AdSimulo Moved Into The Cloud + New Pricing
September 30, 2019
If you have ever stood in a crowded lobby at 8:55 a.m. watching people queue for lifts, you have seen what happens when vertical transportation is under-designed. Frustration builds quickly. Meetings start late. Tenants question the quality of the building.
This is where Elevator Traffic Simulation becomes a serious performance tool rather than a technical extra.
For developers, architects, consultants, and engineers across the USA, UK, and Europe, vertical transportation is tied directly to asset value. Elevator Traffic Simulation allows project teams to test lift strategies digitally before construction begins. Instead of relying on assumptions or generic sizing rules, you can model real occupant movement, measure projected waiting times, and evaluate how different configurations will behave under peak demand.
In high-rise projects, those decisions influence tenant satisfaction, capital allocation, and long-term operational efficiency. Once a building is built, it is too late to correct structural lift planning mistakes without major cost.
Elevator Traffic Simulation uses advanced modelling software to predict how lift systems will perform under defined traffic conditions. It considers passenger arrival rates, peak movement periods, lift speeds, door cycles, control logic, and building zoning.
Rather than producing a simple theoretical capacity number, the simulation creates performance metrics such as average waiting time, interval time, and handling capacity. These metrics are generated under realistic traffic scenarios including morning up-peak, lunchtime inter-floor movement, and evening down-peak.
For example, an office tower with concentrated morning arrivals behaves very differently from a residential building where traffic is more evenly distributed. Mixed-use developments introduce additional complexity. Retail, hospitality, and residential components can overlap in unpredictable ways.
Elevator Traffic Simulation helps teams answer practical questions early in the design stage:
These answers protect both tenant experience and financial returns.
As building height increases, the consequences of poor lift planning increase as well.
In a 10-storey building, small inefficiencies may be manageable. In a 40- or 60-storey tower, they quickly become operational problems. Longer travel distances mean longer round-trip times. A single design miscalculation can multiply into persistent congestion.
High-rise buildings depend on precise vertical circulation planning. Core space must be balanced carefully. More lift shafts reduce waiting times but decrease rentable area. Fewer shafts increase net usable space but risk poor service performance.
Elevator Traffic Simulation allows you to test multiple configurations and see how each option performs before construction. You can compare different shaft counts, lift speeds, and zoning strategies without committing to physical changes.
For premium office and residential developments, lift performance directly affects brand perception. Tenants may never see the mechanical room, but they experience lift performance every day.
Lift systems are one of the most expensive mechanical components in a high-rise project. They also have a long lifecycle.
If a system is under-designed, the impact can include longer waiting times, tenant dissatisfaction, reduced leasing competitiveness, and increased service strain. Retrofitting additional capacity after construction is often structurally impractical.
If a system is over-designed, capital is tied up in unnecessary equipment and valuable core space is lost. That space could have generated revenue.
Elevator Traffic Simulation reduces both risks. By modelling traffic demand realistically, teams can justify design decisions with data rather than assumptions. Developers gain confidence that lift investment aligns with projected occupancy and usage patterns.
For investors and asset managers, this translates into predictable performance and stronger long-term asset value.
Modern simulation software does more than calculate peak handling capacity. It models passenger behaviour dynamically over time.
You can test how a building responds when occupancy increases from 70 percent to full capacity. You can model event-driven spikes in hotels or conference centres. You can analyse whether introducing destination control reduces average waiting time enough to justify its cost.
Simulation also helps evaluate design concepts such as sky lobbies, shuttle lifts, and zoning strategies in very tall buildings. Instead of relying on theoretical gains, you see projected performance outcomes under measurable conditions.
This approach supports collaboration between architects, vertical transportation consultants, and MEP engineers. When decisions are backed by data, design discussions become clearer and more objective.
Across the USA, UK, and Europe, building owners face increasing scrutiny regarding performance, accessibility, and user experience. While codes define minimum safety standards, they rarely guarantee comfort or efficiency.
Tenants now expect predictable service levels in premium office towers and residential high-rises. Corporate occupiers often include service-level expectations in lease negotiations. Poor lift performance can undermine sustainability targets as well, especially when inefficient dispatching increases energy usage.
