Traffic congestion mechanism in mega-airport surface

In this paper, guided by macroscopic cell transmission models, a cell transmission model of aircraft traffic flow on runways, taxiways and aprons was established to deduce and analyze the evolution rules of an airport surface traffic. The model was simulated by adopting data from a large domestic airport in China. The relationship between three parameters of traffic flow on taxiways was evaluated, and the airport surface traffic flow characteristics were analyzed. Moreover, this paper macroscopically analyzed the characteristics of spatial-temporal distribution of airport surface recurrent and non-recurrent traffic congestion. Simulation results showed that arrival rates and pushback rates had significant influence on the formation and dissipation of recurrent traffic congestion in different phases of the surface aircraft traffic flow. When the arrival rate was 0.3 aircraft/minute and the pushback rate was 0.23 aircraft/minute, the speed of aircraft on taxiways was high, the density and flow were large, and the aircraft had a high degree of obstacle-free taxiing. At this time, the airport ran smoothly and the surface network operation efficiency was high. Compared with the arrival rate, the outward expansion trend of each parameter was more obvious when the pushback rate changed. Parallel taxiways are less robust than apron taxiways and connect taxiways. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.