Most equilibrium traffic assignment models are based on aggregate link performance functions. These flow-delay functions represent a crude abstraction of real dependence of travel time on actual traffic volumes and physical conditions of the transportation network elements. To achieve more realistic assignment results for planning purposes and in the field of intelligent vehicle-highway systems research, several recent works attempt to combine assignment with network simulation. A new equilibrium assignment model that can obtain travel time values from any pointwise volume-delay function is presented. This proposed solution procedure is based on the convex combination method. The proposed assignment procedure is compared with the classic Leblanc's assignment algorithm with fully specified volume-delay functions and with the method of successive averages used in stochastic assignment problems. The proposed method was found to be superior to the MSA procedure due to its faster and more accurate convergence characteristics. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting