Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory

TL;DR: A process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) is implemented to design coastal entrance channels. The model simulates ships in and out of a channel, berthing and anchorage operations. It is applied to a Chinese coal-import terminal to explore bottlenecks and determine improvement strategies.

Abstract: The design of coastal entrance channel is a complex challenge, considering the stochastic environment and time-consuming calculation works. Therefore, we implement a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) using Java language to help the designers to determine the dimensions of entrance channels. The PI-SMSO component simulates ships in and out through a oneor two-way traffic channel, or a one-way channel with a ship-passing anchorage, and ships discharging/loading at berths. Finally, we apply the PI-SMSO to a Chinese coal-import terminal, to explore its possible bottlenecks by evaluating the performance of entrance channel system, and determine the available improvement strategies according to the simulated port performance. The case study proves that the proposed PI-SMSO effectively simulates the ship traffic flow in entrance channel and provides a decision support for evaluating entrance channel system.