Handbook of Real-World Applications in Modeling and Simulation

Chapter Three

Transportation

R. Michael Robinson

3.1 Introduction and Learning Objectives

The use of modeling and simulation (M&S) tools and methods to solve problems in transportation is well established. Basic, physical transportation models have been used for centuries. Computer models and simulations were first used in the early 1950s with simulations created by the Road Research Laboratory in the United Kingdom, at the Willow Run Research Center of the University of Michigan, and at the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering of the University of California in the middle of the last century (1). Other models and simulations soon followed with the number of simulations increasing continuously until the present day. It would be impossible for this introduction to transportation modeling and simulation (M&S) to keep pace with the rapidly advancing techniques and tools available and no claim is made that it presents the leading edge of transportation M&S. Civil and transportation engineering academic programs can choose from a large library of comprehensive texts on the topic. The chapter that follows cannot replace the information available in these offerings and is not intended to do so. Instead, it provides an introduction to key aspects of surface (road) transportation modeling for the nontransportation professional using M&S in a transportation environment, perhaps for the first time.

The chapter begins with an introduction to M&S, its application in transportation, ...