Adaptive Suspension Concepts for Road Vehicles

Most vehicle suspensions are composed of passive spring and damper devices, although improved suspension performance is possible if an active system is used to control forces or relative velocities. The complexity, power requirements, and cost of fully active suspensions have restricted their use. Various partially active suspensions have been proposed and suspensions with slow load levelers and variable dampers are in widespread use. Here we analyze a class of basically passive suspensions the parameters of which can be varied actively in response to various measured signals on the vehicle. These suspensions can come close to optimal performance with simpler means than many of the active or semi-active schemes previously proposed.     

Tilt Control for Gyro-Stabilized Two-Wheeled Vehicles

Fully enclosed motorcycles could form the basis for extremely fuel and space efficient vehicles, but their inherent instability upon encountering even a momentary loss of traction renders them unsuitable for general use. It will be shown that a relatively simple tilt control system using a gyroscope to provide a tilt control moment is capable of stabilizing the vehicle at still stand or at speed on a very low traction surface. Furthermore, the system can achieve a coordinated turn on high traction surfaces. Since the gyro is an energy storage device, it can be used also in a hybrid system to provide extra power for acceleration and to recover some energy during braking. This relatively old idea should be reconsidered in light of the improved electromechanical devices, which have been developed recently for hybrid electric vehicles.     

长江口北支地形变化对倒灌盐水的影响

北支盐水入侵是长江口径潮动力的重要特征,受到径流、潮汐以及地形变化等多方面的影响。通过建立长江口潮流盐度模型,讨论不同地形条件对长江口北支潮位及盐水倒灌量的影响,研究倒灌盐水团的活动规律和盐度的变化。研究表明：2000—2017年期间年地形变化使得北支倒灌明显减弱,中缩窄方案实施完成后将使得倒灌现象进一步减弱;地形改变造成的倒灌盐水量的变化对在南支活动的倒灌盐水团的盐度有显著的影响,但对盐水团在南支的活动规律影响较小。     

Measuring the satisfaction of multimodal travelers for local transit services in different urban contexts

The importance of measuring customer satisfaction for a public transport service is apparent, even beyond more immediate marketing purposes. The present paper shows how satisfaction measures can be exploited to gain insights on the relationship between personal attitudes, transit use and urban context. We consider nine satisfaction measures of urban transit services, as expressed by a representative sample of Italian multimodal travelers (i.e. users of both private cars and public transport). We use correlations and correspondence analyses to show if and how each attribute is related to the levels of use of public transport, and how the relationship is affected by the urban context. Then we apply a recently developed method to combine ordinal variables into one score, by adapting it to work with large samples and with satisfaction measures which have a neutral point in the scale (i.e. “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied”). The resulting overall satisfaction levels and frequency of use were not correlated in our sample. We also found the highest satisfaction levels in smaller towns and the lowest ones in metropolitan cities. Since we focus on multimodal travelers, an interpretation paradigm is proposed according to which transit services must be well evaluated by car drivers in smaller towns in order to be considered a real alternative to cars. On the other hand, transit is more competitive on factual elements in larger cities, so that it can still be used by drivers, even if it is not very well evaluated.     

Integrated Agent-based and System Dynamics Modelling for Simulation of Sustainable Mobility

In this article, a conceptual framework for a comprehensive evaluation of the diffusion process of alternative fuel vehicles is introduced. The framework takes into account the most influencing stakeholders, including car manufacturers, car dealers, consumers, energy supply system, fuel stations and government. The underlying mathematical models of different stakeholders are then integrated in one model of the whole energy and transport system. The hybrid modelling framework links the two powerful dynamic simulation approaches of system dynamics (SD) and agent-based (AB) modelling. Integrated modelling structure gives the potential of building more accurate and computationally efficient models for simulating the transition to sustainable mobility. We specify the integration process and the most important linking variables between various energy and transport components. Then the application of the integrated model is explained through a test case and, finally, the applicability of the hybrid AB and SD approach and its potential contribution to the models of transition to sustainable mobility will be concluded.     

Studying travel-related individual assessments and desires by combining hierarchically structured ordinal variables

Ordinal measures are frequently encountered in travel behavior research. This paper presents a new method for combining them when a hierarchical structure of the data can be presumed. This method is applied to study the subjective assessment of the amount of travel by different transportation modes among a group of French clerical workers, along with the desire to increase or decrease the use of such modes. Some advantages of this approach over traditional data reduction technique such as factor analysis when applied to ordinal data are then illustrated. In this study, combining evidence from several variables sheds light on the observed moderately negative relationship between the personal assessment of the amount of travel and the desire to increase or decrease it, thus integrating previous partial (univariate) results. We find a latent demand for travel, thus contributing to clarify the behavioral mechanisms behind the induced traffic phenomenon. Categorizing the above relationship by transportation mode shows a desire for a less environmental-friendly mix of modes (i.e., a greater desire to use heavy motorized modes and a lower desire to use two-wheeled modes), whenever the respondents do not feel to travel extensively. This result, combined with previous theoretical investigations concerning the determinants of the desire to alter trips consumption levels, shows the importance of making people aware of how much they travel.

《液压传动》课程教学改革与实践

液压传动课程是机械类专业的一门重要技术基础课,几年来学校通过多媒体的充分运用、教学内容结构调整和内容创新,考试方式的改革和教师的自身素质的提高等方面进行了探索与实践,提高了教学质量,较好地实现了教学目的。     

Network economies in liner shipping: the role of home markets

This paper deals with the measurement of the network complexity of some selected shipping groups, also identifying the contribution of co-operative agreements among carriers. The empirical investigation is focused on: (i) the analysis of the distribution of the carrying capacity per range; and (ii) the comparison of that capacity with the throughput handled in the port facilities of the group. These variables are interpreted in the light of the impact that alliances have on the geographical wideness of the services supplied by each partner. This factor also allows to depict how the cultural and political origin of shipping lines affects the decision of joining an alliance and the outcomes deriving from such co-operation.     

Grouping travelers on the basis of their different car and transit levels of use

Market segmentation studies in travel behavior research are ordinarily based on socioeconomic characteristics and personality traits. This study explores the usefulness of a different approach, where the actual overall mobility levels across different ground transportation modes, along with desired changes in the use of cars and transit, are used as clustering variables. Using a given mode can in fact influence the personal representation of that mode, which in turn has been proven to be a key element in transport behaviours. We form such multimodality-based clusters from two field studies, one involving employees of the French transportation research institute INRETS and the other a representative sample of residents of the US San Francisco Bay Area. We find that strong users of a given mode would like to bring more balance to their “modal consumptions” by decreasing the use of this mode more than the average, and increasing the use of the alternative mode. However, concerning ground transport travel budgets, the desire to travel more (or less) overall seems less strongly related to the composition of the modal balance. The US dataset shows also a greater latent demand for travel than the French one. Socioeconomic characteristics of the clusters could not explain the patterns that were found, confirming the importance of taking into account multimodality issues in travel behavior research. Some policy implications from these findings are finally reported.

The bicycle-train travellers in the Netherlands: personal profiles and travel choices

Transportation - The Netherlands seems to exhibit the unique conditions that allow cycling on the country level instead of only the city level. Moreover, the national transit system seemingly...