Challenge
Schedule trucks accordingly on the mountain roads to transport rocks efficiently.
Solutions
A simulation model was created to find out whether or not the given combination of backhoes, dump trucks, and barges could digest 25,000m3 of rocks within 10 hours. Assumptions made for creating a simulation model include all trucking functionality and more as depicted in the document.
Results
A total of 4 phases of excavations were planed according to topographic situation on the mountain. This paper presents the phase 1 excavation as an example. In the first phase of excavation, there are rocks blasted at 10 different locations. Rocks excavated at blasting specific locations were assumed to be transported to the barge wharf. Rocks from alternate locations were to be transported to the dumping place. Rocks from the last blasting location are supposed to be transported to the secondary dumping place.
Background
A new container terminal is currently constructed in South Korea in order to handle ever increasing goods transported. The proposed terminal site is partially occupied by a rock mountain that should be removed to provide necessary aggregates and eventually a flat land. A total of 23 million cubic meters of rocks are to be excavated from this mountain, and the port authority wants to get it done within 30 months. As many as 100 dump trucks are expected to be hired every day to transport rocks to be blasted at least 10 different locations on the mountain.
Challenge
A new container terminal was being constructed near Busan, the second largest city in South Korea, in order to handle ever increasing quantity of transporting goods. The new terminal is going be large enough to moor up to 30 container carriers at the same time. The construction project is expected to build a total of 9.95 km of quay walls and corresponding container handling facilities by 2011 through 8 phases of construction. The capacity is set, but the truck routes, loading procedures, and other functions must be optimized to maximize the efficiency of this facility.
Solution
Anticipating the congestion that might be caused by many trucks running on the mountain roads at the same time, the stochastic simulation technique was utilized to figure out whether it would affect the rock production.
Results
The experimental application of the Arena to this project demonstrated that the Arena’s transporter flowchart module was an effective tool to simulate the truck’s speed reduction, which is often critical in construction planning. The authors believe that Arena’s ability to represent the entities moving in the simulation model should facilitate the industry practitioners to validate the logic of the model and develop confidence in the result of simulation.
The presented simulation model however used fixed values for all activities except the time needed for the trucks to pass the 4-way stop intersections just to study the impact of traffic congestion on the rock production. For accurate results, the authors are adding more variables to the simulation model.