Experimental and empirical investigations of traffic flow instability

Traffic instability is an important but undesirable feature of traffic flow. This paper reports our experimental and empirical studies on traffic flow instability. We have carried out a large scale experiment to study the car-following behavior in a 51-car-platoon. The experiment has reproduced the phenomena and confirmed the findings in our previous 25-car-platoon experiment, i.e., standard deviation of vehicle speeds increases in a concave way along the platoon. Based on our experimental results, we argue that traffic speed rather than vehicle spacing (or density) might be a better indicator of traffic instability, because vehicles can have different spacing under the same speed. For these drivers, there exists a critical speed between 30 km/h and 40 km/h, above which the standard deviation of car velocity is almost saturated (flat) along the 51-car-platoon, indicating that the traffic flow is likely to be stable. In contrast, below this critical speed, traffic flow is unstable and can lead to the formation of traffic jams. Traffic data from the Nanjing Airport Highway support the experimental observation of existence of a critical speed. Based on these findings, we propose an alternative mechanism of traffic instability: the competition between stochastic factors and the so-called speed adaptation effect, which can better explain the concave growth of speed standard deviation in traffic flow.     

深中通道西人工岛岛形对护面块体稳定性和堤顶越浪的影响

针对深中通道西人工岛特殊岛形,利用物理模型试验手段,验证最不利波浪作用下块体稳定性和堤顶越浪量。结果表明:入射波在内凹的岛壁弧顶迅速形成能量聚集,在岛端部外凸出转角处产生波能释放和漩涡流等复杂不利的波态;凹凸多变岛形也导致护面的扭王字块块体咬合性能减弱,多因素影响致使质量5 t设计护面块体失稳,经多次优化后,岛壁堤身段增加至8 t、端部转角特殊段须增加至14 t方能稳定;岛壁越浪规律为沿波浪入射处至端部转角段逐渐增加。将试验结果与规范公式计算结果、二维水槽断面试验结果进行对比,得到结论:受岛形影响下的稳定质量和越浪均偏大,尤其端部转角凸出的特殊区域,因此设计应给予关注,尽量遵循规范的相关规定,即"轴线向外侧拐,保证夹角大于150°以上"的要求。通过试验也再次验证了三维整体试验在稳定性、越浪量和优化设计方面的必要性。     

System energy optimisation strategies for metros with regeneration

Energy and environmental sustainability in transportation are becoming ever more important. In Europe, the transportation sector is responsible for about 30% of the final end use of energy. Electrified railway systems play an important role in contributing to the reduction of energy usage and CO₂ emissions compared with other transport modes. For metro-transit systems with frequently motoring and braking trains, the effective use of regenerated braking energy is a significant way to reduce the net energy consumption. Although eco-driving strategies have been studied for some time, a comprehensive understanding of how regeneration affects the overall system energy consumption has not been developed. This paper proposes a multi-train traction power network modelling method to determine the system energy flow of the railway system with regenerating braking trains. The initial results show that minimising traction energy use is not the same as minimising the system energy usage in a metro system. An integrated optimisation method is proposed to solve the system energy-saving problem, which takes train movement and electrical power flow into consideration. The results of a study of the Beijing Yizhuang metro line indicate that optimised operation could reduce the energy consumption at the substations by nearly 38.6% compared to that used with the existing ATO operation.     

大型自航艏吹开体泥驳开发

开体泥驳是辅助大型挖泥船疏浚施工关键设施之一。针对国内研发的4 000 m3大型自航艏吹开体泥驳，分析泥驳通过左右两个半体开启快速卸泥、在浅水区域卸泥、通过溢流筒装置实现不同装舱高度溢流、通过艏吹装置进行吹岸作业等功能特点，提出此类型船设计的关键技术，解决了船舶开体状态稳性、液压缸及泥舱密封等一系列技术难题，掌握了大型自航艏吹开体泥驳核心技术，为同类型船的设计提供借鉴。     

