An Infinite-Dimensional Variational Inequality Formulation and Existence Result for Dynamic User Equilibrium with Elastic Demands

Abstract

This paper is concerned with dynamic user equilibrium (DUE) with elastic travel demand (E-DUE). We present and prove a variational inequality (VI) formulation of E-DUE using measure-theoretic argument. Moreover, existence of the E-DUE is formally established with a version of Brouwer's fixed point theorem in a properly defined Hilbert space. The existence proof requires the effective delay operator to be continuous, a regularity condition also needed to ensure the existence of DUE with fixed demand (Han et al., 2013c). Our proof does not invoke the a priori upper bound of the departure rates (path flows).