Airport Terminals Research Articles

Effects of thermal-acoustic interaction on airport terminal's indoor thermal comfort: A case study in cold region of China

Airport terminals are typical large-scale public buildings. Improving the indoor environment of the terminal plays an important role in increasing users' comfort status. In this study, we chose Xianyang Airport Terminal 3 and conducted field tests and questionnaire surveys to obtain indoor environmental parameters and subjective perceptual evaluations. By comparing the correlations between the two aspects, we made analyses about the interaction effects of thermal-acoustic environments on people's indoor thermal comfort. The results show that there are significant correlations between TSV and the temperature, SSV and the sound level. The neutral temperatures of MB and CB are 19 °C and 21 °C, respectively. TCV are mostly above 0, but when the temperature reaches a certain state, it would decrease rapidly. Most of the participants hasn't showed strong feelings of comfort or discomfort, which revealed a relatively high tolerance and adaptation to the indoor environment. As the summer is hot and humid, setting the indoor temperature at 24 °C would be a balance between cost and comfort. The overall sound level is loud, which decreased the TCV to a certain extent while the tendency of how thermal comfort changes remains the same. According to different characteristics of the space, various passive and active approaches were suggested to improve the thermal and acoustic environment. This study partly agrees with the previous studies and we hope to provide reference for the optimization of summer indoor environment in large-scale public buildings in similar climate and location.

The Analysis and AI Simulation of Passenger Flows in an Airport Terminal: A Decision-Making Tool

In this paper, a decision-making tool is proposed that can utilize different strategies to deal with passenger flows in airport terminals. A simulation model has been developed to investigate these strategies, which can be updated and modified based on the current requirements of an airport terminal. The proposed tool could help airport managers and relevant decision makers proactively mitigate potential risks and evaluate crowd management strategies. The aim is to eliminate risk factors due to overcrowding and minimize passenger waiting times within the terminal to provide a seamless, safe and satisfying travel experience. Overcrowding in certain areas of the terminal makes it difficult for passengers to move freely and increases the risk of accidents (especially in the event of an emergency), security problems and service interruptions. In addition, long queues can lead to frustration among passengers and increase potential conflicts or stress-related incidents. Based on the derived results, the optimized routing of passengers using modern technological solutions is the most promising crowd management strategy for a sample airport that can handle 800 passengers per hour.

Construction Layout Of Parallel Taxiway At Approach Control Procedure International Airport

In air traffic control, aircraft need runways for landing and take-off and taxiways to connect airport terminals and runways. Taxiways are designated lanes at land airports created for landing aircraft and are intended to provide a link between one part of the airport and another. This research aims to provide additional parallel taxiways because parallel taxiways are only available on one side of the runway, not on both sides. Meanwhile, Zainuddin Abdul Madjid International Airport is also quite busy considering that there are often international events, thus increasing the controller's workload because he has to set the separation for a fairly far approach. The research method used is qualitative. The result of the research is that it is concluded that parallel taxiways are needed and the author suggests that the Lombok branch of Perum LPPNPI forward to Zainuddin Abdul Madjid International Airport to add them to improve flight safety, security and efficiency.

The Influence of Different Terrains on the Wind Pressure Distribution of Glass Curtain Wall in Airport Terminals in Mountainous Areas

Aiming the issue of wind pressure distribution characteristics of airport terminal glass curtain walls in mountainous areas, wind tunnel tests have been conducted to investigate glass curtain walls in airport terminals under different terrains (at mountain heights of 0, 30, 60, 90 m [H1, H2, H3, H4] and under surrounding high mountains of 80, 130, 150 m [H5, H6, H7]). Based on experimental data, a comparative analysis was conducted on the effects of different terrains on the mean and pulsating wind pressures, non‐Gaussian characteristics, peak factor, and extreme wind pressure. The results show that the larger values of the mean and pulsating wind pressures under different terrains appear at the corners of the curtain wall edges. Furthermore, the skewness, kurtosis, and wind pressure probability density function values at the corners of the curtain wall edges significantly deviate from the standard Gaussian distribution, exhibiting significant non‐Gaussian characteristics. The majority values of peak factors range from 3.5 to 5.0, far higher than the recommended value of 2.5 in Chinese specification and code (GB 50009‐2012). Moreover, the values of extreme wind pressure under terrains H1, H2, H3, and H4 were greater than that under terrains H5, H6, and H7. At mountain heights H1, H2, H3, and H4, the increasing mountaintop height has a certain increasing effect on the extreme wind pressure. The maximum increase of 96.5% and 82.8% in mountain height H3 and H4 compared to H1. However, the increase in the height of surrounding mountains has a reducing effect on the extreme wind pressure. Research can provide useful suggestions and references for the design, construction, and site selection of terminals in similar airports.

