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LiftTrafficAnalysis:FormulaefortheGeneralCase

LiftTrafficAnalysis:FormulaefortheGeneralCase
RDPetersBSc
OveArup&Partners,13FitzroyStreet,LondonW1P6BQ,UK
Received11August1989
Telephone+44(0)1494717821
Fax+44(0)1494716647
Emailrichard.peters@petersresearch.com

BuildingServ.Eng.Res.Technol.11(2)6567(1990).ThiswebversionPetersResearchLtd2010.

Summary
Liftorelevatorpassengertrafficanalysisisgenerallybasedonanuppeakcalculation.Variousauthorshave
consideredotherspecificpassengerflowsfordownpeak,twowayandinterfloortraffic.Thispapergivesformulae
forthegeneralcase.TheformulaearebasedonaPoissonapproximationofpassengerarrivalsataliftlanding
station.Theprobablenumberofstopsandprobablereversalfloorsarecalculated,allowingtheroundtriptime,
waitingintervalandcapacityfactortobedetermined.Thenumberofcalculationsissuchthatacomputeris
neededtoimplementtheformulae,thoughthefinalresultmaybecheckedbyhand.

ListofSymbols
i

Passengerarrivalrateatfloori(persons 1)

dij

Probabilityofthedestinationfloorofacallfromibeingthejthfloor

Waitinginterval(s)

Numberoffloors

Pij(n)

ProbabilityofnpassengerstravellingfromtheithtothejthfloorinthetimeintervalT

Pij

ProbabilityofnocallsfromtheithtothejthfloorsinthetimeintervalT

pS1

Probabilitythataliftwillstopatthelowestfloor

pUSs,pUS3,...pUSN Probabilitythattheliftwillstopateachoftheintermediatefloorsonits'journeyup
1

pSN

Probabilitythattheliftwillstopatthehighestfloor,N

pDSN1,...pDS2

Probabilitythattheliftwillstopateachoftheintermediatefloorsonits'journeydown

Probablenumberofstops

pHn

Probabilityofnthfloorbeingthehighestreversalfloor

pLn

Probabilityofnthfloorbeingthelowestreversalfloor

Highestreversalfloor

Lowestreversalfloor

JWI(i,j)

Journeywaitingintervalforpassengerstravellingfromtheithtothejthfloor(s)

T(n)

Waitinginterval,zonen

SPLIT(Q,i,j)

Proportionofpassengerstravellingfromtheithtothejthfloorwhoareusingliftsin
zoneQ

1Introduction

Traditionaluppeakliftdesigncalculations,thoughsimpleandeffective,arenotalwaysapplicabletotodays
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LiftTrafficAnalysis:FormulaefortheGeneralCase

buildingswhichmayhaveundergroundcarparks,restaurantfloors,etc.Variousauthorshaveconsideredtwo
way(1),downpeak(1)andinterfloor(2)traffic.Thispaperdealswiththegeneralcase.
Thefollowingcalculationsarebasedonthefundamentaldesigncriterionforaliftsystem,theroundtriptime.
Formulaearegivenfortheprobablenumberofstopsaliftcarmakesduringaroundtripandtheaveragehighest
andlowestreversalfloors.Section6demonstrateshowpassengertrafficissplitbetweendifferentgroupsoflifts
whichmaybeofadifferentsize,speed,etc.,orwhichmaynotserveallthesamefloors.
Astheformulaearecompletelygeneral,itispossibletoanalyseanypracticalconfigurationoflifts(doubledecker
liftshavenotbeenconsidered,thoughthetheorycouldbeextendedtoconsiderthese).

2Poissonapproximation

Itisgenerallyacceptedthatthearrivalofpassengersataliftlandingstationisreasonablyapproximatedbya
Poissonprocess(3).Thisgivesustheresult:

(1)

Whencalculatingprobabilities,itisgenerallyeasiertocalculatetheprobabilityofsomethingnothappeningand
thensubtractthisfrom1toarriveattheprobabilityoftheeventhappening.So,let
Pij=Pij(0)

whichistheprobabilityofnocallsfromtheithtothejthfloorinthetimeintervalT.From(1),
Pij=exp(iTdij)(2)

3Probablenumberofstops

Whencalculatingtheprobablenumberofstops,itisnecessarytoconsiderboththeupanddownjourneyofthe
lift,asaliftmaystopatafloortwiceduringasingleroundtrip.
Theprobabilityoftheliftstoppingatafloorisoneminustheprobabilitythattherearenocallstoorfromthat
floor.Thisgivesustheresults:

(3)

(4)

(5)

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(6)

(isamathematicalsymbolmeaningmultiplyallthetermsoverthisrange.)
ThetotalnumberofstopsSiscalculatedbyaddingtogetheralltheterms:

(7)

4Reversalfloors
4.1Reasonforcalculation
Inanaveragejourneyalift,inmanysituations,isunlikelytoreachthelowestorhighestfloorofthebuilding.To
makeamoreaccuratecalculationoftheroundtriptime,itisnecessarytocalculatetheaveragelowestand
highestreversalfloors,LandH.

4.2Highestreversalfloor

Theprobabilityofthejthfloorbeingthehighestreversalflooristheproductoftheprobabilitythatthereisacall
fromalowerfloortojorfromjtoalowerfloorwiththeprobabilitythattherearenocallstoorfromfloorsabovej:

(8)

(9)

(10)

Agoodcheckforthisisthat:

Giventheprobabilityofeachfloorbeingthehighestreversalfloor,theaveragehighestreversalfloor,Hissimply:

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(11)

4.3Lowestreversalfloor

Similarly,wecancalculatetheprobabilityofthejthfloorbeingthelowestreversalfloor,whichistheproductof
theprobabilitythatthereisacallfromahigherfloortojorfromjtoahigherfloorwiththeprobabilitythatthere
arenocallstoorfromfloorsbelowj:

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

5Implementingtheformulae

Inatraditionaluppeakanalysis,acapacityfactorofsay80%isassumedandtheroundtriptimeandfiveminute
ratioarecalculatedaccordingly.Inthegeneralanalysis,alltheformulaearedependentandsolvingisonly
practicalusingacomputertoiterateuntilasolutionisreached.
Notethatforageneralanalysisthecapacityfactormustbecalculatedandnotassumed,aspassengersmayjoin
orleavealiftatanyfloor.Theaveragenumberofpassengersintheliftcarateachstageoftheliftsjourney
mustbeassessedandthecapacityfactorcalculatedforwheretheliftismostfull.
Forexample,attheithfloor,goingup,thenumberofpassengersenteringthecaris:

andthenumberleavingthecaris:

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6OverlappingZones
6.1Definition
Liftswhichservethesamefloorsandareofthesamesize,speed,capacity,etc.maybedefnedasbeingina
zone.Ifdifferentzonesdonotservethesamefloors,wecantreateachasbeingindependent,carryingoutthe
calculationsalreadygivenforeachzoneseparately.Howeverifapassengercoulduseliftsineitherofthetwoor
morezonestomakehis/herjourney,wehaveoverlappingzonesandneedtosplitupthepassengertraffic
betweenthezonesbeforedoingthecalculations.

6.2Journeywaitinginterval

Tocalculatethesplitofpassengersbetweenzones,considerfirstthejourneywaitinginterval,whichisdefined
foreachpossiblejourney.Considerapassengertravellingfromtheithtothejthfloor.Intimet,aliftserving
zone1arrivesatfloorit/T(1)times.
Ifbothfloorsarealsoservedbyzone2,thenaliftarrivesatfloorifromzones1or2t/T(1)+t/T(2)times.
Sothejourneywaitingintervalisgivenby

Takingthegeneralcase,weget:

(16)

where{Z}={allzonesservingboththeithandthejthfloor}

6.3Splitofpassengersbetweenzones

Intimet,aliftfromzoneQarrivesatit/T(Q)timestherefore

(17)

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6.4Implementingtheformulae
Thecalculationforsplitrequiresanotheriterationassplitandwaitingintervalsdependoneachother.Again,the
onlypracticalwaytoimplementtheformulaeisbyusingacomputer,thoughtheresultsmaybecheckedby
hand.

References
1.StrakoschGRVerticalTransportation:ElevatorsandEscalators2ndedn(NewYork:JohnWiley&Sons)
(1983)
2.AlexandrisNAMeanhighestreversalfloorandexpectednumberofstopsinliftstairsservicesystemsof
multilevelbuildingsAppliedMathematicalModelling10139143(April1986)
3.BarneyGCanddosSantosSMElevatorTrafficAnalysisDesignandControl2ndedn(London:Peter
Peregrinus)(1985)

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