The Gt/GI/st+GI many-server fluid queue

Abstract

This paper introduces a deterministic fluid model that approximates the many-server Gt/GI/st+GI queueing model, and determines the time-dependent performance functions. The fluid model has time-varying arrival rate and service capacity, abandonment from queue, and non-exponential service and patience distributions. Two key assumptions are that: (i) the system alternates between overloaded and underloaded intervals, and (ii) the functions specifying the fluid model are suitably smooth. An algorithm is developed to calculate all performance functions. It involves the iterative solution of a fixed-point equation for the time-varying rate that fluid enters service and the solution of an ordinary differential equation for the time-varying head-of-line waiting time, during each overloaded interval. Simulations are conducted to confirm that the algorithm and the approximation are effective. © 2012 The Author(s).