Failure analysis through simulation is a useful practice to predict a system availability, maintenance times and costs over even long time periods. So far, computational tools for failure analysis have been designed mainly for electronic components. This paper presents a software tool aimed at carrying out the failure analysis of complex plants composed by a large number of different mechanical components. The proposed software, named TARAS, is described in detail, highlighting the features which make it particularly suitable for the mechanical components failure analysis. To demonstrate the software potential, a test-case is provided, consisting in the failure analysis of the transport line required to feed a pulverized coal steam plant for electric power production. The transportation plant consists in several belt conveyors, unloading machines, stacker-reclaimer machines etc. The work demonstrates a satisfactory capability of the software TARAS to cope with very complex mechanical systems.

Steel industry today looks for important savings in order to keep its competitiveness. One of the most affecting factor is the cost of energy, especially for the electric arc furnace (EAF) process where the energy cost could raise up to 40% of the final gross price. Based on the opportunities offered from energy markets is possible to reduce this cost in a significant way. This paper presents an integrated system for the optimization of the power purchase of a steelworks. The system consists in a series of tools interacting together in order to forecast the electric consumption of the plant basing on the planned production, identify possible deals over the markets and supporting the bidding strategy. A real life example is presented and discussed.

The objective of this work is to create a module for a ship maneuvering simulator, which will allow the training of the crews of vessels in deep water. In this work we developed a system of “artificial intelligence” to model marine biological entities: this system can simulate the movement of a school of fish in a realistic manner. In addition, we developed an analysis of the main instruments on board and problems relating to the virtual simulation.

Simulation is the best tool used for any nontrivial, real world system and many simulation tools are today available for supporting complex system modeling. In general any simulation language or tool is suitable for any application however some approaches could provide easier and better results than others. This paper provides some practical suggestion specifically for maritime operations.

This work is devoted to create an extension module for a naval manoeuvring simulator (Naval ++), which will allow the training of the crew of deep-water fishing vessels. The Authors were asked to develop the part relating to the "artificial intelligence" of marine biological entities: this should be capable of replicating the movement of a school of fish in a realistic way. This work also foresees an analysis of the main instruments used on-board and the problems inherent in their virtual simulation. Finally the papers outline a possible integration of the proposed model into an IEEE 1516 High Level Architecture Federation.

Simulation is the best tool used for any non-trivial, real world system. For analysis of complex systems, simulation is often used prior to the operation of the real world system as a mediator for a dynamic situation. Therefore, simulation methodology has been recommended and chosen to analyze, for example, container terminal systems. This paper considers two modeling techniques for port simulation approach: Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) and System Dynamics (SD). The goal is to provide a study about two different models that are not alternative but can be integrated. The results suggest the effectiveness of integrating Discrete-Event Simulation and System Dynamics to simulate a port (in Arabian gulf region) in order to size the capacity of storages and the number and features of cranes and transportation means. Key-Words: Simulation, Discrete-Event Simulation, System Dynamics, port, integration

The purpose of this study is undertake a review of the seaborne coal supply chains for two important Power Stations in the Mediterranean Sea (associated at two important Companies). We have studied four scenarios. Each scenario has been developed in terms of: ocean freight assessment and preliminary operative costs estimation. The purpose of this study is to identify, analyse and make recommendations on key issues and potential bottlenecks that might result in capacity constraints and/or supply chain inefficiency thus leading in unnecessary additional costs of the coal delivered to the Power Plants.

The purpose of this study is undertake a review of the seaborne coal supply chains for two important Power Stations in the Mediterranean Sea. We are considered four different scenarios. An important aspect of this study has been the consultation with the coal supply chain participants, involving interviews, site visits and workshops, to share present information, medium term plans, objectives and expectations. The design of experiment (DOE) approach has been employed. DOE is important as a formal way of maximizing information gained by available resources. It has more to offer than "one change at a time" experimental methods because it allows a judgment on the significance to the output of input variables acting alone, as well as input variables acting in combination with one another. Using the results of the simulations, a regression analysis has been performed, providing multi-dimensional response surfaces expressing the dependency of throughput and demurrage days on the independent variables considered. The results of simulations are described at paragraph at the end of paper.

