A System and Unit Design for Food Distribution During a Disaster Recovery

Abstract

Because of the steadily increasing population, disaster needs have been steadily increasing in number and scale. This increasing trend intensifies the need for aid in the recovery areas of disaster situations. The development of a self-contained, mobile food distribution unit along with an efficient operation evaluation system will be of immeasurable significance in the future of disaster recovery. In this study, data are collected from library references, applicable industries, and concept studies. We provide a detailed workload characterization of the system, and then proceed to design a model that could be used to drive a simulation of this distribution system. The particular model that we have designed is an accurate CAD, considering the time and financial constraints of the project. The model is distribution-based for disaster recovery. The major contribution of this study is its furthering of the understanding of the tools and methodology that can be used in design development of a complete self-contained, mobile food distribution unit. We demonstrate how analysis and other techniques can be used to provide meaningful answers to the needs in the recovery of disaster situations; including recovery workers and disaster victims. In addition to the specific results that we present, we feel that the collective wisdom provided by the discussion of the methodology throughout this thesis will provide a stable model for the development of the proposed system.