Mesoscopic Traffic Simulation-based Approach To The Calibration Of Dynamic Traffic Parameters And Evaluation System Of Road Traffic Conditions

Traffic problems in urban areas have become a worldwide problem. China, undergoing a rapid economic and social development, is facing an unprecedented traffic problem in its megapolis. In addition to the traffic congestions caused by the rapid increase of motorized vehicles in big cities, the large-scale events, emergency incidents, and the roadway construction work will considerably affect the operational conditions of the roadway network. The emerging and development of traffic simulation techniques provide a completely new experimental approach for analyzing and evaluating traffic problems for big cities. Further, they provide an objective, accurate and flexible means to supporting the decisions of the traffic management department. In China today, extensive studies have been conducted on the macroscopic and microscopic level traffic simulation models, however, few studies could be found in the existing literatures for the mesoscopic level traffic simulation. Since a mesoscopic traffic simulation can capture both macroscopic traffic flow characteristics and the route selection behavior, as well as the detailed traffic measures such as queue length and delays, it is well suited for the evaluation of traffic management strategies and application of technologies for a regional traffic network. In this context, the research in this thesis is intended to apply the mesoscopic traffic simulation model INTEGRATION as the basic study tool to study the mesoscopic level traffic scenarios. The thesis first analyzes the traffic flow characteristics in different regions and at different time periods for the ring road expressways of Beijing. Then, it implements the calibration of dynamic traffic flow parameters based on the single-regime traffic flow model. Subsequently, the thesis develops an indicator called the Speed Dynamic Floating Rate for evaluating the dynamic traffic operational characteristics, which is then combined with other indicators to establish the mesoscopic traffic simulation-based traffic operational evaluation system for road networks. Finally, the thesis conducts a case study to the traffic calibration technique and the proposed traffic operational evaluation system using the west 3^rd ring traffic corridor network.