Transport Simulation and Modelling

Topic of Research

The wide range of transport modelling application is connected with the movement of passenger transport, urban traffic analysing, strategic freight-network planning, etc. The transport modelling complexity is defined by the huge amount of users and stochastic processes in the transport systems. One of the most usable means in this case - simulation modelling. Simulation is the technique of constructing and running a model of real system to study its behaviour without disrupting the environment of the real system.

The macroscopic model simulates the current and future transport flows, city road network, analyses the intensity of movement, scenario "that if" scheduling. The microscopic model simulates the transport jams forecasting, chooses the optimal organisation of transport movement on junction, analyses the "bottlenecks" in the transport network.

For Latvia the tasks of transport modelling and simulation are especially important, because there are several European corridors going through its capital - Riga, which capacity in many aspects is identified by the efficiency of logical system of the urban agglomeration. The transport models are useful means for decision-making process in transport. The area of decision making in transport can be divided into two ones: the stage of planning and the stage of operating. The main goal of using modeling, for example, at the stage of planning the transport node - the analysis of future decisions and their influence on common situation around. The availability of the simulation model at the pre-planning and planning stages will allow to analyze the possible design solutions and to find out an optimal one.

The simulation modelling is considered also as one of the ways of solving the problem of city traffic optimisation. It allows more realistic representation of the hugely varied choice situation that arises in practice. There exist microscopic and macroscopic simulation approaches to simulation of traffic. The main task of microscopic traffic simulation is to support traffic management decisions. It can be used as a part of Intelligent Transport System, which tries to redistribute the flows in the network, reroute the vehicles according to the current road conditions. Also it can be used for the analysis of traffic scenarios for conflicting situations. The main advantage of the micro-simulation models is the appearance of the obtained results, which could be received, in the animation form, as well.

As the realization instruments a specialized simulation package VISSIM 4.2 for micro simulation and VISUM for macro simulation have been used. The packages are the software products of the PTV German Company. The models constructed on the basis of this software can be used for the analysis of the transport infrastructure development.

The main research activities within the frame of Transport Simulation and Modelling are:

• Development of micro level traffic models
• Development of transport infrastructure models
• Analysis of traffic flow program tools
• Case studies development

Selected Papers

• Kabashkin I., Pankov A., Yatskiv I. The Transport Tasks in the Solutions of City Logistics Problems. - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference "Business and Logistics - 2003", 7 February 2003, Moscow, Russia. - Moscow, 2003, pp. 152-156. (in Russian)
• Kabashkin I., Pankov A., Yatskiv I. City Transport Problems as an Object of Modelling. Proceedings of the International Conference "Modelling and Simulation of Business Systems. MOSIBUS-2003". May 13-14, 2003, Vilnius, Lithuania. - P. 261-264.

• Yatskiv I. Introduction to Simulation Modelling (in English). - Riga: Transport and Telecommunication Institute, 2000. - 99 p.
• I.Yatskiv, E.Yurshevich, N.Kolmakova. The Simulation Modelling Capabilities Application for Transport Junction Analysis. 2-nd Russian Scientific Conference "The experience of practical using of simulation languages and systems in industry and applications", 19-21 February 2005, St.Petersburg, Russia, Vol.2, pp. 237-245. (in Russian)
• N. Kolmakova, E.Yurshevich, I.Yatskiv. Modelling as a means of  solving the problem of city traffic optimization \\ Proceeding of International Conference "Reliability and Statistics in Transport and Communication - 2005", (RelStat'05). 13-14 October 2005, Riga, Latvia Vol.7, N1. Rīga, TSI, 2006. p.156-164.
• Yatskiv I. Yurshevic E. Simulation Modelling Technology Study and Use at All Levels of Transport Specialities. \\ Proceeding of International Conference INNOVATIVE VOCATIONAL AND TRAINING IN THE TRANSPORT AREA (IVETTA). 24-25 February 2005, Riga, Latvia - Rīga, RMS, 2005. p.275-298.
• N. Kolmakova, E.Yurshevich, I.Yatskiv. The tasks of Decision support System in Transportation and Transport modelling \\ Proceeding of the 5^th International Conference on Operational Research: Simulation and Optimization in Business and Industry (SOBI-2006). 16-17 May 2006, Tallinn, Estonia. Lithuania. Kaunas, 2006. p. 207-211.     
• V,Gromule, E.Yurshevich, I.Yatskiv. Application of Simulation Modelling at the Stage of Transport Node Planning (by the Example of a Bus Station in Pardaugava) \\ Proceeding of International Conference "Reliability and Statistics in Transport and Communication - 2006", (RelStat'06). 24-27 October 2006, Riga, Latvia Vol.8, N1. Rīga, TSI, 2006. p.118-126.

Selected Projects

• Investigation of Riga Transport Node Capacity on the basis of Microscopic Simulation. (2006)
• Design of public transport simulation model. Case Study: Modelling of New Coach Terminal Project in Riga. (2006)
• Design and Investigation of Simulation Model of Air Space of Latvia for the Analysis and Forecasting of Potential Conflicts (2003)