| The development of a high-level computer language designed to simulate passenger terminals is described. This language is used to represent the operation of passenger terminals in terms of the number of passengers arriving, being served and queueing at the various terminal facilities. It may be utilized in performance and capacity assessment of terminal buildings.;Passenger terminal flows are simulated by assuming that passenger movements may be represented by fluid flowing through a system of interconnected reservoirs, which correspond to terminal components. Paxgraphs, functions describing passenger arrivals as a function of time before flight departure or after flight arrival, are used to generate passenger flows for user-defined discrete time intervals, typically ranging from one to five minutes. The simulation analyzes the movement of passengers through the predetermined paths within the terminal. It is assumed that there is a condition of continuity between consecutive facilities in a path: the output of the upstream component is the input of the downstream component.;The operation of terminal facilities is simulated by calculating output flows and queue lengths given input flows, queue lengths and service characteristics at the end of discrete time intervals. Seven pre-programmed models have been developed to simulate terminal components, the passenger-greeter and passenger-bag matching processes, and the departure public concourse and ancillary facilities. Each model calculates output flow and queue length through expressions specifically developed to represent the functioning of a class of terminal components. It is assumed that processors operate under FIFO discipline; the capacity of a congested server is divided between flows of different flights proportionally to their volumes and the queue is served before the new arrivals.;The terminal simulation language is simple to use, easy to learn and flexible. New classes of terminal components may be defined and models that fail to simulate facilities accurately may be modified or replaced.;The capabilities of the proposed approach are demonstrated through a simulation of Terminal One at Toronto International Airport on a typical day. The results of this simulation are shown to be similar to those produced by the Transport Canada simulation model. |
