The specification of a building’s vertical transportation system is one of those design decisions that will be evaluated by the building’s occupants every working day for decades. A well-specified system that consistently delivers the promised performance becomes invisible — a background service that people use without thinking about it. A poorly specified system that delivers waiting times above expectations becomes a source of daily frustration that reflects on the building management and reduces tenant satisfaction.
Getting the specification right is not primarily a question of cost. A more expensive system does not automatically perform better than a less expensive one. It is a question of analysis — of understanding the building’s demand profile accurately and specifying a system configuration that is genuinely matched to that demand.
What Specification Requires
A vertical transportation specification that will hold up over the building’s operational life needs to be grounded in three things: an accurate understanding of the building’s demand profile, a rigorous analysis of how proposed system configurations will perform against that demand, and a clear definition of the performance requirements that the specification is intended to achieve.
The demand profile analysis is the foundation. Without an accurate picture of the peak traffic that the system will need to handle — the number of passengers, their floor destinations, the time over which they will arrive — the performance analysis that follows cannot produce reliable results. Getting the demand profile right requires understanding not just the average occupancy of the building but the peak occupancy at the floors that generate the most traffic, and the arrival and departure patterns associated with the building’s intended use.
AdSimulo provides the tools to conduct this demand analysis and to translate it into a traffic simulation that represents the building’s specific characteristics. The platform handles both the traffic profile definition and the simulation of system performance under that profile, producing results that reflect the building’s specific context rather than generic industry averages.
The Simulation Methodology
The simulation of lift system performance under a defined traffic profile involves modelling the arrival of passengers at lift lobbies over a simulated time period, the response of the lift control system to those arrivals, and the resulting passenger journey times. By running many independent simulations and accumulating the results, the software generates a statistical distribution of performance outcomes that characterises the range of performance the real system will deliver.
This approach captures something that deterministic analytical methods cannot: the variability of real passenger arrivals and the way that variability affects performance. A system that appears to provide adequate capacity under an analytical calculation may show significant performance degradation in simulation when the variability of arrivals creates temporary demand peaks that the system cannot absorb without extended waiting times.
The simulation also provides a more realistic picture of performance during specific operating conditions — the morning peak arrival period, the lunchtime dispersal, or the evening departure — that matter most for occupant experience. Analysis that focuses on these specific periods, rather than only on average conditions, produces a more useful specification basis.
According to CIBSE Guide D4, simulation-based analysis is the recommended approach for lift traffic design when the building’s complexity or performance requirements exceed the scope of simplified analytical methods.
Specification Documentation
The output of a rigorous traffic analysis is not just a set of performance metrics — it is the documentation that supports the lift system specification throughout the procurement and construction process. This documentation needs to clearly define the performance requirements that the specified system must meet, the traffic profile and system parameters on which the analysis was based, and the simulation methodology used to assess performance.
Specification documentation of this quality provides the basis for evaluating tender submissions, for confirming that the specified system will deliver the required performance, and for assessing any proposed variations during construction.
For building engineers seeking lift traffic analysis software that produces the analytical rigour and the documentation quality that professional vertical transportation specification requires, AdSimulo is the platform that leading practitioners rely on. Contact their team today to discuss the software’s capabilities in detail.
The AdSimulo Platform in Practice
AdSimulo is designed for engineers and consultants who need professional-grade lift traffic simulation without the steep learning curve of traditional specialist tools. The platform makes advanced simulation methodology accessible through a streamlined interface that guides users through the process of defining the building, specifying the lift system, running the simulation, and interpreting the results.
The software handles the underlying computational complexity — the Monte Carlo simulation engine, the statistical analysis of results, the production of output reports — allowing users to focus on the engineering decisions rather than the mechanics of the software. This means that rigorous simulation analysis can be incorporated into a standard design workflow without requiring dedicated specialist time for every project.
The platform is cloud-based, meaning no installation is required and results are accessible from any device. Updates are delivered automatically, ensuring that users always have access to the current version of the software and the most recent analytical methods. For practices working across multiple offices or with remote team members, the cloud architecture eliminates the version management and access issues that desktop software creates.
For building professionals ready to adopt simulation-based vertical transportation analysis as a standard part of their practice, AdSimulo offers the starting point. Contact their team today to arrange a demonstration and explore how the platform handles the specific project types your practice works on.
AdSimulo’s track record with lift engineers and building services consultants across multiple markets makes it the platform of choice for practitioners who take vertical transportation analysis seriously.
The investment in rigorous simulation analysis pays for itself many times over — in better specifications, reduced risk, and the professional confidence that comes from grounding design decisions in evidence.
In a discipline where the consequences of getting it wrong are measured in years of occupant frustration and significant capital expenditure, that evidence base is not optional — it is essential.
Practitioners who have made the transition to simulation-based analysis consistently report that they would not return to manual methods — the improvement in specification quality, client communication, and professional confidence is too significant to give up.
