Equivalence of Fluid Models for $G_t/GI/N+GI$ Queues

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the equivalence of two fluid models tracking elapsed times for $G_t/GI/N+GI$ queues and explores conditions under which measure-valued models tracking residual times are related, enhancing understanding of non-Markovian queues.

Contribution

It establishes the equivalence of Whitt's and Kang-Ramanan's fluid models and clarifies the relationship between Zuñiga's and Zhang's models under certain conditions.

Findings

Whitt's and Kang-Ramanan's models are equivalent for $G_t/GI/N+GI$ queues.

Zuñiga's and Zhang's models are not always equivalent under general conditions.

Conditions are identified for deriving one residual-time model from the other.

Abstract

Four different fluid model formulations have been recently developed for $G_t/GI/N+GI$ queues, including a two-parameter fluid model in Whitt (2006) by tracking elapsed service and patience times of each customer, a measure-valued fluid model in Kang and Ramanan (2010) and its extension in Zu{\~n}iga (2014) by tracking elapsed service and patience times of each customer, and a measure-valued fluid model in Zhang (2013) by tracking residual service and patience times of each customer. We show that the two fluid models tracking elapsed times (Whitt's and Kang and Ramanan's fluid models) are equivalent formulations for the same $G_t/GI/N+GI$ queue, whereas Zu{\~n}iga's fluid model and Zhang's fluid model are not entirely equivalent under general initial conditions. We then identify necessary and sufficient conditions under which Zu{\~n}iga's fluid model and Zhang's fluid model can be derived from each other for the same system, in which certain measure-valued fluid processes tracking residual service and patience times of each customer derived from Kang-Ramanan and Zu{\~n}iga's fluid models play an important role.The equivalence properties discovered provide important implications for the understanding of the recent development for non-Markovian many-server queues.