Optimization of Dynamic Multi-Runway Use Strategy Considering Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Airspace

The inefficient operation of the airfield area in multi-runway airports leads to an imbalance between airspace capacity and service efficiency of runway. This question further causes frequent traffic congestion and flight delays in the terminal area. Aiming at this issue, this paper utilizes the Total Airspace and Airport Modeler (TAAM) to establish an airspace simulation model. The model is used to investigate the impact of dynamic transitions between different configurations on the spatial and temporal characteristics of the terminal area, such as traffic flow direction and sector operation. Based on the result, a dynamic multi-runway use strategy optimization method is proposed, considering the traffic ratio at the arrival and departure waypoint and the distribution of arrival and departure aircraft during different operational periods. The airspace simulation models under different runway configurations scenarios are simulated using TAAM. According to the simulation outcomes, the correlation functions between the workload and the equivalent number of aircraft flights under different runway configuration are derived through fitting, taking into account various factors such as the impact of aircraft movement, altitude changes, handover coordination, and conflict resolution on the workload. With the average flight time, average delay time, and workload in the terminal area as optimization goals, a multi-runway use strategy optimization model is established. A multi-objective non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-Ⅱ) based on the Base Aircraft Data (BADA) is designed. Combining the actual operating conditions of the example airport, five scenarios are set up for simulation calculations, including no operating restrictions, operating direction restrictions, and operating configuration restrictions, etc. The Pareto optimal solution set for each scenario is evaluated to determine the optimal runway usage strategy under different scenarios, and TAAM is used for simulation comparison and verification. The results show that compared to the only runway configuration, the service efficiency of the runway usage strategy without operating restrictions and with operating direction restrictions is improved by 10.15% and 5.01%, the workload is reduced by 3.91% and 3.4%, and the average delay time is reduced by 28.86% and 19.46%.