中低雷诺数流动直接数值模拟的算法比较

文章采用不同的算法对中低雷诺数方腔驱动流动进行了直接数值模拟,所用算法分别是人工压缩方法、SIMPLE算法以及PISO算法.三种算法均采用有限体积法基于交错网格技术离散N-S方程,时间项采用全隐格式离散,对流项采用QUICK格式离散,并将它们得到结果与Ghia发表的基准解进行了比对.文中分析了在同样的收敛条件下,不同算法之间的稳定性,收敛速率以及准确性的差异,发现PISO算法在较低雷诺数Re=400和Re=1000情况下最准确,而人工压缩算法在雷诺数为5000时最准确,在所有计算的不同Re数条件下,发现人工压缩法达到收敛所需时间都是最少的,这可以使它成为中低雷诺数下研究直接数值模拟最好的算法之一.     

波浪动力对开敞淤泥质海岸深水航道边坡稳定性的影响

开敞淤泥质海岸深水航道边坡的稳定性关系到航道的基建及维护费用,是航道工程设计中最重要的问题之一。以连云港港徐圩港区10万吨级航道为研究对象,采用在连云港海域应用较为成熟的波浪数学模型推算的波要素成果,研究中浪、大浪对徐圩10万吨级航道边坡稳定性的影响,并利用边坡实测地形资料进行分析。结果表明,从波浪动力的角度来看,徐圩10万吨级航道设计边坡的坡度取值是合理的,本海域的波浪动力不会对航道边坡的稳定性造成不利影响。     

新型混凝土单元块D型软体排结构计算及稳定性分析

针对长江中下游航道整治水下沉排工程中软体排结构的不足,提出一种新型混凝土单元块D型软体排结构,建立悬链线模型,分析排体的受力特点,计算排体的抗倾、抗滑和抗漂浮稳定性,并对比分析排体对地形的适应性。结果表明,新型混凝土单元块D型软体排结构明显提高了水下沉排的安全性和对复杂地形的适应性,为复杂条件下的水下沉排工程提供理论支撑。     

船型参数对骑浪/横甩薄弱性衡准影响研究

骑浪/横甩是IMO船舶第二代完整稳性的五种失效模式之一,是一种基于概率的稳性衡准,制定规范的目的是更有效地保障船舶在实海域中的航行安全,确保不发生稳性失效情况.本研究中,以IMO有关成员国提出的最新版骑浪/横甩薄弱性衡准草案为基础,基于自主开发的骑浪/横甩薄弱性衡准校核软件,针对围网渔船开展了样船计算和比较分析,研究IMO正在制定的骑浪/横甩薄弱性衡准方法对该类船型的适用情况,分析船型参数对骑浪/横甩薄弱性衡准的影响,为我国参与国际法规制定,提出针对骑浪/横甩薄弱性衡准的提案提供技术支撑和依据.     

Mental models of driving and speed: biases,choices and reality

This paper provides a review of research performed by Svenson with colleagues and others work on mental models and their practical implications. Mental models describe how people perceive and think about the world including covariances and relationships between different variables, such as driving speed and time. Research on mental models has detected the time-saving bias [Svenson, O. (1970). A functional measurement approach to intuitive estimation as exemplified by estimated time savings. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 86, 204–210]. It means that drivers relatively overestimate the time that can be saved by increasing speed from an already high speed, for example, 90–130?km/h, and underestimate the time that can be saved by increasing speed from a low speed, for example, 30–45?km/h. In congruence with this finding, mean speed judgments and perceptions of mean speeds are also biased and higher speeds given too much weight and low speeds too little weight in comparison with objective reality. Replacing or adding a new speedometer in the car showing min per km eliminated or weakened the time-saving bias. Information about braking distances at different speeds did not improve overoptimistic judgments of braking capacity, but information about collision speed with an object suddenly appearing on the road did improve judgments of braking capacity. This is relevant to drivers, politicians and traffic regulators.     

基于BP人工神经网络的滑坡预测分析

文章以汶川地震引发的滑坡为研究对象,以震中距、地震烈度、坡度、前缘高程、坡高和岩性等影响坡体稳定性的因素为切入点,利用BP人工神经网络对实际坡体的稳定性进行了预测分析。结果表明,BP人工神经网络方法能有效预测坡体的稳定情况。