Calibration of Speed-Density Relationships for Freeways in Aimsun

The first application of a calibration methodology which uses speed-density relationships in the microsimulation calibration process is described in this article. Traffic patterns were implemented developing speed-density relationships for empirical and simulated data. For empirical relationships reference was made to traffic data observed at A22 Freeway (Italy). Aimsun microscopic traffic simulator software was then used to obtain analogous relationships for a test freeway segment under uncongested traffic conditions. Thus on field conditions were reproduced varying some calibration parameters until a good matching between field and simulation was achieved. The closeness between empirical data and simulation outputs was assessed through a statistical approach which included hypothesis testing and confidence interval