Evaluating Airport Terminals from the Users’ Perspective: Are Service, Experience, Liking, and Satisfaction Equivalent?

In the era of globalization and the deregulation of the air transportation industry, public and private stakeholders have been increasingly interested in making airports attractive for passengers and airlines. Multiple service-like indicators (i.e., satisfaction, experience, liking, and quality of service) have been used to evaluate transportation infrastructure and systems, including airport terminals. Despite literature providing a clear definition of the different indicators separately, the similarities and differences are not clear, nor is it clear whether they are equivalent and could be used interchangeably. The purpose of this paper is to further understanding of the roots and essence of the four frequently used service indicators (SIs) in airport terminals—namely satisfaction, liking, quality of service, and experience—by comparing regressors. Using a travelers’ perception survey ( N = 377) at the domestic terminal in Bogotá’s El Dorado Airport, we found that, despite their correlation, the four service proxies were, in essence, different from each other conceptually, meaning that they have to be carefully chosen for the successful evaluation of a terminal. Each SI comprises different categories, representing a unique user perception. Recognizing and acknowledging that all these terms are different furthers the transparency in defining what each indicator measures.

Flexible facility requirements for strategic planning of airport passenger terminal infrastructure

Facility requirements determine how and when the capacity of airport passenger terminal facilities is adjusted over time to meet expected demand. Given high levels of uncertainty inherent in long-term airport planning, under and over provision of capacity is a recurrent risk, as conventional strategic planning methods fail to adapt dynamically to changing circumstances. This paper introduces a novel flexible capacity expansion model for airport terminals that considers simultaneously real options ‘on’ and ‘in’ systems. The model is validated for the provision of check-in facilities at Zurich Airport. Results confirm suggestions in the literature that incorporating flexibility creates planning and financial advantages over conventional alternatives. Indeed, for the case of Zurich, the financial value of the flexible alternative is approximately 5% higher than the best conventional phased plan. This also suggests that phasing developments can be carefully devised to produce satisfactory outcomes that enable ex-post application of flexibility ‘on’ systems.

Study on departure passenger movement during security check process at airport terminal based on an improved cellular automata model

Airport security check is a crucial part of air travel, and the efficiency of this process directly impacts the overall airport experience. This article presents a study on the modelling and simulation of movement of departure passengers during security check at airport terminals, with a particular emphasis on elucidating microscopic properties such as passenger flow patterns, individual movement dynamics and especially queuing phenomena. In order to solve the unreasonable path problem caused by direct application of cellular automata model, we propose an improved cellular automata model in which a new concept of horizontal restrain floor field is innovatively introduced. Considering the factors of spatial distance, number of queuing people and potential queuing people, a checkpoint selection probability model is embedded into the CA model. The results show that the queuing behavior of passengers is influenced by various factors from three aspects: (i) selection strategy of checkpoint, (ii) spatial layout of inspection area, (iii) arrival interval and verification time. The findings of this study can be used by airport operators to have better understanding of departure passengers’ movements at a micro level, improve the efficiency of the security check process and enhance the airport experience for passengers. Some measures can be taken to reduce the queue waiting time, such as personnel guidance, information signage, planning wider entrance and more queue lanes, replacing the manual verification with ticket inspection machines and so on.

