Overview
The objective of the research is to indicate the state of the art in simulation in the freight transport, the current available simulation tools or groups of simulation tools and how they are typed.
It analyses which topics in freight transport planning are relevant and where, how and for which reason have simulation tools be used. With what experiences? Out of it the benefits and costs of simulation tools should be indicated. Other questions are, which contributions can simulation tools offer to solve problems in freight transport planning and what are the applications possibilities and boundaries.
Finally findings/recommendations are derived for the use of simulation tools in freight transport planning.
Within the project, in addition to the simulation of transport processes, the following methods are applied:
- Literature review
- Interviews
- Evaluation of simulation applications
- Case studies
Funding
Results
The results, findings, conclusions and recommendations were prepared and verified on the basis of literature searches, product descriptions, an evaluation of simulation projects, expert interviews and an expert workshop.
The project provides important findings on simulation applications in freight transport planning. These should be taken into account by the involved actors when dealing with infrastructure and operational measures.
The actors in the field of transport and logistics are to be more sensitized to the problem solving potential of simulations and to the application opportunities and limits of simulations as well.
The findings from the study are to be integrated in training courses and educational materials from universities and associations to improve the understanding and knowledge about simulations.
These are the crucial project results:
- Simulation theory and state of the art
- Questions in freight transport planning
- Typology and Structure of simulation tools
- Evaluation of Simulation applications
- Application of Simulation tools in new case studies
- Synthesis, main findings and recommendations