1. Introduction

In this laboratory exercise there are two main objectives:

.    Get introduced to using the Arena simulation software package. The instructor will review some Arena basics.

.    Gain  experience  with  the  software  by using Arena  simulation  software  to modify/enhance the single server queuing model that will be developed with instruction. You will work in teams.

2. Arena Basics

Some of the Arena basics that will covered in this lab are:

.    Starting Arena.

.    The model window: flowchart and spreadsheet views.

.    The project bar: hiding/displaying, adding templates.

.    Adding flowchart modules from the project bar to the model window.

.    Connecting modules in the model window.

.    Simulation run settings and running a simulation.

o Turning off animation.

.    Accessing reports and some of the  default performance measures Arena tabulates.

In addition to these basic Arena features, you will also be guided through:

.    Adding animated queues.

.    Adding animated variables.

.    Adding text to the modeling window.

.    Animating a resource.

Additional modeling techniques will be covered in other labs. There is also a large amount of electronic Arena documentation available in pdf files in the Rockwell software folder.

3. Process Modeling Orientation

Arena  is  a  “process  oriented”  simulation  modeling  development  system.    By “process oriented” it is meant that the model is developed by representing the flow of entities (e.g., customers, parts, etc.) in the system being simulated. The flow is defined by the process steps and process decisions that pertain to the entity as it moves through the system.

Arena is a graphical development system, where models are built by dragging Arena modules into a modeling window to represent the flow of entities. It is very similar to developing a flow chart with the exception that sometimes additional simulation modeling steps are added to the flow chart.

For the single-server queuing system the flow from the perspective of the customer can be represented with a simple flow chart:

4. Lab Assignment

1.   The  instructor  will  guide  you  through  the  development  of a  single  server queuing model. This is the same model that was used in class to demonstrate Arena, and the same model simulated by hand in class. The system has the following operational features:

.    Customers  arrive  one  at-a-time to  a  queue of infinite capacity with an average time between arrivals = 3.4 minutes. The probability distribution of the interarrival times is exponential. If there is no one in queue when the first customer arrives who begins service upon arrival. Customers arriving when the server is busy join a queue. Customers in queue are served in First Come First Served (FCFS) or First In First Out (FIFO) order.

.    A single server serves a single customer at-a-time with a service time that follows an exponential distribution with a mean of 3.3333 minutes. The server is never idle while customers are in the system.