Development of an Object-Oriented Pedestrian Traffic Flow Simulation Environment for Transport Terminal Planning

In recent years, simulation has become an essential tool for planning, designing, and managing terminal operations. Simulation modeling of various aspects related to the dynamic nature of the pedestrian/passenger behavior within a transport terminal can effectively assist in the analysis, evaluation, emergency response planning, and decision support phases of the terminal’s operation. In this paper, the development of an object-oriented environment that enables both the graphical description and simulation of pedestrian traffic flows at the microscopic level is discussed. The simulation environment provides generation capabilities so that a terminal station model is directly formed on the basis of preconstructed component models. Essential experimentation capabilities, including graphical representation, are provided for pedestrian-oriented and system-oriented measures of interest with explicit emphasis on the level of service. A case study for a 4-level station in the new Athens subway system is also used to demonstrate the potential and functionality of the simulation environment.