Traffic Flow Simulation on Discrete Rate Approach Base

The classical scientific literature dedicated to transport modelling has emphasised three levels of detail on which traffic models could be created. These levels are: microlevel, mesolevel and macroscopic level. Microscopic and macroscopic modelling are well known and widely used. The term ‘mesoscopic modelling’ has been interpreted by different scientists in different ways. In general, mesoscopic traffic flow models are understood to be models where traffic flow is described with a high level of detail, but at the same time flow behaviour and flow interactions are presented with a low level of description. The previously proposed new simulation approach (called ‘mesoscopic simulation’) was applied to traffic flow simulation. All the described models were implemented using Microsoft Excel and VBA. However, the practical application concerns that to construct more sophisticated models Microsoft Excel and VBA could not be used, because of programming complexity.

The main goal of this paper is to present examples of the application of the discrete rate approach of ExtendSim simulation software for traffic flow simulation. A literature survey has shown that the discrete rate approach is mainly used in logistics, but not in the area of transport area. So the tasks of this paper are to present the main techniques of model implementation using a discrete rate approach and to apply this approach to traffic flow simulation.