Micro-simulation of Traffic

Saurav Bhattacharjee, Ankit godara, Rajneesh bahari

Department of Civil Enginnering, IIT Kanpur, India 208016
E-mail: sauravb@iitk.ac.in,rajneesh@iitk.ac.in,ankit@iitk.in

Abstract: Vissim software is

used for micro simulation of traffic to study the driver-driver

interaction. This report presents the simulation of the traffic.

Introduction
The complexity of traffic stream behavior and the difficulties in performing experiments
with real world traffic make computer simulation, with the help of complex softwares
developed on the basis of various car following models and differential equations, an
important analysis tool in traffic engineering. Simulation modeling is an increasingly
popular and effective tool for-

Analyzing a wide variety of dynamical problems those associated with complex

processes which cannot readily be described in analytical terms.
When there is some sort of uncertainty in mathematical formulation or results.
When there is a need of an animated view of flow of vehicles to study their behavior.
A traffic micro-simulation model consists of sub-models that describe human driver
behavior. Important behavior models include; gap-acceptance, speed adaptation, lanechanging, ramp merging, overtakes, and car-following. The gap-acceptance model
determines minimum acceptable distances to surrounding vehicles in the context of
inter-sections and merging situations. Speed adaptation refers to the adaptation to the road
design speed at a vehicles current position in the network. Lane-changing models describe
drivers behavior when deciding whether to change lane or not on a multi-lane road link,
e.g. when traveling on a motorway. Analogously, on two-lane rural roads the overtake
model controls drivers overtaking behavior. Finally, there is the car-following model,
which describes the interactions with preceding vehicles in the same lane. [4]
The physical propagation of traffic flows can be specifically described using traffic flow
models. By making use of different traffic simulation models, one can simulate large scale
real-world situations in great detail. Depending on the level of detailing, traffic flow models
are classified into macroscopic, mesoscopic and microscopic models. Macroscopic models
view the traffic flow as a whole whereas microscopic ones (e.g.- car following models and
lane changing models) gives attention to individual vehicles and their interactions while the
mesoscopic models fall in between these two and consider platoons of traffic presuming
them as characteristically homogeneous. Fast PCs have made it possible to develop
advanced traffic micro-simulation software packages.

Traffic simulation models can be classified based on different criterion. Figure 1 shows
various types of classification. In a broader sense, they can be categorized into continuous
and discrete ones according to how the elements describing a system change their states.
The latter is again classified into two Discrete models based on time, and
Discrete models based on events.
Traffic Simulation Models

Deterministic

Macroscopic

Continuous

Microscopic
Mesoscopic

Stochastic
Discrete

Figure 1: Classification of Traffic Simulation Models. [1]

This study gives an overall idea of the basic concepts behind simulation models and
elaboration about the microscopic approach for modeling traffic. A microscopic model of
traffic flow attempts to analyze the flow of traffic by modeling driver-driver and driver-road
interactions within a traffic stream which respectively analyses the interaction between two
drivers on a road and of a single driver on the different features of a road. Many studies and
researches were carried out on drivers behavior in different situations like a case when he
meets a static obstacle or when he meets a dynamic obstacle. Among these, the pioneer
development of car following theories paved the way for the researchers to model the
behavior of a vehicle following another vehicle in the 1950s and1960s.

Start

Input & Initialization

About VISSIM
PTV Vissim is a microscopic multi-modal traffic flow simulation software package
developed by PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG in Karlsruhe, Germany. The name is
derived from "Verkehr In Stdten Simulations modell" (German for "Traffic in cities simulation model"). PTV Vissim was first developed in 1992 and is today a global market
leader [2]. This software package offers a huge variety of urban and non urban highway
applications, integrating public and private transportation and in multi modal simulation,
arterial corridor studies, sub-area planning studies, evacuation planning, freeway
management strategy development, environmental impact studies, Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS) assessments, current and future traffic management schemes
etc. Realistic traffic conditions with higher levels of complexity are demonstrated in high
level of detail supported by provided traffic models.
This VISSIM software package was built on the basis of the principle of Weidemann car
following model (Reiner Weidemann, 1974) which uses thresholds to define the different
regimes in car following- some of them using speed as their parameter while the others
include the relative speed between consecutive two vehicles and which combines a
perceptual model of the driver with a vehicle model. The behavioral model for the driver
involves a classification of reactions in response to the perceived relative speed and
distance with respect to the preceding vehicle. Four driving modes are defined, as shown in
Figure 2: Free driving, approaching, following, and braking. In each mode the driver
behaves differently, reacting either to its following distance, or trying to match a prescribed
target speed. These reactions result in a command acceleration given to the vehicle, which
is processed according to its capabilities. Drivers can also make the decision to change
lanes. This decision can either be forced by a routing requirement, for example when
approaching an intersection, or made by the driver in order to access a faster-moving lane
[5]. The Wiedemann model uses random numbers in order to create heterogeneous traffic
stream behavior in VISSIM. These random numbers are meant to simulate behavior of
different drivers [3]. The naturalistic data is a perfect match for this situation because the
data is collected from individual drivers. Amongst the three types of car following models,
based on the utilized analyzing factors (namely, Gazis-Herman-Rothery models (GHR),
Safety-distance models and Psycho-physical car-following models), VISSIM can be
classified as psycho-physical models [4].

Calibration
The calibration is done by collecting the field data and feeding it in the software. The
output is studied with respect to the field data. If there are variations the vassim parameters
are adjusted accordingly.

Objective
1. To simulate a traffic model of a given dataset of traffic using VISSIM.
2. To study the impact of blocking a lane for fifteen minutes in terms of delay and
travel time.
3. To study the impact of converting the two lane highways to a four lane highway.

Figure 2: VISSIMs Driver Behavior Model. [5]

Observations and Calculations

Traffic data

Data simulation
1. 2-lane traffic flow
2. Blocking a lane for 15 minutes

3. Addition of a lane, i.e., converting 2-lane to 3-lane