Modeling the Impact of Work-Zone Traffic Flows upon Concrete Construction: A High Level Architecture Based Simulation Framework

Congestion can restrict access to construction activities both on and close to a freeway, reducing construction efficiency, especially by delaying the delivery of materials. Although previous studies have investigated the impact of work-zone capacities on traffic flow, most did not consider interactions with construction resources. There is currently no mature standard or acceptable model that can be used for this purpose, and that would benefit both traffic and construction in an integrated framework; however, well-established, powerful simulation systems exist unique to each domain. To this end, in this paper, a construction-traffic interdisciplinary simulation (CTISIM) framework based on high level architecture is proposed to combine the power of each domain’s simulation systems. A ready-mixed concrete production and delivery problem is adopted to demonstrate the benefit of the CTISIM, which optimizes construction resource arrangement and a concrete production schedule based on the real-time traffic conditions in a work-zone.