A Holistic Approach to Railway Engineering Design using a Simulation Framework

Jesus Carretero, Carlos Gomez, Alberto Garcia, Felix Garcia-Carballeira

2014

Abstract

Simulators have become frequently used tools in railway infrastructure design. However, most of them could be improved by adding capabilities to increase their productivity. In this paper, we propose a simulation framework in the field of railway infrastructure design, which allows to increase the productivity of simulators by integrating as many aspects of the design process as possible. Also, we state that new generation simulators should be capable of generating and evaluating new solutions by themselves. The framework follows a holistic approach, focusing on four main issues: a) trade-off between accuracy and complexity; b) automatic generation and simulation of solutions; c) taking into account all parts in the design process (e.g. normative); and d) integrating expert’s knowledge and optimization metrics. A case study is provided through a real-world simulator of railway overhead air switches. The simulator is analyzed from the point of view of the proposed framework, indicating how the different layers are fulfilled. Finally, the usability and productivity of the simulator is demonstrated performing an evaluation using different study cases. The evaluation shows how a high number of scenarios are simulated, evaluated, and rated using optimization metrics, in order to find the best solution of the problem’s search space.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Carretero J., Gomez C., Garcia A. and Garcia-Carballeira F. (2014). A Holistic Approach to Railway Engineering Design using a Simulation Framework . In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications - Volume 1: SIMULTECH, ISBN 978-989-758-038-3, pages 71-82. DOI: 10.5220/0005095400710082

in Bibtex Style

@conference{simultech14,
author={Jesus Carretero and Carlos Gomez and Alberto Garcia and Felix Garcia-Carballeira},
title={A Holistic Approach to Railway Engineering Design using a Simulation Framework},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications - Volume 1: SIMULTECH,},
year={2014},
pages={71-82},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005095400710082},
isbn={978-989-758-038-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications - Volume 1: SIMULTECH,
TI - A Holistic Approach to Railway Engineering Design using a Simulation Framework
SN - 978-989-758-038-3
AU - Carretero J.
AU - Gomez C.
AU - Garcia A.
AU - Garcia-Carballeira F.
PY - 2014
SP - 71
EP - 82
DO - 10.5220/0005095400710082