A HYBRID SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION ANALYSIS

Two simulation approaches to emulate traffic flow dynamics are mesoscopic modeling which combines aspects of flow theory with explicit treatment of interrupted flows at intersections and allows modeling large networks with high computational efficiency dealing with dynamics aspects in strategic planning and microscopic approaches modeling the individual dynamics of each vehicle by means of car-following, lane changing and other models consistent with traffic flow theory with higher computational cost but allowing a very detailed analysis appropriated for operational planning. Combining meso and micro is methodologically appealing but raises consistency problems on the network representation and the transitions meso-micro-meso. This paper discusses these problems, proposes a solution and illustrates how it works in practice.