Dear reader,
The issue: the travel time of my operator in the simulation model is not the same as my hand calculations. The operator has a speed of 1.11 m/s, acceleration of 0.44 m/s, and deceleration of 1 m/s. The model is set to meters and seconds.
I created a situation in which an operator has to travel from node A to node B. The distance traveled is 11.6 meters according to the operator's statistics. I used a Staytime activity in the dashboard to measure the time the operator travels. This was equal to 11.71 seconds.
However, if I calculate the travel time by hand, I get a travel time of 12.27 seconds. I used the following equation:
distance = 0.5*acceleration*(t1)^2 + speed*t2 + 0.5*deceleration*(t3)^2
I assumed a constant acceleration, therefore, t1 = 1.11 / 0.44 and t3 = 1.11 / 1. As for t2, this has been determined by dividing the remaining distance (distance when there was no acceleration) by 1.11 (the speed).
Since I assumed that the acceleration and deceleration are constant, the outcome of my hand calculations should be the shortest time possible, which is 12.27 seconds.
I could understand if the operator in the simulation model would take a little longer, for instance, if the acceleration and/or speed would not be constant. However, as I see it, the travel time in the simulation model can never be shorter than the hand calculation.
Can somebody please explain why this happens?
With kind regards,
Frans
