue development is planned along the Oyodo River. The land use of the area along the route comprises the tourist hotel zone, residential zone, and industrial zone. The Kawahara Avenue planning, unlike most other road development plans in Japan, requires much more than simply providing for the smooth flow of traffic. In the tourist hotel zone where the leading Miyazaki City hotels are located, the image and impression the tourists may have about the city is an important consideration. Therefore, the city government intends that this section of the road should not have excessive traffic. In the residential zone, the existing road network consists of narrow streets with no sidewalks. In addition to the sidewalks to be built, Kawahara Avenue is expected to handle a great deal of the traffic passing the residential district. This should help meet the goal in providing a safe environment for the pedestrians in other narrow streets without sidewalks. Under the circumstances as stated above, the planning has faced significant constraints in land purchasing involving forced move-out in the result of financial problems and coordination of the views between the city administration and the residents in the vicinity. The purpose of this research is to study under the given constraints what would be the most appropriate plan for the development of Kawahara Avenue. First, a traffic monitoring survey was conducted in the subject districts to compile Origin-Destination (OD) data of traffic flow in the districts. Then, the road network of the subject districts and traffic signal phase data were digitized to carry out microscopic traffic simulation and checked for reproduction accuracy of the current situation. The results confirmed that simulation reproduces the traffic conditions of the districts with sufficient precision. Furthermore, we prepared several hypothetical proposals for the road development and evaluated with the same simulation system as to how the traffic situations would be had those proposals been implemented. As a result it was demonstrated that the original goals can be achieved by developing the road within the given constraints.

Traffic signal control using queueing theory

Traffic signal control has drawn considerable attention in the literatures thanks to its ability to improve the mobility of urban networks. Queueing models are capable of capturing performance or effectiveness of a queueing system. In this report, SOCPs (second order cone program) are proposed based on different queueing models as pre-timed signal control techniques to minimize total travel delay. Stochastic programs are developed in order to handle the uncertainties in the arrival rates. In addition, the superiority of the proposed model over Webster’s model has been validated in a microscopic traffic simulation software named CORSIM.Statistic

Microscopic Traffic Simulation Model Calibration

Práce se zabývá problematikou mikroskopické simulace dopravy. Součástí práce je návrh a implementace mikrosimulačního modelu, který je založen na celulárním automatu a vychází z modelu Nagel-Schreckenberg. Model podporuje kalibraci genetickým algoritmem. Práce obsahuje výsledky simulací s nastavením modelu, které bylo nalezeno při kalibraci.This thesis main focus is microscopic traffic sumulation. Part of this work is the design and implementation of microsimulation model based on cellular automaton. Implemented model supports calibration with genetic algorithm. The results of calibration and simulations are included.

Assessing Complete Street Strategies Using Microscopic Traffic Simulation Models

Authors of this research developed a traffic simulation model for the downtown San Jose network and evaluated five different street redesign and travel demand combinations. This model aids understanding of network-wide effects of changes in street design for local and regional agencies who are interested in implementing complete streets and/or one-way to two-way conversion. The base network may be altered to model and evaluate other complete streets (e.g., road diet) and tactical urbanism (e.g., farmer’s market on city streets on certain days of the week) scenarios. The 3-dimensional animated videos for each scenario are also created to be used for public outreach by the city to engage the stakeholders in the planning and implementation process. Quantitative measures used for evaluating the scenarios include travel times on key corridors and network-wide delays during the afternoon peak hour. The evaluation shows the current city street network will be able to sustain a modest (between 5% and 10%) increase in single-occupancy automobile travel demand. The network will be overwhelmed if the single-occupancy automobile travel demand were to increase to the level projected per the city’s 2040 general plan. This outcome points to the need for strong Travel Demand Management (TDM) measures

Modelling Eco-Driving Support System for Microscopic Traffic Simulation

Microscopic traffic simulation is an ideal tool for investigating the network level impacts of eco-driving in different networks and traffic conditions, under varying penetration rates and driver compliance rates. The reliability of the traffic simulation results however rely on the accurate representation of the simulation of the driver support system and the response of the driver to the eco-driving advice, as well as on a realistic modelling and calibration of the driver’s behaviour. The state-of-the-art microscopic traffic simulation models however exclude detailed modelling of the driver response to eco-driver support systems. This paper fills in this research gap by presenting a framework for extending state-of-the-art traffic simulation models with sub models for drivers’ compliance to advice from an advisory eco-driving support systems. The developed simulation framework includes among others a model of driver’s compliance with the advice given by the system, a gear shifting model and a simplified model for estimating vehicles maximum possible acceleration. Data from field operational tests with a full advisory eco-driving system developed within the ecoDriver project was used to calibrate the developed compliance models. A set of verification simulations used to illustrate the effect of the combination of the ecoDriver system and drivers’ compliance to the advices are also presented

Exploring geometric, kinematic and behavioral scalability of microscopic traffic simulation systems

Even with today\u27s remarkable advancement in computing power, microscopic simulation modeling remains a computationally intensive process that imposes limitations on its potential use for modeling large-scale transportation networks. Research and practice have repeatedly demonstrated that microscopic simulation runs can be excessively time-consuming, depending on the network size, the number of simulated entities (vehicles), and the computational resources available. While microscopic features of a simulated system collectively define the overall system characteristics, it is argued that the microscopic simulation process itself is not necessarily free of redundancy, which if reduced, could substantially improve the computational efficiency of simulation systems without compromising the overall integrity of the simulation process. This research study explores the concept of scalability for microscopic traffic simulation systems in order to improve their computational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. More specifically, we present an optimized downsampling procedure for transforming the full-scale simulation system (prototype) into a geometrically, kinematically, and behaviorally equivalent reduced-scale system (microcosm). The ultimate goal is to execute the microscopic simulation process in the microcosm environment, observe all necessary macroscopic characteristics and performance measures, and upsample the results back to the prototype environment. Experimental analysis was conducted on a homogeneous freeway corridor to examine the effect of different operating conditions on the optimal solutions for the downsampling procedure. The study also investigates the tradeoff between performance and scalability of microscopic simulation systems