SIMUL8 is used to carry out a variety of research throughout the world. Below you will find some brief information on some of the current research activity.
Anders Jensen - Technical University of Demark, Advised by: Steen Leleur
Appraisal of Transport Projects: Assessing Robustness in Decision Making. The research is using Multi-criteria modelling for assessing non-monetary impacts of transport projects. Furthermore, the research uses decision conferencing.
Amjad Alfudail - Warwick Manufacturing Group, Advised by: Darek Ceglarek
The improvement of the Emergency department in hospitals while dealing with patients the have more than one chronic diseases
Manuel Esperon-Miguez - Cranfield University, Advised by: Professor Philip John
IVHM into legacy toolsets
Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) consists of using diagnostic and prognostic tools to reduce the maintenance cost of a vehicle and increase its availability. While diagnostic tools reduce the time required to identify the source of a fault, prognostic technology can be used to replace parts before they fail, saving time and money and increasing the safety of the platform. The information generated by these tools also helps to improve the management of the maintenance by anticipating the demand for parts and personnel.
My research focuses on finding the optimum way of retrofitting these tools on airplanes which are already in service. This is a challenge from a technical and organizational point of view. To determine how maintenance management would benefit from using IVHM I shall model the current support process of military airplanes and, using this model, determine the optimum way of implementing IVHM. The model will simulate how a complete squadron is maintained, including aspects such as stock of components, personnel available, efficiency of auxiliary material and any other key resources.
Madhu Sachidananda - Loughborough University, Wolfson school of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Advised by: Shahin Rahimifard
My research includes looking at water used for processes in manufacturing industries to minimise the freshwater consumption and waste water generation. By looking at the 4 important water management options, Remove, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, the most cost beneficial solution can be modelled to reduce the overall cost of using water in a process without compromising the environment. One of the goal of the research is to simulate the cost model that can help industries make decisions based on the 4Rs.
Enda Coates - Waterford Institute of Technology, Advised by: Michael Pedini
Supply chain analysis of wood chip production from Irish forest plantations.
To date I have conducted intensive productivity studies on harvesting, forwarding and chipping machinery used in Irish and European supply chains. I have constructed a cost model in Microsoft Excel which uses macros to run Monte Carlo simulations using this data. This allows for risk assessment of the financial return from forests, and sensitivity analysis of parameter change. My research going forward will include road haulage time studies, and studies on intermediate storage areas between forest and consumer (commercial and industrial). I am currently learning to use the SIMUL8 software under the educational licence at Waterford Institute of Technology,
working with the Learning SIMUL8 book by Hauge/Paige. Already I can see how I can apply the software in my work. I intend to use the programme to model the whole supply chain from standing tree to boiler grate. Using the model I shall be investigating a number of questions such as; storage size requirement,
number of transport vehicles required, machine interaction, drying rates etc.
www.woodenergy.ie
Stephen Herman - University of Hertfordshire, Advised by: Geoffrey Hodgson
Adaptability and Survival in populations of smaller companies
I have created an adaptability instrument and now wish to simulate what happens to adaptability with a range of birth and death rates over time.
Paula Escudero Marin - Lancaster University, Advised by: Mike Pidd
Agent Based Modelling in Healthcare.
Jerry Shaw - University of Louisville, Advised by: Sunderesh Heragu
Evaluate both financial and operational impacts of various policies on the flow of personnel through the Army's commissioned officer training locations
Nopparat Manavakun - University of Helsinki, Advised by: Esko Mikkonen
Appropriate harvesting technology apply to eucalyptus plantations operations
This deals with finding an appropriate, modern intermediate technology solutions for harvesting eucalyptus plantations in Thailand. The simulation is developed to evaluate and select the appropriate options to be implemented in Thailand and elsewhere in tropical conditions.
Dong Joo Shin - Jeonju University, Korea, Advised by: Hoyeon Chung
The reduction of cycle time, lead time, inventory and error rate in automotive industry
After heat treatment(quenching, tempering, straightening and polishing), the automobile shock absorber piston rod manufacturing process includes lathing, grooving, milling, rolling, inspection and finally packing. Lathing, which is performed 2 or 3 times, is for the forming of the main of the piston rod. Grooving is for equipping the stopper to determine the condition of a stroke. Milling and rolling are for equipping and assembling the shock absorber.
In this condition, we have a plan to experiment simulation. In this simulation we want to know about the reduction of cycle time, lead time, inventory and error rate etc....
Fatih Yegul - University of Waterloo, Advised by: Mustafa Yavuz
Profit maximization by simulation based optimization on flow-type production systems
This project aims to develop an expert-system based simulation-optimization method in order to find the best manufacturing system configuration that maximizes the profit of a simple (single-product) flow-type production line. The method can either be used for new factory investment decisions or for assessment of improvement options for an existing system.
First, the whole manufacturing system is modeled using discrete-event simulation software, which serves as a black-box type optimization model for profit maximization. After the decision variables have been determined, simulation model is run repeatedly by an expert algorithm to obtain the best combination of decision variables that maximizes the profit for a given time period. Expert algorithm intelligently searches through a large number of input combinations using a set of rules that are based on various simulation outputs. A real-life example has been discussed and results are compared to results of some meta-heuristic methods such as simulated annealing and tabu search.
More Details
Update May 2011: Now I'll start producing new algorithms which would hopefully beat OptQuests performance in achieving near optimal solutions. I will continue to use Simul8 experiments extensively during this phase.
Jiabin Lou - University of Southampton, Advised by: Wu Yue
Vehicle scheduling and storage management in container terminals.
Daniel Wright - Aston Business School, Advised by: Prasantan Dey
The implementation and operation of small-scale bioenergy combined heat and power schemes. Using SIMUL8 to create a stochastic VIM of regional heat and power demand scenarios for domestic dwellings.