This paper presents an innovative modeling framework able to support planning, management and optimization of waste collection operations in an urban context. A proprietary simulator composed by three functionality modules (Global Positioning System, Data Mining system, Simulator for routing and resource exploitation) was implemented by the authors, and was then validated on a specific set of case studies. This application has been made possible within PLANAGO regional government funded research project and was based on previous experiences of the authors. This approach was also extended beyond the particular application and is now under test in different application fields strictly related to logistics and environmental protection.

The raise of BRICs countries has been regarded recently as an opportunity for cost reduction from western companies resulting in a pressure to increase of the delocalization of the production process with the consequence of increasing of the management complexity requiring specific ERP systems able to deal with new and improved process. Every company has business processes in order to manufacture products, to provide services, to purchase goods and even to maintain plants and company's assets; the basic of every change is the knowledge of the process and the understanding the possible evolution. In nowadays systems information systems and cloud infrastructures record events; these events can be used to make processes visible and thus a modeling framework may provide the insights necessary to manage, control, and improve processes. This paper present a general approach and a set of case studies where Computational Intelligence may assist the "self modeling" of complex processes.

This work focuses on the human behavior during an evacuation of a motorway tunnel. First of all the technical prescriptions have been taken into account, according with the current legislation updated after the Mont Blanc Tunnel tragedy of March 1999. In order to study how people behave in case of emergency an innovative simplified approach has been applied based on a mix of Thomas Saaty's Analytic Hierarchic Process (AHP) and Schmidt's PECS (Physical Emotional Cognitive Social) Model. This methodology has been implemented in a simulation model implementing both 2D and 3D heat and smoke propagation in order to investigate crowd reaction during escape in tunnel fires emergencies. All the scenarios have been analyzed and evaluated using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM).

This work aims to analyze, with the System Dynamics simulation, the impacts of a new supermarket opening in terms of the traffic flows in the surroundings of a determined urban zone, in order to help decision makers to find the most suitable area and the proper number of car parks and counters to satisfy a certain customer level service, avoiding high waiting times and, consequently, customer losses. Among the different simulation methodologies, System Dynamics has been chosen because it allows to properly model systems that continuously change over time, that are affected by time delays and whose variables depend on their conditions at the previous time step. Traffic flow systems are included in this category of systems. Moreover, the software used for simulation, Powersim Studio™, allows the integration with GIS (Geographic Informative systems), which provides useful information on road mapping and users allocation.

This paper presents the analysis, development and testing of a Decision Support System (DSS) allowing planning, management and optimization of waste collection operations in an urban context. A proprietary simulator developed in Java™ and composed by four functionality modules (Global Positioning System, Data Mining system, Waste collection points placement optimizer, planner for routing and resource exploitation) was implemented by the Authors, and was then validated on a specific case study thanks to the cooperation with a big town (about 50'000 inhabitants) on Central Italy that was available for testing the simulation model.