Towards a resilience assessment framework for the airport passenger terminal operations

Airport terminals can generate and intensify the undesired phenomena that take place on transportation networks in the wake of disruptive events. The more resilient a terminal is, the more easily it will bounce back to the desired state, causing less nuisance to the users. In this study, we expand the state-of-the-art airport terminal resilience assessment through fast-time simulation and tailored resilience metrics. From the point of view of simulation, we establish delay management strategies based on flight schedule alterations as a response to a disruptive event. In the baseline scenario, no disruption is set, whereas passenger arrival to the airport is blocked for 1 or 2 h in the disrupted scenarios. A previously verified and validated simulation model of a Brazilian domestic airport was used to represent the passenger departing flow, encompassing check-in and security screening. From the resilience perspective, a systematic assessment procedure for new resilience metrics is unveiled, providing means for exploring the metrics’ formulations and their relationship to the operational strategies. Following the simulation runs, resilience metrics for individual passenger and aircraft delays were investigated, something yet scarcely explored in the literature. The results show that the proposed metrics deliver significantly different outcomes from those associated with the current literature. Consequently, we can conclude that a resilience assessment concerning the airport terminal that disregards individual delays may be missing important information. The systematic approach we propose is a contribution in that sense, even though this topic requires more research, considering the vast nature of the possible disruptive events and their subsequent operational impacts.

Passengers’ Perception of Acoustic Environment in the Airport Terminal: A Case Study of Tianjin Binhai International Airport

This paper aims to investigate passengers’ perception of the acoustic environment in airport terminals. Airport terminals typically consist of several interconnected large spaces and have a noisy environment in China. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 221 passengers at the T2 terminal of Tianjin Binhai International Airport in China to explore their perception and attitude towards the acoustic environment. On-site measurements were also taken to obtain the noise levels in different areas. The results show that the sound pressure levels vary periodically, ranging from 60.7 dB(A) to 79.1 dB(A) across different areas. The acoustic environment lacks eventfulness and pleasantness, with nearly two-thirds of respondents expressing dissatisfaction. Public announcement is generally perceived as the loudest but most preferred sound, while other audible sources are given varying degrees of negative attitudes. The perceived loudness of aircraft and footstep sounds is not high, but their absence significantly improves overall evaluations. Furthermore, age influences the perceived vitality of the acoustic environment. This study is important for the improvement in the indoor environment of the terminal building and the satisfaction of passengers.

Numerical Simulation of Fire Spread Based on Billboard Burning in Airport Terminals

Due to the large number, large size and wide distribution of billboards built-in airport terminals, they easily become ignition sources and fuses that promote the spread of fires after the fire, and such fire hazards are often ignored. To study the spread of airport terminal fires caused by billboards, the combustion test of 12 common billboard materials Polyethylene Glycol Terephthalate (PET) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) was carried out by monomer combustion experiment. Then, the experimental data were substituted into the FDS simulation software to simulate and verify the fire in the airport terminal, and the fire development, smoke diffusion, visibility change, CO generation and temperature change were studied. The results show that the scope of fire spread to the airport terminal after the burning of advertising materials is spatially limited, which is related to the location and height of the fire source of the billboard. The large amount of smoke the fire generates forms an inverted cone plume shape, and the phenomenon of roof jet and smoke settlement will occur. The temperature of the smoke that spreads to the ceiling reaches 300°C, reaching 3/8 of the area on the second floor of the terminal at 700s. The smoke hazard of the floor above the ignition point is much greater than that below the ignition point, and the horizontal spread rate of smoke above the ignition point accelerates with the increase of floor height. Visibility analysis showed that visibility near the roof and near the fire source was low, and the visibility level had little impact on the escape of personnel. As the fire develops, the farther away from the fire source, the faster the CO volume fraction of the floor reaches the critical value. This study provides a theoretical basis and data support for the fire safety assessment of the multi-functional public area of the terminal

Optimizing aircrew recovery considering long connections: A column generation based approach

