Parameter Calibration and Application for the Vissim Simulation Model

Traffic simulation technique provides a critical tool for traffic engineering studies. Although the software features vary across different simulation packages, the fundamental simulation mechanism of those packages remains the same. Taking Vissim, a well-known traffic simulation software tool, as an example, this paper briefly introduces the basic structure of the simulation system, and analyzes the parameters related to link traffic simulation. An emphasis was placed on analyzing vehicle-following model related parameters that significantly influence the simulation results of different scenarios. A comparison of standard parameter values with the simulation results leads to a relatively reasonable range of parameter values under normal conditions. Finally, based on a simulation scenario for a two-lane street segment, the importance of adjusting the experimental parameters was validated through variations of traffic characteristics resulted from different parameter values used in the simulation.