Ports, as well as other important transportation infrastructures like railways, motorways and airports, play a great role in the economy of a nation, because, if properly managed, they can strongly affect the Country competitiveness and its economic development; this is true especially for Italy, which can take great advantage from its geographic position of peninsula. In fact Italy can heavily exploit seas using the so-called "Seas Highways" system - a series of alternative links between Northern and Southern Italy, and also Mediterranean Countries - devoted to lighten vehicular traffic on the most important Italian motorways (like the Milan-Naples or the Adriatic Motorway, just to quote two of the busiest), but also to reduce atmospheric pollution and to guarantee a cheaper way of transportation, especially for goods which are not perishable. Although also European Union is strongly recommending this solution, even inserting Seas Highways inside the Pan European Corridors (as "Corridor 21"), the Italian ports have many difficulties to face the international competition, especially with Northern Europe ports, despite their privileged position on the routes coming from the Far East, because of different reasons, first of all the inadequacy of the infrastructures internal and external to the ports (especially railroads, exploited a little respect to other European Countries), the high fragmentation of the Italian port realities (every Port has in Italy its own Port Authority), that causes fund dispersion and organizational problems, and a regulation out to date. All this problems are also amplified by the actual international economical crisis, which contributes to increase competition among the ports. For these reasons the authors are presenting a project proposal, in cooperation with the Italian University and Scientific Research Ministry, devoted to analyze the current situation of Italian ports and logistic facilities, underlining points of strength, points of weakness, opportunities and criticalities and analyzing the common factors of behavior of the ports considered. This is a prerequisite to define a simulation model implemented using the System Dynamics methodology, which is suitable for the study of high uncertain scenarios, as the Italian port reality is, allowing the formulation of so-called "What if" analysis. The aim of this model is to simulate the effects of the infrastructural, organizational and normative changes on the Italian port system, acting as a powerful Decision Support System (DSS) for all the stakeholders involved in the system, in order to identify a common solution devoted to improve Italian ports competitiveness.

This paper describes a simulation system according to improve steelmaking's efficiency and to monitor its performances by anticipating the next period workload. Usually the production planning in those cases is made by the use of Gantt diagrams, based on operator's work. This means that if an accident occurs, the operator himself has to change in few minutes the production plan with a lower performance than the original one. The first consideration is obviously that the operator's experience itself it's not sufficient to re-plan a performing steelmaking chain. Hence the necessity of simulation as problem-solving technique in this complex situation. A brief introduction on this paper is devoted to identify the common problems in most plants about production planning, and this is indeed needed to define the boundary conditions and the framework of the problem. Then, a description of steelmaking processes and the general features of critical aspects about steelmaking planning (Paragraph 2) is given in order to understand the bonds, features, criticalities to be analyzed and implemented in the simulation model. In paragraph 3 a detailed analysis of proposed methodology and system architecture is given in order to make the reader understand the complexity that the Authors had to face in modeling the system and the solutions they found with approximations, considerations, techniques and algorithms that were the most suitable to be used in this particular situation. A short description of the likely steelmaking plant modeled and Verification and Validation (V&V) results are carried in paragraph 4. It was in fact very important in such a complex system, to define the acceptability of results in terms of verification of the correctness, validation of the results, and accreditation to the users. This is a generally valid principle in simulation, but moreover in a complex system modeling such a steelmaking process, where an error can cost millions. At last, in paragraph 5, the Authors present the conclusions of this work, with a particular attention to the savings that the simulation can bring to this real system, explaining the results of the case study to which it was applied, and the possible future developments of this research are discussed. This model can anyway be applied to other realities than the one exemplified in this paper.

Safety in motorway tunnels has become a critical issue in the last years, especially after the accident happened in 1999 inside the Mont Blanc tunnel, causing 39 deaths and several dozens of intoxications and wounded people. After this tragic event, the European Union imposed stricter regulations and procedures for emergency situations inside road tunnels longer than 1000 m. According to this situation, the authors propose the use of M & S (Modeling and Simulation) in order to manage a tunnel evacuation after a fire exploding in consequence to an accident, taking into account a series of significant factors like the road signs position (new criteria have been introduced with new regulation), but also human factors which significantly affect the procedure outcome. First a 2-D simulation model has been developed using Java(tm) Software, in which the user can analyze the behavior of the people escaping and the dynamics of the fire exploded and, consequently, assess the effectiveness of all the emergency procedures and infrastructures. In particular, regarding the state variables related to the human behavior, the model takes into account the main aspects of PECS (Physical Emotional Cognitive Social) reference models, in which physical, emotional, cognitive and social factors have to be studied. The model presented in this work is in fact quite similar to the one described by (Schmidt, 2000), called "Adam's World" [1] where Adam, a primitive man, lives in an environment having food sources where he can replenish his energy level, but also traps and danger points to be avoided in order not to consume his energy faster. The aim of the two models is the same: first of all preserve life and health, but the great difference between Schmidt's model and the authors' one is that in Adam's World the social aspect is missing (Adam live alone in his world), while in the evacuation model social aspects can significantly affect the individual's decisions. The evacuation model and its results are described and analyzed in the following sections and, in the final part of the paper, a description of a 3-D tunnel model devoted to study in particular smoke dynamics is provided.

