Project number: MF-1.2a
Funding source: Volvo Research and Education Foundation
Performance Period: 1/1/2014 to 9/17/2017

Project description

The use of high fidelity simulation models is an effective low cost approach for studying a wide range of transportation problems without distracting any of the current operations and practices. It allows us to identify what has the potential to work and what will have a spillover effect in the transportation network, which is often the case when approaches to alleviate congestion in one area simply transfer it to another area. Our focus is freight transportation and in particular freight transportation in a metropolitan area where congestion puts additional constraints and different modes of transportation interact in a way that is not always clear. The use of high speed computers and software tools allow us for the first time to develop complex simulation models that mimic the real system with levels of accuracy not achieved before by the use of simpler models. Our focus area is Los Angeles/Long Beach metropolitan area that includes the twin ports, inland ports, warehouses etc. and a complex road and rail networks that are shared with passengers. Our task is to develop a suite of models that include the terminals and road network, which can accurately simulate the flow of trucks. Such models once validated with real data can be used to evaluate the impact of different scenarios due to policy, land use changes, new technologies etc. on the flow of freight within and outside the terminals but also on the flow of traffic on the road network in general. We will interact with the research group of Professor Giuliano, which will provide the scenarios to be evaluated. We should note the granularity of the models will very much depend on the scenario to be tested and for this reason we are developing both macroscopic and microscopic traffic models. The macroscopic models allow us to model a much bigger road network as the emphasis is on flows without encountering any computational and significant scaling issues. The microscopic models are used for smaller areas as in these models that dynamics of each vehicle are simulated and we are able to look into individual vehicle acceleration/deceleration and speed profiles as it interacts with other vehicles. In addition to these two classes of models we also develop a terminal cost model that  examines the impact on the cost to the terminal operations as a result of a certain change in the freight transportation chain or road network. Furthermore an emissions model integrated with the microscopic model can count the individual vehicle emissions and fuel consumption and allow us to evaluate the impact to the environment of any proposed changes.