The design of a building’s vertical transportation system used to be a discipline that relied heavily on empirical rules, simplified calculation methods, and the accumulated experience of specialists who had seen enough buildings to develop reliable intuition. That approach produced serviceable results in an era when building programmes were relatively predictable and occupancy patterns were well understood from decades of data.
Contemporary buildings are more complex, more diverse in their occupancy profiles, and more demanding in their performance expectations. The old approach is no longer adequate, and the profession has responded with a generation of specialist software tools that bring simulation-based rigour to lift design and traffic analysis.
Why Lift Design Has Always Required Specialist Knowledge
The challenge of designing a lift system that performs well is not simply one of specifying enough lift cars to move people between floors. The performance of a vertical transportation system is determined by the interaction of multiple variables — the number and capacity of lift cars, the floor-to-floor travel time, the door opening and closing speeds, the passenger loading and unloading behaviour, the call patterns generated by the building’s occupancy — in ways that simple calculation methods cannot fully capture.
The standard analytical approach to lift traffic analysis, which uses simplified models to estimate key performance metrics such as average waiting time and round trip time, provides useful guidance for straightforward buildings with predictable occupancy. For complex buildings — mixed-use developments, high-rise residential, healthcare facilities, or large commercial buildings with variable occupancy patterns — the simplified approach produces results that may be materially misleading.
The reason is that real lift systems behave in ways that simplified models cannot represent. The interaction between multiple lift cars operating under a dispatch algorithm, the variability in passenger arrival rates throughout the day, and the effect of different floor population densities on system performance all require simulation rather than analytical calculation to model accurately.
AdSimulo lift traffic simulation platform is designed specifically to address this limitation, providing building engineers, architects, and lift consultants with the simulation capability to model these complex interactions accurately rather than approximating them with simplified methods.
What Lift Design Software Enables That Manual Methods Cannot
The most significant capability that specialist lift design software provides is the ability to run thousands of simulated scenarios and identify the combinations of system parameters that produce the best performance for a given building. A simulation can test different lift configurations — varying the number of cars, the car capacity, the control system parameters — against the same building occupancy model and compare their performance across multiple metrics simultaneously.
This capability transforms the design process from a series of iterative manual calculations into a systematic optimisation exercise. Rather than calculating the performance of a single proposed design and checking whether it meets the specification, the engineer can define the performance requirements and use simulation to identify the range of designs that meet them — then choose among those options on the basis of cost, space efficiency, or other factors.
The documentation that simulation-based design produces is also substantially more valuable than manual calculation outputs. A simulation report that shows the distribution of waiting times across a simulated day, with the parameters clearly documented, provides a much stronger basis for design decisions and a clearer record of the design intent than a spreadsheet of simplified calculations.
According to CIBSE Guide D, the use of simulation tools is recommended for complex vertical transportation design problems where simplified analytical methods may not capture the full range of system behaviours that affect performance.
The Practical Impact on Building Performance
For buildings where vertical transportation is a critical component of the occupant experience — high-density office towers, large residential developments, healthcare facilities — the quality of the lift design has direct consequences for the occupants’ daily experience and the building’s operational performance.
A well-designed lift system that consistently delivers waiting times within the performance targets established at design stage is an asset that justifies its specification. A system that was specified using inadequate analysis and delivers waiting times significantly above target is a persistent source of occupant dissatisfaction that reflects on the building management and reduces the building’s competitiveness.
For engineers seeking lift design software that brings simulation-based rigour to vertical transportation design, AdSimulo provides the platform that modern building engineering requires. Contact their team today to explore how the software handles the specific design challenges of your projects.
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.