Exploiting floating car data for time-dependent Origin–Destination matrices estimation

The study evaluates the added value generated by estimating dynamic demand matrices by information gathered from Floating Car Data (FCD).

Firstly, adopting a large dataset of FCD collected in Rome, Italy, during May 2010, all the monitored trips on a specific district of the city (Eur district) have been collected and analysed in terms of (i) spatial and temporal distribution; (ii) actual route choices and travel times. The data analysis showed that demand data from FCD are usually not suitable to retrieve directly demand matrices, due to a strong dependence of this information from the penetration rate of the monitoring device. Instead, origin–destination travel times and route choice probabilities from FCD are a much more reliable and powerful information with respect to FCD origin–destination flows, since they represent the traffic conditions and behaviors that vehicles experiment along the path.

Thus, several synthetic experiments have been conducted adopting both travel times and route choice probabilities as additional information, with respect to standard link measurements, in the dynamic demand estimation problem. Results demonstrated the strength and robustness associated to these network based data, while link measurements alone are not able to define the real traffic pattern. Adopting both the information of origin–destination travel times and route choice probabilities during the demand estimation process, the spatial and temporal reliability of the estimated demand matrices consistently increases.     

The Kalker book of tables for non-Hertzian contact of wheel and rail

A new regularisation of non-elliptical contact patches has been introduced, which enables building the look-up table called by us the Kalker book of tables for non-Hertzian contact (KBTNH), which is a fast creep force generator that can be used by multibody dynamics system simulation programs. The non-elliptical contact patch is regularised by a simple double-elliptical contact region (SDEC). The SDEC region is especially suitable for regularisation of contact patches obtained with approximate non-Hertzian methods for solving the normal contact problem of wheel and rail. The new regularisation is suitable for wheels and rails with any profiles, including worn profiles.

The paper describes the new procedure of regularisation of the non-elliptical contact patch, the structure of the Kalker book of tables, and parameterisation of the independent variables of the tables and creep forces.

A moderate volume Kalker book of tables for SDEC region suitable for simulation of modern running gears has been computed in co-simulation of Matlab and program CONTACT.

To access the creep forces of the Kalker book of tables, the linear interpolation has been applied.

The creep forces obtained from KBTNH have been compared to those obtained by program CONTACT and FASTSIM algorithm. FASTSIM has been applied on both the contact ellipse and the SDEC contact patch. The comparison shows that KBTNH is in good agreement with CONTACT for a wide range of creepage condition and shapes of the contact patch, whereas the use of FASTSIM on the elliptical patch and SDEC may lead to significant deviations from the reference CONTACT solutions.

The computational cost of calling creep forces from KBTNH has been estimated by comparing CPU time of FASTSIM and KBTNH. The KBTNH is 7.8–51 times faster than FASTSIM working on 36–256 discretisation elements, respectively.

In the example of application, the KBTNH has been applied for curving simulations and results compared with those obtained with the creep force generator employing the elliptical regularisation. The results significantly differ, especially in predicted creepages, because the elliptical regularisation neglects generation of the longitudinal creep force by spin creepage.     

Travel mode identification using bluetooth technology

Bluetooth technology has been widely used in transportation studies to collect traffic data. Bluetooth media access control (MAC) readers can be installed along roadways to collect Bluetooth-based data. This data is commonly used to measure traffic performance. One of the advantages of using Bluetooth technology to measure traffic performance is that travel time can be measured directly with a certain level of error instead of by estimation. However, travel time outliers can commonly be observed due to different travel mode on arterials. Since travel mode information cannot be directly obtained from the raw Bluetooth-based data, a mathematical methodology is in need to identify travel mode. In this study, a genetic algorithm and neural network (GANN)-based model was developed to identify travel mode. GPS-enabled devices were used to collect ground truth travel time. In order to additionally compare the model performance, K nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) were also implemented. N-fold cross validation was applied to statistically assess the models’ results. Since the model performances depend on the model inputs, seven collections of model inputs were tested in order to achieve the best travel mode identification performance. An arterial segment with four consecutive links and three intersections was selected to be the study segment. The results suggested that correctly identifying the three travel modes successfully every time was not possible, although the GANN based model had low misidentification rates. In our study, 6.12% of autos were misidentified as bikes and 10.53% of bikes were misidentified as autos using three links.     

Comments on ‘the Kalker book of tables for non-Hertzian contact of wheel and rail’

The ‘simple double-elliptical contact’ (SDEC) approach by Piotrowski et al. [The Kalker book of tables for non-Hertzian contact of wheel and rail. Vehicle Syst Dyn. 2017;55:875–901] generates a-symmetrical contact patches in an elegant way. This allows to extend the table-based approach for the wheel–rail creep force calculation towards non-Hertzian contact geometry. This is an important line of research, because FASTSIM is intricate for non-Hertzian contacts, whereas CONTACT requires long calculation times.

Here, we comment on the further motivation that's provided for the approach. According to the authors, ‘the spin creepage generates longitudinal creep force in non-symmetric, non-elliptical contacts’, which is ‘completely lost’ when using elliptical regularisation. We demonstrate that this mainly depends on the choice of contact origin, and that the interaction is much reduced if different choices are made. This suggests that elliptical regularisation may be viable still, if the details are properly worked out. Furthermore, we introduce the spin center and the free-rolling position as means to extend the table-based approach towards more general non-Hertzian circumstances.     