Hajji Mustapha - University of Hawaii at Manoa, Advised by: Ouazar Driss
The simulation-optimization problem is to find the optimal pump schedule for a hydraulic system composed of several pumps, reservoirs of water and treatment plants, under specified tariff structure to minimize the electricity cost, with respect to all constraints. The optimal schedule minimizes the peak electricity demand by shifting the load as possible to off peak period based on electricity tariff. This requires knowledge of reservoirs storage capacities, treatment capacity, consumer demand pattern and electricity tariff which are often a function of time of use.
Mehmood G. Sayyad - University of Madras, Chennai, India
Working with experts such as Diabetologists and Endocrinologists, to create several simulation models on the natural history of type 2 diabetes and its complications. One model on Diabetic retinopathy (DR), a well-known complication due to diabetes, uses a transition diagram has been finalized with the help of experts (Ophthalmologists and Diabetologists). In addition, an Ayurveda (an ancient Indian system of medicine, originated in India over 5000 years ago) approach will be incorporated to prevent the onset of diabetes and its complications. The stengths of Ayurveda will be evaluated in terms of preventive policies by using appropriate simulation models. The next course of action will be to obtain the necessary parameters to aid the modular development from Ayurveda point of view. Further, a prospective data on the newly diagnosed Indian type 2 diabetics will be analysed statistically to form the necessary risk groups that are to be used in the simulation models.
Derrick Fournier - The Richard Ivey School of Business, Advised by: Greg Zaric
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Optimization Model
The purpose of this project is to determine the optimal number of NICU beds that the province of British Columbia should have on a cost basis. Simulation is the key method of research for this project. I am simulating births and arrival of neonates at 13 different hospital NICUs across 16 different health regions. Each NICU offers a different level of care (there are 3 standard levels). There is variability in arrival of the neonates, length of stay and level of care needed. The model simulates the location of birth of the neonate, what level of care is needed, where the baby is treated, when they are transferred to another facility and when they are released from hospital. There are roughly 43000 births in British Columbia per year and close to 10% of those require some sort of NICU care.
Piyawat Chanintrakul - The University of Hull Logistics Institute
Evaluating the use of simulation as a decision support tool in the implementation of e-business strategies in manufacturing companies and the reduction of the uncertainty usually associated with this type of implementation. The project research questions are:
My research topic is related to reverse logistics. We have attempted to formulate a non-linear programming models and simulation models to determine optimal (profit-maximising) acquisition prices and selling prices. We have to use a simulation model to deal with more realistic problems e.g. uncertainty issues in terms of supply rate and process failure. A case study in the recycled mobile phone sector is used. The mobile phone recycling company buys end-of-use handsets from end users. Then, the firm has applied multiple recovery options such as direct resell, repair, refurbishment, and recycling in order to add value to old mobile phones and then sell reprocessed mobile phones to a secondary market.
Pavel Albores - University of Strathclyde, Glasgow UK
Evaluating the use of simulation as a decision support tool in the implementation of e-business strategies in manufacturing companies and the reduction of the uncertainty usually associated with this type of implementation. The project research questions are:
Emre Enginarlar - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor US
My dissertation research is on in-process and finished goods buffer allocation in serial and assembly production lines. It requires hundreds of simulation results.
Brian Flanagan - Waterford Institute of Technology, Republic of Ireland
My research thesis is concerned with the automation of production scheduling in a flexible manufacturing environment. To achieve this I intend to use a combination of Artificial Intelligence technologies (i.e. Neural Networks - OPTIMIZ/OptQuest and an Expert System) in conjunction with SIMUL8 to achieve optimum or near optimum production schedules.
Andrew Greasley - Aston University, Birmingham UK
Investigating, using industrial case studies, the level of awareness and barriers to greater use of the discrete-event simulation technique. Placing particular emphasis on investigating use in service industries (e.g. Police service) and its relationship with change methodologies such as business process reengineering and activity based costing.
Kathy Kotiadis - University of Kent, Canterbury UK
My research involves modeling the health and social care system of the older people and is part of a larger project called ICON funded by the health and social care authorities.
Philip Viljoen - University of Pretoria ZA
Management system for multi-project environment with shared resources using buffers to provide protection and a common priority system. Research methodology: simulation of workflow through unique projects using same resources.
Truword Kapamara - Coventry University, UK
Investigating ways of optimizing patient pathways at a radiotherapy cancer clinic using scheduling approaches. The main aim is to minimize the amount of time patients wait for their first definitive treatment to times targeted by the Department of Health in UK. SIMUL8 to be used to model the various paths taken by both in and out patients at the cancer clinic.
Kathryn Hoad - Warwick University, UK
Appropriate use of a simulation model requires accurate measures of model performance. This in turn, requires decisions concerning three key areas: warm-up, run-length and number of replications. Simulation software, however, gives little or no guidance in making these decisions. A three year project, "Automatic Simulation Output Analysis", sponsored by the EPSRC and SIMUL8 and undertaken by Warwick Business School, is investigating the development of a methodology for automatically advising a simulation user on these three decisions.
Joe Viana - University of Southampton
Linking the strategic element of system dynamics (SD) modelling using VENSIM with the operational and more detailed modelling power of SIMUL8. Also linking SIMUL8 to geographical referencing software either ARCGIS or MAPINFO. The study will focus on Sexaully Transmitted Infections (STI) in particular Chlamydia. The SD model will generate monthly demand figures (total number of patients infected). This total number of patients for that month will be converted into arrival patterns based on some statistical analysis and used to run the Simul8 model of an STI clinic for one month. This will incorporate the variability in treatment that cannot be incorporated into the SD model and the total number treated will be fed back into the SD model which will be run for another month.