Severe weather and air traffic flow control can often cause flight delays and disrupt the crew schedules, resulting in a too-short or a too-long connection between flights. Short connections need to be adjusted to ensure the airline’s smooth operations, while the long connection whose duration is only a bit lower than the threshold enabling the crew to leave the flying zone for a rest at airport terminals can be quite inefficient, as the crew’s ground standby is viewed as working all the time without executing any flight which adds to the shortage of crew resources. Thus, we propose a method of delaying flights to the point enabling crews to leave for a rest, which helps save the available working hours. The difficulty lies in the trade-off between the additional swap or delay cost in creating long connections and the possible global cost decrease due to savings in available working hours brought by long connections, which calls for optimization. In this paper, we introduce the crew recovery problem for one day of operation taking long connections into account. The problem is mathematically formulated as an arc-based integer programming model and a set partitioning model in order to determine the optimal flight recovery schedule and the crew reassignment. A column generation based solution approach is developed and the sub-problems consisting of the resource-constrained shortest path problem are solved by a labeling algorithm. Computational experiments based on real-world data from a major Chinese airline confirm the effectiveness and efficiency of the solution approaches. It is also demonstrated the save of available working hours resulting from adaptively creating long connections would decrease the recovery cost by about 18.87%–74.88%.

Unlocking ventilation flexibility of large airport terminals through an optimal CO2-based demand-controlled ventilation strategy

Large airport terminals consume significant energy due to their extensive ventilation demands. Optimizing the operation of ventilation systems is a crucial aspect of achieving greater energy flexibility and efficiency. In this study, we proposed an optimal CO2-based demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) strategy that utilizes the large indoor space of airport terminals to shift ventilation loads, reduce operating cost, and enable demand response (DR) programs. The effect of air infiltration on ventilation demand is considered in the DCV strategy through on-site CO2 measurement. A passenger dwell model is integrated to estimate the occupancy of airport terminal based on flight schedules for dynamic ventilation control. Considering the DR signal and time-of-use tariff, an advanced evolutionary algorithm is employed to locate optimal ventilation solutions that deliver better economic performance and energy flexibility while meeting indoor air quality constraints. Using an airport terminal in Beijing, China, as a testbed, the superior performance of the proposed DCV strategy was demonstrated against a baseline strategy with a fixed outdoor air supply rate under three scenarios. Simulation results showed that the proposed DCV strategy can reduce peak energy consumption by up to 60.9% and operating costs by up to 48.6% in different scenarios. Moreover, the DCV strategy can provide a flexible trade-off between the overall energy efficiency and DR capability in the adjustable DR scenario. This study revealed great opportunities for improving the flexibility of ventilation in large-space buildings and provided an instructive case study.

ON THE RELIABILITY OF A NUMERICAL TRAVELLING FIRE MODEL

AbstractThe ongoing urbanization of our society is leading to the situation that many people live, work and gather in buildings of larger size. Open space office buildings are becoming more common, airport terminals are continuously increased in size and new larger railway stations are being built. When it comes to compartments with larger floor areas, the fire may be localized, which means that the fire does not extend on the whole floor. Yet, even when the fire load is distributed, such as in open space office buildings, the area where combustion is raging moves during the fire leading to so‐called “travelling fires”. The classical view of compartment fire with the strong assumption of uniform temperature in the compartment has been challenged, several travelling fire models have been proposed to address the phenomenon. Validation of these models is still scarce. This work is about the assessment of reliability and accuracy of a numerical travelling fire model implemented in a software called GoZone. The assessment is done mainly by comparison of relevant output in a fire compartment such as fire growth rate as well as by comparison of gas temperature, rate of heat released and resulting steel temperature. In the framework of this paper, only a part of the entire assessment focused on office building is presented.

Large-scale Passenger Behavior Learning and Prediction in Airport Terminals based on Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

For the problem of predicting passenger flow in airport terminals, multi-agent reinforcement learning is applied to airport terminals simulation. Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning based on Group Shared Policy with Mean-field and Intrinsic Rewards (GQ-MFI) is proposed to predict passenger behavior in order to simulate the distribution of flow in different areas of the terminal at different time periods. Independent learning of multi-agent may lead to environmental instability and long convergence time. To improve the adaptability of agents in non-stationary environments and accelerate learning time, a multi-agent grouping learning strategy is proposed. Clustering is used to group multi-agent, and a shared Q-table is set within each group to improve the learning efficiency of multi-agent. Meanwhile, in order to simplify the interaction information among the agent after grouping, the idea of average field is used to transmit partial global information among the agent within the group. Intrinsic rewards are added to make the agent closer to human cognition and behavioral patterns. By conducting the airport terminal simulations using Anylogic, the experimental results show that the training speed of this algorithm is 17% higher than that of Q-learning algorithm, and it achieves good prediction accuracy in predicting the number of security check passengers with a time scale of 10 minutes.