Elevator Traffic Simulation supports compliance with performance guidelines and internal project benchmarks. It provides documentation that can be shared with stakeholders, investors, and planning authorities when required.
For large-scale developments, especially in competitive urban markets such as London, New York, or Frankfurt, this level of technical validation strengthens project credibility.
The most effective time to conduct Elevator Traffic Simulation is during early design stages, ideally before core layouts are finalised.
Waiting until late-stage design reduces flexibility. By that point, shaft locations and core dimensions may already be locked in. Early modelling allows adjustments when they are still practical and cost-effective.
It is also valuable during refurbishment projects where building usage is changing. Converting office space to residential, increasing tenant density, or introducing mixed-use elements can alter traffic patterns dramatically.
Simulation gives teams clarity before committing to major structural or mechanical decisions. Contact AdSimulo to learn more.
High-rise buildings succeed or fail in everyday details. Lift performance is one of the most visible of those details.
Elevator Traffic Simulation gives project teams the ability to test, refine, and justify vertical transportation strategies before construction locks decisions in place. It reduces financial risk, protects tenant experience, and supports data-driven design choices.
If you are planning a high-rise or complex mixed-use development, working with a specialist team that understands advanced lift traffic modelling can provide clarity early in the process. A structured simulation study can help you make confident decisions that stand up to real-world demand.
Elevator traffic modelling is highly reliable when based on accurate occupancy data and realistic assumptions. Modern Elevator Traffic Simulation software uses probabilistic passenger arrival models rather than fixed averages. This means it can replicate different traffic conditions across the day, including peak and off-peak periods.
Accuracy depends on input quality. If projected tenant density, floor usage, and control logic are correctly defined, the resulting performance metrics provide a strong indication of expected waiting times and handling capacity. While no model can predict every behavioural variable, simulation offers far greater reliability than rule-of-thumb sizing. For high-rise buildings, this level of predictive insight helps reduce operational risk before construction begins.
Not every mid-rise building requires advanced modelling. However, Elevator Traffic Simulation becomes increasingly valuable when occupant density is high, floor layouts are complex, or the building has mixed-use functions.
For example, a 12-storey office building with dense open-plan occupancy may experience intense morning peaks. Without modelling, designers might underestimate required capacity. In contrast, a low-density residential building may operate comfortably with simpler calculations.
The decision depends on usage patterns rather than height alone. When lift performance is directly tied to tenant experience or brand positioning, simulation provides measurable reassurance that the design will perform as intended.
Yes, when used correctly. Elevator Traffic Simulation allows teams to test whether fewer lift cars or different control strategies still meet performance targets. In some cases, optimising zoning or introducing destination dispatch can maintain acceptable waiting times while reducing shaft count.
This does not mean removing equipment blindly. It means validating design efficiency with data. By comparing multiple scenarios, developers can identify the configuration that balances capital expenditure, core efficiency, and user comfort.
The result is informed cost management rather than arbitrary budget cuts. Data-backed decisions also provide justification when presenting design choices to investors or stakeholders.
Lift systems consume energy throughout their lifecycle. Inefficient dispatching increases travel cycles and power usage. Elevator Traffic Simulation helps evaluate how different control strategies influence operational efficiency.
By modelling traffic realistically, engineers can reduce unnecessary lift movements and improve grouping logic. This can contribute to broader sustainability objectives, particularly in high-rise developments targeting environmental certifications.
In addition, optimised core planning can reduce material use and improve overall building efficiency. While lift simulation is not a sustainability tool on its own, it supports performance-driven design that aligns with long-term environmental goals.
A meaningful Elevator Traffic Simulation requires accurate building data. This includes floor counts, floor areas, projected occupant density, usage type per floor, lift speeds, door timings, and proposed control systems.
The more detailed the input, the more reliable the output. Early-stage simulations can be run with estimated occupancy assumptions, then refined as the project progresses. Collaboration between architects, vertical transportation consultants, and building services engineers improves data accuracy.
Providing clear operational expectations at the start of the study ensures that the simulation focuses on realistic performance targets rather than generic benchmarks.
