A Manual of Verification Process for Road Network Simulation Models - an Examination in Japan

This paper at first introduces an examination in Japan to standardize traffic simulation models. The basic idea of the standardization here is to estimate abilities of existing models how to reproduce traffic conditions through verification and validation. Verification implies qualifying tests using virtual data sets in order to make a connection between the simulation model and the traffic-engineering theory clear, while validation means an evaluation process with real world data. Subsequently to the general introduction, the verification process will be detailed with its philosophy and basic test configurations to verify models’ functions concerning to 1) vehicle generation, 2) bottleneck capacity at simple road sections, 3) capacity of merging/diverging areas, 4) traffic jam growing/shrinking with propagation of shock waves, 5) capacity of left/right turn at an intersection, and 6) drivers’ route choice behavior. In the last part of this paper, we briefly state the on-going project to compare some popular simulation models in Japan.