A comprehensive study of agent-based airport terminal operations using surrogate modeling and simulation

Airport terminals are complex sociotechnical systems, in which humans interact with diverse technical systems. A natural way to represent them is through agent-based modeling. However, this method has two drawbacks: it entails a heavy computational burden and the emergent properties are often difficult to analyze. The purpose of our research is therefore to accurately abstract and explain the dynamics of airport terminal operations by means of computationally efficient and interpretable surrogate models, based on an existing detailed agent-based simulation model. We propose a methodology consisting of two stages. Stage I involves the development of faithful surrogates. A sample is collected according to an active learning strategy, upon which Gaussian process regression, higher-order polynomials, gradient boosting, and random forests are fitted. Stage II then applies state-of-the-art techniques from the emerging field of explainable artificial intelligence to interpret and understand these models. Both model-agnostic and model-specific methods are considered, and their results are synthesized in order to explain the emergent properties. We prove the efficacy of this approach by conducting two case studies on AATOM, an existing Agent-based Airport Terminal Operations Model. The first case study examines the total expenditure on discretionary activities, such as shopping and dining. A combination of poor staffing strategies and high occupancy rates on certain flights was found to disrupt the terminal journey of passengers on subsequent flights. As a result of these knock-on phenomena, less free time is left for discretionary activities, which has a negative effect on the total expenditure. The second case study examines the throughput of security checkpoints. While throughput increases with passenger numbers, a clear point was observed where the checkpoint reaches its maximum capacity. This leads to longer queues and therefore higher waiting times. It even goes so far as to put passengers at risk of missing their flight, especially with poor staffing strategies. Altogether, we clearly observed the preservation of emergent phenomena in surrogate models, and conclude that their combination with interpretable machine learning is an effective way to explain the dynamics of complex sociotechnical systems.

Maximizing non-aeronautical revenues in airport terminals using gate assignment and passenger behaviour modelling

Airports must ensure that their operations can efficiently adapt to the emerging needs considering both the passenger experience and their economic viability. One way to achieve this is by optimizing the airport operations, aiming to maximize revenue levels considering operational objectives and passenger requirements inside the airport. This study presents an original mixed-integer linear programming model (MILP), which combines the gate assignment problem with passenger behaviour modelling. First, a survey was conducted to collect relevant information to model passenger behaviour and the purchases conducted in a terminal, leading to the estimation of discrete choice models that quantify the probability that a passenger makes purchases of certain levels at the terminal according to their flight type (departure, arrival or transfer). Then, the proposed MILP model assigns gates which would expectedly increase the airport non-aeronautical revenues at the terminal airport by matching flights and passenger gate categories to the most profitable gates, considering the proximity to the retail area, the walking distance needed to get to a gate in a specified time-horizon and the operational constraints of the airport. The application to the Lisbon Airport case study showed a potential increase of 8%–12.2% in revenues corresponding to 1732.7€ and 2967.3€ in half-an-hour time slots.

Passenger spatiotemporal distribution prediction in airport terminals based on insect intelligent building architecture and its contribution to fresh air energy saving

As the essential infrastructure and important transportation hubs, airport terminals play a strategic role in sustainable cities and urbanization. Due to the strict service requirement and round-the-clock operation, the high energy consumption poses unprecedented challenges to developing environment-friendly airport terminals. Actually, passenger flow as a root cause decides the startup and operation of service facilities including air-conditioning systems. But due to spatial connectivity, parameter coupling, and passenger mobility, resource allocation and system tuning have not been effectively related to passenger travel. In this work, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Terminal 2 was taken as an object, and a passenger spatiotemporal distribution model was developed and its contribution to fresh air energy saving was estimated. Among them, zone partition and expression rules were formulated based on insect intelligent building (I2B) architecture to construct Wi-Fi positioning system; Next, for domestic and international passenger, their arrival patterns were fitted by Chi-Square distribution with R2 > 0.993, and their spatiotemporal distribution was predicted with R2 over 0.74 and 0.67 respectively; Lastly, a hybrid reset strategy for fresh air volume set-point combing fuzzy and linear rules was proposed with results showing that HVAC systems running on variable occupancy would lead to considerable energy savings.

