Simulation Model for Estimating Water Area of Inland Waterway Service Area

Inland waterway service areas (IWSA) are an important auxiliary navigation facility of inland water transport in China. The maximum number of vessels that can be accommodated simultaneously is vital for the planning and designing of an IWSA. Taking into account the inland vessel traffic system and service functions, in this article, a simulation model using AnyLogic for estimating the water area of an IWSA was presented and validated based on field data regarding three service areas in the Yangtze Delta. Sensitivity analysis was adopted to identify the impacts of the different distributions and expected values of the driving-in rate and the turnover rate. According to much simulation and regression analysis, the water area could be simplified to a continuous function of the vessel flow rate on the segment. It provides a convenient and reasonable estimation for the required water area of an IWSA.