SIMULATION ANALYSIS OF AUTOMATED EARTH BORING METHODS Daniel W . Halpin

Simulation offers a tool that enables the simulator to compare alternative technologies in an environment that closely models the real world. Advantages of automation from a production perspective can be established by building a simulation model and experimenting with it on a computer. This paper illustrates this by specifically simulating a liner plate tunneling system using MicroCYCLONE, an easy-to-use simulation methodology. To compare the results we perform the same simulation experiments using SLAM II, a general purpose simulation language. Both simulation systems yield the same results. The advantages of CYCLONE mainly lie in its simplicity and ease of use.