Simulation and Visualization of Air-Side Operations at Detroit Metropolitan Airport

This paper presents the simulation model and 3D animation of the airside operations at Detroit Metro Airport, Romulus, Michigan. The paper illustrates how simulation modeling and visualization can be of substantial help in studying airside airport operations, and by consequence can greatly contribute in planning and designing construction operations at airports in a way that has the least impact on airside operations. Given that construction processes modeling was studied effectively in previous research efforts, the presented example investigates only airport operations. The focus of the presented work is on evaluating the capabilities of state-of-the-art construction simulation and visualization tools in being able to accurately model and animate airside airport operations. The solution to the problem is described in detail using a simulation model developed in STROBOSCOPE and a 3D animation created using VITASCOPE