Emissions Modeling and Implementation into CORSIM

The objective of this project was to develop a micro-scale model for the energy use and emissions of light duty gasoline vehicles, based on in-use measurements, and incorporate the resulting fuel and emissions model into the CORSIM traffic simulation program. Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS) were used to measure the exhaust emissions of 10 passenger cars and 5 passenger trucks during driving on routes in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina region, supplemented with data collected in Asheville, NC and Gainesville, Florida. Fuel use and emissions during cold starts were also measured using PEMS. The PEMS data were used to quantify fuel use and emission rates for 14 Vehicle Specific Power (VSP) modes. VSP is an indicator of engine power demand based on speed, acceleration, and road grade. Cold start increments for fuel use and emissions were quantified. The VSP-based approach was implemented into CORSIM. To demonstrate a method for evaluating emissions estimates from the revised CORSIM, a pilot study was conducted for the I-4 corridor near Orlando. VSP modal emission rates for a test vehicle were used to calibrate CORSIM, and CORSIM was used to predict the emissions for the same road segments traveled by the vehicle. The project successfully demonstrated that real-world vehicle emissions data can be incorporated into a traffic simulation model, and that the revised model can predict trends in vehicle emissions consistent with real-world data.