A Discrete Time, Nested Cost Operator Approach to the Dynamic Network User Equilibrium Problem

In this paper we formulate the dynamic network user equilibrium problem as a variational inequality problem in discrete time in terms of unit path cost functions. We then show how arc exit flow functions and nested cost operators can be used to calculate unit path costs given the departure time and route choices of network users. We also demonstrate that, assuming certain regularity conditions hold, a discrete time dynamic network user equilibrium is guaranteed to exist. Finally, a heuristic algorithm and numerical results are presented.