STUDY OF TRAFFIC FLOW BY SIMULATION

Abstract

THE CONCEPT OF VEHICLE FLOW RATE OR, ALTERNATELY DISTRIBUTION OF GAPS, FINDS GENERAL UTILITY IN APPROACHES OF BOTH ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION. IDEALLY, THE BEHAVIOR OF A PHYSICAL MODEL (SIMULATOR) RESEMBLES THAT OF THE REAL SITUATION UNDER STUDY BY VIRTUE OF THE POSTULATES LAID DOWN BY THE INVESTIGATOR. SUCH A MODEL ENCOMPASSES BOTH THE STRUCTURE (FIXED FACILITY) AND THE DYNAMICS OF THE MOVEMENT OF INTERSECTING STREAMS OF VEHICLES IN TERMS OF FLOW PATHS, QUEUING, WAITING, PROCEEDING AHEAD AND TURNING SUBJECT TO DELAYS CAUSED BY CROSS TRAFFIC AND PEDESTRIANS. COMPUTERS CAN BE PROGRAMMED TO SIMULATE SUCH STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS. ACTIVITY TO DATE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HAS BEEN AS FOLLOWS: FORMULATION OF A TRIAL PROBLEM FOR SOLUTION ON A GENERAL-PURPOSE DISCRETE-VARIABLE COMPUTER, STANDARDS WESTERN AUTOMATIC COMPUTER (SWAC) COMPLETION OF THE LOGICAL DESIGN OF A SPECIAL-PURPOSE DISCRETE-VARIABLE COMPUTER, AND CONSIDERABLE PROGRESS ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF ACCESSORY EQUIPMENT TO PERMIT THE USE OF A GENERAL-PURPOSE CONTINUOUS- VARIABLE COMPUTER. /AUTHOR/