Merging and diverging operations: benchmark of three European microscopic simulation tools and comparison with analytical formulations

Abstract

Purpose: We benchmark three European microscopic simulation software’s ability to reproduce congested patterns at merges and diverges by comparing their macroscopic outputs to validated analytical formulations. The capacity drop and, in the specific case of merges, the priority ratio are assessed. At the microscopic scale, the spatial distribution of lane changes at merges is examined. Method: A single reference state is built for all three simulation tools. A point-based diverge and an extended merge are reproduced in the simulation tools. Under traffic conditions ranging from free-flow to congestion, vehicles counts and vehicles trajectories are collected to compute the selected indicators, which help to conclude for the considered reference state. Results: The considered simulation tools correctly reproduce the merges and diverges elementary behaviors. However, their default configuration does not, entirely or partially, reproduce the traffic conditions induced by insertions and desertions as predicted by the analytical models. Discussion: The study could be enriched by including the benchmark of other simulation tools. In addition, the networks studied are elementary and may not reflect completely the traffic situations encountered on the highways.