Microscopic Traffic-Emission Simulation and Case Study for Evaluation of Traffic Control Strategies

Abstract

Many studies have shown that the quality of vehicle emissions is typically affected by vehicles' instantaneous speeds and acceleration rates. In order to develop effective strategies for vehicle emission controls, it is necessary to develop a microscopic simulation platform for estimating vehicle emissions that can capture the vehicles' instantaneous modal activities. This article is intended to develop an integrated microscopic traffic-emission simulation platform by using the microscopic traffic simulation model VISSIM and the modal emission model CMEM. A sub-network selected from the Haidian district of Beijing is used to build a traffic simulation network, whose traffic and emission conditions are subsequently evaluated. This article first analyzes the relationship between the instantaneous emission/fuel consumption rate and the instantaneous speed/acceleration. Then, it analyzes and calculates the emissions for a variety of vehicle types in the network. Finally, it evaluates the impact of two alternative traffic control and management strategies using the developed platform.