DT2ATM Advanced Transport Modelling Assignment Brief 2026 | Aston University

DT2ATM Assignment Brief

College of Engineering & Physical Sciences

Assignment Brief / Coursework Content:

This document provides all necessary information on the assessment of this module (including the assessment components, requirements and the grading criteria). In this assessment, students are expected to develop a trip generation model, gravity model and traffic model to estimate future travel demand changes.

Module Learning Outcomes:

• Explain the complexity of modelling heavily utilised transport systems and networks, both verbally and in writing.
• Select, specify and use appropriate modelling and forecasting techniques for different scenarios.
• Interpret model outputs to make practical recommendations.
• Use advanced techniques for analysing traffic and travel generation.

Individual Presentation

The presentation should include details for Tasks 1 and 2 ONLY. You are to produce a PowerPoint Presentation – content would typically last for about 5 Minutes.

Presentation Date: Friday 15th March 2024
PowerPoint must be uploaded on Blackboard after the presentation (on or before 21st March 2024).

Individual Coursework

The individual coursework component includes a Report based on the development of a travel demand model and assessment of impacts of changes in travel demand. The report should clearly describe how all tasks listed below are addressed, using appropriate technical terminology, supported by academic references, scientific reasoning, and professional arguments. Personal details (names, student numbers, etc.) must be included.

Submission deadline: Thursday 28th March 2024 (15:00)

The Report (in PDF format) must be uploaded onto Blackboard in the appropriate Assignment Submission Folder.

Descriptive details of Assignment:

Consider a study area with seven zones. It is desired to determine vehicle traffic for target year 2025 for each link in the network. A travel survey is conducted to determine future trip generation. It is decided to model trip productions as a function of zone population only, and trip attractions as a function of employment and retail floor space.

P = x·POP − 554.05
A = y·EMP + 64.68·RFS + 518.53

(Where P = trip production, A = trip attraction, POP = population, EMP = employment, RFS = retail floor space)

Data Table

Task 2

Suppose the following OD matrix is the target year 2026 Base Case zonal trip pattern.

OD Matrix

(a) Use the Fratar growth factor model to estimate the target year 2026 OD matrix.
(b) Briefly explain the influence of the proposed policy on project trip pattern. Study Area by interpreting the model results from part (a). (e.g. would there be anyincrease/decrease of traffic on each link or zone? Is the traffic being diverted fromone link to another? etc.)
(c) Explain the consequence of the changes in project trips on the transport systemand road network of the Study Area. (e.g. any improvement on link congestionlevel? any remedial action required? what might be the nature of the zones (e.g.commercial / business / residential districts etc.)? etc.)

Task 3

Suppose there is another 5-zone network. The total trip productions and attractions as well as the zone-to-zone generalised costs (in £) are as shown in the following tables.

(a) Productions and Attractions

(b) Generalised Cost Matrix (in £)

Questions

(a) Using a gravity model with impedance term of the form Cij−2C_{ij}^{-2}Cij−2​, estimate the initial Origin-Destination (OD) matrix (i.e., the number of trips to and from each zone) by distributing the total attractions with

$a=x1$

where x is the last two digits of your student number.

(e.g., if your student number is 21345678, then $a=891$).

You are required to show the first two steps for estimating the trips from all zones to zone 1.

(b) Based on the initial OD matrix from Part (a), calibrate a doubly-constrained Gravity Model. Calculate the target year OD matrix for the subject area.
(You may use the spreadsheet approach for iterative calculations.)