3D Simulation Modeling of Yard Operation in a Container Terminal

The yard operation plays an important role in the daily running of a container terminal. Whether the efficiency of a terminal can be improved depends to a significant extent on the operation of its container yard. In order to analyze the yard operation, this paper builds a 3D simulation model to simulate and visualize the yard operation in a container terminal. First, we study the characteristics of yard layout and present the logical model of container yard operation with rubber-tired gantry cranes and trucks. Then, a 3D simulation model of yard operation is implemented, which includes model setup module, container terminal layout module, horizontal transport module, yard operation module, statistics analysis module, and 3D amination module. Finally, the implemented model is applied in practice to examine the impact of reshuffle operation, and the numbers of internal trucks and yard cranes on the efficiency of yard operation. And the results show the proposed simulation model performs well and is helpful for exploring yard operation effectively.