Real-time characterisation of driver steering behaviour

In recent years the application of driver steering models has extended from the off-line simulation environment to autonomous vehicles research and the support of driver assistance systems. For these new environments there is a need for the model to be adaptive in real time, so the supporting vehicle systems can react to changes in the driver, their driving style, mood and skill. This paper provides a novel means to meet these needs by combining a simple driver model with a single-track vehicle handling model in a parameter estimating filter – in this case, an unscented Kalman filter. Although the steering model is simple, a motion simulator study shows it is capable of characterising a range of driving styles and may also indicate the level of skill of the driver. The resulting filter is also efficient – comfortably operating faster than real time – and it requires only steer and speed measurements from the vehicle in addition to the reference path. Adaptation of the steer model parameters is demonstrated along with robustness of the filter to errors in initial conditions, using data from five test drivers in vehicle tests carried out on the open road.

Abbreviations: ADAS: advanced driver assistance systems; CG: centre of gravity; CAN: controller area network; EKF: extended Kalman filter; GPS: global positioning system; UKF: unscented Kalman filter     

基于蓝牙的道路行程时间检测设备设计及测试

以嵌入式技术为基础,采用单片机及串口通信技术,开发基于蓝牙的路网平均行程时间检测器,实现自动采集车载蓝牙M AC地址并配时和数据存储的功能。通过场地测试确定了设备漏检率的平均大小、与速度的关系及初次检测点位置的分布规律。测定了设备的检测精度,并对平均速度、检测数、配对数等因素进行了分析;通过 t检验、曼惠特尼U检验及沃尔德沃尔福威茨(W-W )检验验证了设备数据的可靠性;通过实地测试验证了设备的可用性和实用性,并根据测试结果,提出了设备存在的一些不足以及后期改进的建议,为蓝牙检测器的后续研发奠定了基础。      

信号交叉口右转机动车与行人和非机动车冲突研究

研究的主要内容为:未设置右转专用相位的信号灯控制道路交叉口右转机动车流与行人和非机动车的冲突行为,包括冲突数据的采集和提取、右转车流受到干扰前后速度与过街时间对比分析以及机非冲突速度-距离模型。以现实交通数据为基础,通过软件提取右转机动车与行人和非机动车冲突数据,建立标准统一的冲突数据库,以此为基础对比分析右转车流正常行驶状态和受到干扰情况下通过道路交叉口时的车速和过街时间,并建立右转车辆距离机非冲突点不同位置时所对应不同速度的统计模型。研究结果对右转专用相位设立标准的建立和相应信号配时方案的设计具有一定的工程指导意义。     

基于机动车行人冲突分析的右转专用相位设置仿真

为缓解右转机动车和行人冲交,提出一种解决方案是在信号灯控制道路交叉口引入右转专用相位.为了评估设置右转专用相位的有效性,首先通过视频数据深入分析了右转机动车在交叉口与行人和非机动车的交通冲突;结合所分析出的冲突特征设计仿真模型后基于仿真结果比较和研究不同右转专用相位配时方案的有效性.研究结果表明右转专用相位的设置是否能够提高通行效率与多方面因素有关,例如机非冲突概率、右转机动车到达率和右转车辆过街时间,同时给出了设置右转专用相位的关键技术参数.     

浅谈吉怀高速梁家院子隧道软弱围岩施工关键工艺

基于隧道施工过程中软弱围岩施工质量、安全控制十分困难。经长期对本软弱围岩隧道的现场施工管理,对软弱围岩的施工控制提出些许见解,并用工程实际情况予以证明。     

多跨连拱景观桥结构设计

简要介绍了一座多跨连拱景观桥的结构设计。为实现业主墩顶空腹区不设立柱的全透空景观要求,笔者对拱上建筑的结构形式做了深入细致的探索研究,并最终找到既满足景观又满足受力的合适形式。同时介绍了该桥具有一定特色的主拱圈和深基坑推力基础设计。     

预防和减少建筑墙面几种裂缝的技术措施

通过对大量砖混结构的民用住宅、框架结构的办公楼等多种建筑的调查发现,多数建筑都存在着不同形式的裂缝,这些裂缝一旦出现便很难弥补,但许多裂缝是有规律可循的,对这些裂缝进行了总结。     

基于滑塌实例的边坡力学参数反算与破坏模式分析

高速公路隧道洞口常存在明显的偏压,一般在偏压洞口明暗交界前方设置明洞。为减少开挖量,偏压侧临时边坡往往较陡,受降雨或施工扰动易产生失稳滑塌。针对隧道洞口临时边坡滑塌的工程实例,采用极限分析上限有限元法反算边坡力学参数,并进行边坡破坏模式特征的探讨,从而为类似地质条件下隧道洞口边坡稳定性分析、加固与防护以及现场施工提供借鉴。     

高速公路沥青路面结构层层间粘接状态的研究

通过分析目前沥青路面在层间粘接存在的一些问题,认为目前规范设计计算方法中将沥青路面层间粘接状态全部采用完全连续不妥,并根据工程实际分析了不同路面结构层的层间粘接状态,提出了滑动系数取值表,并分析了考虑不同结构层层间粘接状态对不同沥青路面类型的影响。