Simulation of Canal and Lock System in Stroboscope

Construction barges used for land reclamation and carrying fill material had to pass through a canal and lock system in addition to regular traffic. A STROBOSCOPE simulation was developed to investigate the impact of the additional barges on lock traffic, to estimate the average time to cross the system, and to identify an efficient crossing policy that the contractor could recommend to the lock authority. The simulation model was communicated and validated by animation. Simulation results showed that the average vessel transit time under the existing lock crossing policy—which allowed a maximum of 5 vessels to cross in each direction—was adequate for normal lock traffic, but would have to be raised significantly, e.g., to 100 vessels, to prevent a bottleneck from the increase in traffic caused by the extra construction barges. The resulting recommended lock crossing policy was to switch traffic direction between vessels traveling east and west only when no more vessels were waiting to enter the canal and lock system in the current direction. This would reduce the average vessel transit time during construction by about 50%, from 426 to 215 minutes.