Extracting driving characteristics from heavy goods vehicle tachograph charts

European Union regulations require haulage companies of member states like the UK to keep records of their drivers’ hours of work. All heavy goods vehicles (HGV's) over 7.5 tonnes are fitted with tachographs which record a driver's operating activities (periods of driving, other work and rest). These records are etched onto a laminated chart by various styli, one of which records the vehicle's speed. This paper describes the development and testing of a new technique for extracting individual driving characteristics from the speed trace of an HGV tachograph chart to calculate four parameters: distance travelled, average speed, time travelled and speed variability.

The average speed, time travelled and speed variability were analysed statistically using one‐way analysis of variance tests. Speed variability was found to be particularly useful for identifying differences between individual driver's behaviour. Once differences in behaviours can be identified it may be possible to link certain driving habits to factors such as component wear, accident rates and excessive fuel usage.     

The pros and cons of Intelligent Speed Adaptation as a restrictive measure for serious speed offenders

In 2011 in the Netherlands a field operational test was performed to investigate the possibility of using restrictive Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) as a penalty system for serious speed offenders. This paper presents the overall results of the research focusing on the pros and cons of the use of ISA as a restrictive measure for serious speed offenders, and on the preconditions for deployment. The results showed that the ISA systems tested have a huge effect on driver behavior and have the potential to improve road safety by reducing the level of speeding, mean speed, as well as the standard deviation of speed. However, there are also cons: the behavioral change in driving behavior was only temporary. In addition the tested technology proved too easy to override, raised issues of equity, and a substantial back office is required when implementing the system for serious speed offenders.     

Assessing the impact of reduced visibility on traffic crash risk using microscopic data and surrogate safety measures

Due to the difficulty of obtaining accurate real-time visibility and vehicle based traffic data at the same time, there are only few research studies that addressed the impact of reduced visibility on traffic crash risk. This research was conducted based on a new visibility detection system by mounting visibility sensor arrays combined with adaptive learning modules to provide more accurate visibility detections. The vehicle-based detector, Wavetronix SmartSensor HD, was installed at the same place to collect traffic data. Reduced visibility due to fog were selected and analyzed by comparing them with clear cases to identify the differences based on several surrogate measures of safety under different visibility classes. Moreover, vehicles were divided into different types and the vehicles in different lanes were compared in order to identify whether the impact of reduced visibility due to fog on traffic crash risk varies depending on vehicle types and lanes. Log-Inverse Gaussian regression modeling was then applied to explore the relationship between time to collision and visibility together with other traffic parameters. Based on the accurate visibility and traffic data collected by the new visibility and traffic detection system, it was concluded that reduced visibility would significantly increase the traffic crash risk especially rear-end crashes and the impact on crash risk was different for different vehicle types and for different lanes. The results would be helpful to understand the change in traffic crash risk and crash contributing factors under fog conditions. We suggest implementing the algorithms in real-time and augmenting it with ITS measures such as VSL and DMS to reduce crash risk.     

Operating cost based cruise speed reduction for ground delay programs: Effect of scope length

Ground delay programs typically involve the delaying of aircraft that are departing from origin airports within some set distance of a capacity constrained destination airport. Long haul flights are not delayed in this way. A trade-off exists when fixing the distance parameter: increasing the ‘scope’ distributes delay among more aircraft and may reduce airborne holding delay but could also result in unnecessary delay in the (frequently observed) case of early program cancellation. In order to overcome part of this drawback, a fuel based cruise speed reduction strategy aimed at realizing airborne delay, was suggested by the authors in previous publications. By flying slower, at a specific speed, aircraft that are airborne can recover part of their initially assigned delay without incurring extra fuel consumption if the ground delay program is canceled before planned. In this paper, the effect of the scope of the program is assessed when applying this strategy. A case study is presented by analyzing all the ground delay programs that took place at San Francisco, Newark Liberty and Chicago O’Hare International airports during one year. Results show that by the introduction of this technique it is possible to define larger scopes, partially reducing the amount of unrecovered delay.     

粉煤灰水泥搅拌桩群桩整体质量评价方法研究

水泥搅拌桩广泛应用于各类工程建设中,在搅拌桩的设计及施工方面积累了丰富的经验,然而在搅拌桩施工质量检测技术及评价方法方面研究较少,尤其对于粉煤灰水泥搅拌桩群桩整体质量评价方面缺少研究。淮盐高速公路软土路段大量采用粉煤灰搅拌桩,搅拌桩质量评价构成施工中的一个重要问题,为了进一步完善现有水泥搅拌桩质量评价方法,结合淮盐高速公路建设实践,运用数学方法对搅拌桩单桩及整体质量评价指标选取、评价方法体系进行系统研究,得出了基于单桩质量的群桩整体质量概率评价模型。     

浅谈箱形拱桥的维修与加固

文章针对目前钢筋混凝土悬链线箱形拱桥普遍存在的问题,介绍了采用粘贴钢板加固、改变结构受力体系、桥面补强层等3种方法,能有效地解决目前桥梁的维修和加固存在的问题。     

中、小跨径桥梁的梁板安装及应用

文章针对路网工程的现状,结合工程实例,提出中、小跨径桥梁的梁板安装的施工方法,并说明其在工程上的应用。     

通用快速简易气门调整法

在详细的理论分析基础上，提出了一种快速简易的气门调整方法，即不论往复式四行程内燃机的曲轴处于任何位置，调整处于可调位置的进气门和排气门，然后转动曲轴一圈，调整原先处于不可调位置的进气门和排气门。用此种方法可调整任意类型和缸数的四冲程内燃机的气门间隙。     

稳态工况下汽车污染物排放特性的试验研究

利用底盘测功机模拟汽车实际道路行驶稳态工况,以福莱尔QCJ7081型汽车为研究对象进行了在不同载质量、不同车速、不同挡位下的污染物排放特性试验。并分别拟合出在4挡空载情况下,排放因子CO、HC、NOx和总污染物排放因子随车速的变化规律多项式。结果表明,空载情况下,试验车辆总污染物排放因子最低时的车速约为95km/h。通过换挡规律分析认为,汽车排放污染物是由发动机和催化器的匹配以及发动机和变速器的匹配共同决定的。     

大跨度连续刚构桥施工期截面应力测试与分析

广西布柳河大桥主桥为主跨235m、墩高97米、桥宽仅8.3米的特柔预应力混凝土连续刚构桥。文章结合主桥施工监控实践,介绍大跨高墩连续刚构桥施工期截面应力测试及数据分析的方法,为同类桥型施工提供参考。