Passengers’ preferences for architectural design characteristics in the design of airport terminals

ABSTRACT With the need to increase total revenues, airports have begun to use commercial retail. A well-designed airport may provide great service to clients and consumers and increase their satisfaction and in turn their spending behaviours. Since there is suggestive evidence that there might be cultural associations of white, purple or black with different emotional loadings to these colours across cultures, the present study investigated passengers’ preferences for architectural design characteristics of an airport in a new cultural setting. Discrete choice modelling was used to measure the passengers’ preferences for 10 interior design characteristics of the passenger terminal using 3D renderings. Data on 435 passengers were collected at Mehrabad International Airport, which also included passengers’ emotions. Passengers in the terminal hall preferred a curved and transparent ceiling, material in warm colours, cool lighting, with low width and low height, greenery and without any decorations. When compared to other studies, it may well be that passenger preferences for lighting and certain colour schemes reflect geographical or cultural differences. For other interior design characteristics, preferences relating to the shape of the ceiling and the amount of daylight, as well as the presence of greenery, may well be reflections of passengers’ restorative needs.

The Effect of Customer Service Performance and Sign Placement Facilities on Passenger Satisfaction Levels at Zainuddin Abdul Majid International Airport

Customer Service is any activity that is intended or intended to provide customer satisfaction, through services that can fulfill the desires and needs of customers. Sign facilities are signs or information that are placed or installed at airport terminals, made clear, easy to understand and function to explain or provide instructions, warnings, regulations, prohibitions and orders for all users or service users at the airport. The purpose of this study is to find out how much influence the performance of Customer Service and Sign placement has on the level of passenger satisfaction at Zainuddin Abdul Majid International Airport. This study uses quantitative data. The data used in this study were taken from primary data based on questionnaires distributed to passengers at Zainuddin Abdul Majid International Airport from August to October 2022. With a total of 150 people, the data analysis technique used was Multiple Linear Regression Analysis, T Test , F Test and Coefficient of Determination. The results showed that H1 was rejected and H2 was accepted, which means that the calculation results of the F test showed the calculated F value = 0.829181 ftable value = 0.737812. It is very clear that H1 and H2 are accepted. The T test shows a significant value of the X1 variable to the Y variable, namely = 0.003244 Less than the threshold value Significance = 0.05 means that Customer Service Performance has a significant effect on Passenger satisfaction and a significant value of the Variable X2 to Variable Y, namely = 0.040887 Smaller than the threshold value. Significance = 0.05 means that the Placement of Sign Facilities has a significant effect on Passenger satisfaction. The results of the Coefficient of Determination test which shows how much the X1 variable is Customer Service performance and the X2 variable is the placement of Sign Facilities on the Y variable passenger satisfaction is known to be a determination coefficient of 78.7%, which means that the X1 variable is Customer Service performance and the X2 variable is the placement of Sign Facilities. Y variable is passenger satisfaction. contributed 78.7% to the Y variable of passenger satisfaction with a Correlation Value = 0.92087 (Very Strong).

Improving Speech Intelligibility from PA Systems in Transportation Terminals

ACRP 175 was published in 2018 and provides basic guidelines for design, installation, and operation of public address systems in airport terminals. There are approximately 400 airports in the US, and with over 550 underground stations and 2,600 above ground stations in the US , many of these guidelines developed for airports can also be easily adapted for these transit stations. This paper provides an overview of ACRP 175 guidance with a focus on key factors for successful design and commissioning. As part of the research acoustic field studies were performed at six airports and a total of 45 different spaces including ticketing, concourse, gate lounges, food courts, arrival/departure halls, baggage claim, and curbside locations. We describe experience using ACRP 175 on current design-build projects and discuss other relevant industry standards.