Wheel-rail contact models for vehicle system dynamics including multi-point contact

Advanced modelling of rail vehicle dynamics requires realistic solutions of contact problems for wheels and rails that are able to describe contact singularities, encountered for wheels and rails. The basic singularities demonstrate themselves as double and multiple contact patches. The solutions of the contact problems have to be known practically in each step of the numerical integration of the differential equations of the model. The existing fast, approximate methods of solution to achieve this goal have been outlined. One way to do this is to replace a multi-point contact by a set of ellipses. The other methods are based on so-called virtual penetration. They allow calculating the non-elliptical, multiple contact patches and creep forces online, during integration of the model. This allows nearly real-time simulations. The methods are valid and applicable for so-called quasi-Hertzian cases, when the contact conditions do not deviate much from the assumptions of the Hertz theory. It is believed that it is worthwhile to use them in other cases too.     

Fuzzy-logic applied to yaw moment control for vehicle stability

In this paper, we propose a new yaw moment control based on fuzzy logic to improve vehicle handling and stability. The advantages of fuzzy methods are their simplicity and their good performance in controlling non-linear systems. The developed controller generates the suitable yaw moment which is obtained from the difference of the brake forces between the front wheels so that the vehicle follows the target values of the yaw rate and the sideslip angle. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control method when the vehicle is subjected to different cornering steering manoeuvres such as change line and J-turn under different driving conditions (dry road and snow-covered).     

The merits of accelerated depreciation for promoting investment in clean transport technologies: A simulation study in the Australian rail freight industry

This article ascertains the viability of promoting accelerated depreciation for newly acquired locomotives and other rolling stock as a means of encouraging technological investment in more efficient and environmentally friendly assets. The study uses a tax-adjusted asset replacement model to evaluate the merits of accelerated depreciation, and then compares the outcomes with alternative incentive schemes. It also examines what would occur if various schemes were used simultaneously.     

Redefining activity types: Who participates in which leisure activity?

This paper analyzes the activity choices of individuals and the links between socio-demographics, daily schedules and activity attributes using a new activity choice framework. Activities are first clustered into groups based on their salient attributes, such as duration, frequency, flexibility, planning times, and number of involved persons, rather than their functional types (work, leisure and household obligations), using a K-means cluster technique. This led to the creation of several new activity groups such as “long, temporally fixed, personally flexible activities”, “short and flexible activities”. These activity groups form the choice set for the mixed logit activity choice modeling structure developed for the leisure activities in the second part of the paper. The model results reveal the significant relationships between socio-demographics, temporal characteristics, and characteristics of the schedules on leisure activity choice. The results demonstrate how changing demographics and other activities in individuals’ schedules may affect the nature of the leisure activities and present the substitution and complimentary effects that these new activity groups have on one another.     

Analysis of the effectiveness of control measures to mitigate road dust emissions in a regional network

The effectiveness of control measures to reduce road dust emissions is analyzed using a year’s data of road dust emissions collected with a mobile sampling platform and a survey of road maintenance practices in the Lake Tahoe Basin of Nevada and California US. Attributes such as sweeping practices, anti-icing, shoulder improvement, pavement condition, trackout, and abrasive material from road segments were analyzed with a feature subset selection algorithm. Street sweeping was found to be an effective means of controlling dust emissions from roads. Road dust from dirty tertiary roads served as a continuous source of suspendable material for adjacent high-speed roads in the winter time. To be most effective, emission control strategies require that not only primary roads, but all roads be swept after snow storms to recover applied abrasive material.     

Delivering mobility as a service (MaaS) through a broker/aggregator business model

Transportation - Mobility as a service (MaaS) promises a bold new future where bundled public transport and shared mobility options (carsharing, ridesharing, bikesharing and microtransit) will...     

可持续交通——各方观点和长期挑战

从交通研究者和实践者的角度出发,以可持续交通这一概念为中心展开讨论。可持续交通宽泛地反映了可持续发展在交通领域的原则。随着可持续性这一概念的外延逐渐扩大,在它的定义、应用和价值取向上出现了不同观点。着重讨论可持续交通,以及如何理解和运用可持续交通,包括:1)将可持续性或者可持续发展作为一个整体的概念,包括关于可持续性的不同方法和定义之间的冲突;2)对可持续交通以及交通领域对其理解的探索;3)使用指标来实现可持续性的应用。然后识别了通往可持续交通之路的若干挑战,包括缺乏清晰定义、可持续性的固有冲突、可持续发展的跨领域本质、各种工作框架和指标体系、可持续发展的政治因素和交通领域实践中的不同观点。基于在该课题上的研究积累,总结解决这些问题的工作框架,提出因地制宜、注重结果、整体的方法来解决可持续交通中的挑战。     

Influence of vehicle driving parameters on the noise caused by passenger cars in urban traffic

In this work, a sample of vehicles has been instrumented to measure of variables that influence vehicle noise emissions in Madrid. A circuit reproducing a normal travel pattern in large city is traveled by a fleet of vehicle models representing the fleets of cars in a European city. A sample of drivers covers the test track under different traffic conditions. Driving parameters and noise emitted have been recorded in each test and average values have been extracted. These data have been analyzed to define the noise emissions produced by a vehicle in real driving conditions and to identify the noisiest driving behaviors.     

Do parking requirements significantly increase the area dedicated to parking? A test of the effect of parking requirements values in Los Angeles County

Minimum parking requirements (MPRs) are the norm for urban and suburban development in the United States (Davidson et al., 2002). The justification for MPRs is that overflow parking will occupy nearby street or off-street parking. Shoup (1999a) and Willson (1995) provide cases where there is reason to believe that parking space requirements have forced parcel developers to place more parking than they would in the absence of parking requirements. However, to our knowledge the existing literature does not test the effect of parking minimums on the amount of lot space devoted to parking beyond a few case studies. This paper tests the hypothesis that MPRs bind for most land uses using data on suburban office, commercial, industrial and retail property sales from Los Angeles County using both direct and indirect approaches. Our indirect test of the effects of parking requirements is similar to the one used by Glaeser and Gyourko (2003). A simple theoretical model shows that the marginal value of additional parking to the sale price of a building should be equal to the cost of land plus the cost of parking construction. We estimate the marginal values of parking and lot area with spatial methods using a large data set from the Los Angeles area non-residential property sales and find that for most of the property types the marginal value of parking is significantly below that of the parcel area. In addition, we directly examine required and supplied parking and find that on average parking supplied is quite close to the required amount.     

To kill a real option – Incomplete contracts,real options and PPP

This paper is concerned with the implications of public–private partnership agreements for the execution of expansion options in road infrastructure. More specifically, it analyzes the expansion of an existing two-lane road in Sweden, and examines the real options created by an intermediate type of road with three lanes. Interpreting the results from real option analysis in the light of incomplete contract theory, this paper finds that external congestion costs might necessitate public ownership to ensure a social optimal outcome in public–private partnerships.