Next-Generation Infrastructure Design Method Based on Digital Twin Technology for Automated Container Terminal

With increased investment in automated container terminals (ACTs), research on the design method for ACT infrastructure becomes popular. However, the performance of the ACT infrastructure design scheme is subject to the coordination and interaction of the container handling system in different design layouts and dynamic environments. The traditional design method has difficulty in effectively analyzing the above effects in the design process. This work discusses the characteristics of the ACT infrastructure design in the design process framework including preliminary design, detailed design, and scheme evaluation. The benefits of adopting digital twin (DT) in the infrastructure layout design are analyzed in this framework to propose the next-generation design method. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is taken as a case to test the availability of the proposed DT-based design platform. This paper hopes to improve the infrastructure design to obtain efficient and stable operations for ACTs.