Abstract
This paper explores the applicability of the agent-based (AB) and system dynamics (SD) methods to model a case study of the management of water field services. Water borehole sites are distributed over an area and serve the water needs of a population. The equipment at all borehole sites is managed by a single water utility that has adopted specific repair, replacement, and maintenance rules and policies. The water utility employs several service crews initially stationed at a single central location. The crews respond to specific operation and maintenance requests. Two software modeling tools (AnyLogic and STELLA) are used to explore the benefits and limitations of the AB and SD methods to simulate the dynamic being considered. The strength of the AB method resides in its ability to capture in a disaggregated way the mobility of the individual service crews and the performance of the equipment (working, repaired, replaced, or maintained) at each borehole site. The SD method cannot capture the service crew dynamics explicitly and can only model the average state of the equipment at the borehole sites. Their differences aside, both methods offer policymakers the opportunity to make strategic, tactical, and logistical decisions supported by integrated computational models.
Highlights
Many problems residing at the crossroads between socio-economic, natural, and infrastructure systems are complex and cannot be addressed with simple analytical tools
The unique characteristics of the system dynamics (SD) method that warrant its use in modeling the dynamics of complex systems include being able to (i) study how systems continuously change over time due to possible changes in and relationships among components and changes in the overall direction of systems allowing for both qualitative and quantitative modeling; (ii) account for systems non-linearities, feedback mechanisms, and delays; (iii) illustrate that as the structure of a system changes, so does its behavior and vice-versa
This paper looked at the application of two numerical methods to model the dynamic between
Summary
Many problems residing at the crossroads between socio-economic, natural, and infrastructure systems are complex and cannot be addressed with simple analytical tools. Since the 1940s, a variety of modeling tools have been proposed in various disciplines of systems and complexity science to address complex problems (see the map by Castellani [3]) Among these tools, Borshchev and Filippov [4] consider three types: system dynamics (SD), discrete event (DE), and agent-based (AB) modeling. The goal of this paper is to explore, for two different levels of abstraction, the capacity of each method to analyze how the management of the system of borehole sites and decision making over time are affected by (i) the location of the service center; (ii) the number of water utility service crews and their speed of transport, and (iii) the repair, replacement, and maintenance policy of the water utility. Two simulation modeling software tools are used in this paper: the agent-based modeling tool of AnyLogic (Personal Learning Edition, version 8.5.2) and the STELLA Architect system dynamics modeling tool by isee systems, Inc. (version 1.9.4.)
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