arena rep 1 - A SIMULATION APPROACH TO MODELING TRAFFIC IN...

A SIMULATION APPROACH TO MODELING TRAFFIC IN CONSTRUCTION
ZONES
A thesis presented to
the Faculty of
the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ
College of Engineering and Technology of
Ohio University
In partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
Master of Science
Erdinc Oner
November 2004

This thesis entitled
A SIMULATION APPROACH TO MODELING TRAFFIC IN CONSTRUCTION
ZONES
BY
ERDINC ONER
has been approved for
the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
and the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology by
Helmut T. Zwahlen
Russ Professor Emeritus of Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems
Engineering
Dennis Irwin
Dean, Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology

ONER, ERDINC. M.S. November 2004. Industrial and Manufacturing Systems
Engineering
A SIMULATION APPROACH TO MODELING TRAFFIC IN CONSTRUCTION
ZONES (478 pp.)
Director of Thesis: Helmut T. Zwahlen
A simulation model has been designed to model the traffic when the number of
lanes has been reduced due to construction work (bottleneck) using the ARENA
simulation program. The ARENA simulation model consists of about 1750 modules
(statements) and it uses the entity – transporter pairs to represent either a car or a truck
with specific features assigned in the model. The model is developed to simulate two lane
road traffic in same direction reduced to one lane through the construction zone. The
model was designed to run on a PC. A minimum processor speed of 2 GHz and at least
256 MB of RAM is desirable to run the model. The ARENA Research Version 7.01 must
be used for the simulation. The simulation model was run for a 24 hours time period for a
weekday. The data used as input variables for the ARENA simulation model were
collected during summer 2004 at the I-76 Westbound construction zone near Rootstown,
Ohio as a part of the project entitled “Improved Work Zone Design Guidelines and
Enhanced Model of Travel Delays in Work Zones” for Ohio Department of
Transportation. This data was analyzed in order to be used as input and validation for the
simulation model. The ARENA model could not be fully evaluated since the actual traffic
volumes which were observed and collected were not high enough to cause queues in the
lane reduction area (lane reduction from two lanes to one lane). For the relatively low
traffic volume investigated in the real world the ARENA model, as well as the
QuickZone model did not indicate any queues and delays.
Approved:
Helmut T. Zwahlen
Russ Professor Emeritus of Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems
Engineering