Hybrid Traffic Model Coupling Macro- and Behavioral Microsimulation

The dynamics of traffic flow are affected by phenomena occurring and interacting on a wide range of spatial dimensions. The scales involved range from individual vehicles through collective effects and up to the network level. A promising approach to this problem is the coupling of two different traffic models able to handle a wide range of phenomena. The result of this approach is a “hybrid” model. After the introduction of the general description and the fundamental properties of hybrid models, a hybrid model is presented, mixing ARCHISIM, a microscopic behavioural model, and SSMT, a shock-wave based macroscopic model. After a short description of the two models the coupling scheme is illustrated; it has been developed in order to allow a proper transmission and translation of the information between the presented models. Finally, a validation of the resulting model is proposed for three different traffic conditions and some possible future extensions to this model are shown.