The General Principles of the Transportation Simulation Model Development and Validation

Abstract

Transportation simulation model development allows simulating traveller’s decisions, evaluating various transportation management strategies and complex solutions. The aim of the paper is to set the general principles of the transportation simulation model development and validation. The paper contains the overview of the transportation simulation models types with the examples from the conducted projects for the Riga city. The basic steps of the simulation model development procedure: initial data preparation and analysis, transportation model development and simulation, scenarios planning and evaluation, and simulation models outcomes evaluation are considered. Simulation model verification, validation and calibration definitions are given. The basic checks for the transportation macroscopic and microscopic simulation model validation are listed. A summary of the transportation simulation model validation and calibration methods and parameters is given.