This work aims to analyze, with the System Dynamics simulation, the impacts of a new supermarket opening in terms of the traffic flows in the surroundings of a determined urban zone, in order to help decision makers to find the most suitable area and the proper number of car parks and counters to satisfy a certain customer level service, avoiding high waiting times and, consequently, customer losses. Among the different simulation methodologies, System Dynamics has been chosen because it allows to properly model systems that continuously change over time, that are affected by time delays and whose variables depend on their conditions at the previous time step. Traffic flow systems are included in this category of systems. Moreover, the software used for simulation, Powersim Studio™, allows the integration with GIS (Geographic Informative systems), which provides useful information on road mapping and users allocation.

Ports, as well as other important transportation infrastructures like railways, motorways and airports, play a great role in the economy of a nation, because, if properly managed, they can strongly affect the Country competitiveness and its economic development; this is true especially for Italy, which can take great advantage from its geographic position of peninsula. In fact Italy can heavily exploit seas using the so-called "Seas Highways" system - a series of alternative links between Northern and Southern Italy, and also Mediterranean Countries - devoted to lighten vehicular traffic on the most important Italian motorways (like the Milan-Naples or the Adriatic Motorway, just to quote two of the busiest), but also to reduce atmospheric pollution and to guarantee a cheaper way of transportation, especially for goods which are not perishable. Although also European Union is strongly recommending this solution, even inserting Seas Highways inside the Pan European Corridors (as "Corridor 21"), the Italian ports have many difficulties to face the international competition, especially with Northern Europe ports, despite their privileged position on the routes coming from the Far East, because of different reasons, first of all the inadequacy of the infrastructures internal and external to the ports (especially railroads, exploited a little respect to other European Countries), the high fragmentation of the Italian port realities (every Port has in Italy its own Port Authority), that causes fund dispersion and organizational problems, and a regulation out to date. All this problems are also amplified by the actual international economical crisis, which contributes to increase competition among the ports. For these reasons the authors are presenting a project proposal, in cooperation with the Italian University and Scientific Research Ministry, devoted to analyze the current situation of Italian ports and logistic facilities, underlining points of strength, points of weakness, opportunities and criticalities and analyzing the common factors of behavior of the ports considered. This is a prerequisite to define a simulation model implemented using the System Dynamics methodology, which is suitable for the study of high uncertain scenarios, as the Italian port reality is, allowing the formulation of so-called "What if" analysis. The aim of this model is to simulate the effects of the infrastructural, organizational and normative changes on the Italian port system, acting as a powerful Decision Support System (DSS) for all the stakeholders involved in the system, in order to identify a common solution devoted to improve Italian ports competitiveness. Moreover, the authors provided a deep literature review on works concerning port competitiveness worldwide, analyzing what has been done in the Far East, in India and in Europe, in order to find interesting starting points for the research proposed.

The purpose of this study was the development of a simulation model to verify the logistic feasibility of the construction of a new regazification offshore terminal feeding a power plant located in Africa, subjected to a possible future doubling. In particular the model was used to test the proper supply of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) in the power plant real operating conditions and with particular reference to certain sizing configurations of vessels involved (dimensional range for tank buffer, shuttle ship size range). The model, taking into account sea conditions data available on site, extensively characterized during the oceanographic studies made, and with reference to defense works type realization and preliminary sizing (and specifically the breakwater dam and the its effect on the perturbation conditions in the proximity of the ship's mooring points) has assessed the risk of the power plant supply failure and the consequent lack of production (Unavailability of LNG or shut down). Moreover, the model estimated, for the scenarios simulated, the residence berthing times, the maximum frequency of unloading and the mooring / unmooring frequency reachable.