Abstract:

To enhance the navigation efficiency of ships in inland waterway navigation facilities and increase their operational capacity, a continuous gear shifting model and algorithm for ship lock chambers are proposed. This model comprises two scenarios: considering and not considering the sequence of ships entering the lock. First, a two-dimensional packing problem model was employed to establish a continuous gear shifting model for ship lock chambers. Then, an algorithm for solving the aforementioned continuous gear shifting model based on a greedy strategy was proposed. Finally, simulated ship data for vessels arriving at the lock was generated based on the Baise Junction Project. The proposed algorithm was used to calculate the lock chamber gear arrangement. Results indicate that, in the case of randomly generated data for 90 ships, 47 lock cycles were required for the gear arrangement considering the ship arrival sequence, with an average occupancy rate of 76.424%. However, only 45 locks were needed for the gear arrangement when the ship arrival sequence was not considered, with an average occupancy rate of 76.821%. The proposed model and algorithm can effectively shift gears continuously in the ship lock chamber under various conditions.

Key words: inland water transport, ship gear shifting, two-dimensional packing, greedy strategy