A bi-objective optimization framework for three-dimensional road alignment design

Optimization of three-dimensional road alignments is a nonlinear non-convex optimization problem. The development of models that fully optimize a three-dimensional road alignment problem is challenging due to numerous factors involved and complexities in the geometric specification of the alignment. In this study, we developed a novel bi-objective optimization approach to solve a three dimensional road alignment problem where the horizontal and vertical alignments are optimized simultaneously. Two conflicting cost objective functions, earthwork cost and the utility cost, are cast in a bi-objective optimization problem. We numerically compare several multi-objective optimization solvers, and find that it is possible to determine the Pareto front in a reasonable time.     

Multi‐objective highway alignment optimization using a genetic algorithm

The available highway alignment optimization algorithms use the total cost as the objective function. This is a single objective optimization process. In this process, travel‐time, vehicle operation accident earthwork land acquisition and pavement construction costs are the basic components of the total cost. This single objective highway alignment optimization process has limited capability in handling the cost components separately. Moreover, this process cannot yield a set of alternative solutions from a single run. This paper presents a multi‐objective approach to overcome these shortcomings. Some of the cost components of highway alignments are conflicting in nature. Minimizing some of them will yield a straighter alignment; whereas, minimizing others would make the alignment circuitous. Therefore, the goal of the multiobjective optimization approach is to handle the trade‐off amongst the highway alignment design objectives and present a set of near optimal solutions. The highway alignment objectives, i.e., cost functions, are not continuous in nature. Hence, a special genetic algorithm based multi‐objective optimization algorithm is suggested The proposed methodology is demonstrated via a case study at the end.     

A cost optimized steel bridge girder design for aashto - WSD and LFD

A cost optimized design method of steel bridge girders is studied by using the specifications of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation (AASHTO) Working Stress Design (WSD) method and Load Factor Design (LFD) alternates. Here, cost trade-offs for the steel plate (e.g., the base price plus extras for size, grade, testing and inspection, etc.), stiffeners and splicing are weighed throughout the entire span to minimize the objective function. The method is then applied to a set of over 30 steel bridge structures which collected from various state bridge inventories in order to obtain optimal cost configurations for both WSD and LFD methods. These results are analyzed by a linear regression model to define relationships between cost differences and bridge lengths. From these comparisons, conclusions are drawn to provide the guidelines. It is believed that effective application of these guidelines should lead to more economical designs, especially under the LFD method.     

Crosswind‐based optimization of multiple runway orientations

The runway orientation must satisfy the operational requirements of aircraft for landing and takeoff. Actually, the runway orientation is the result of compromises between the airport usability (wind coverage) and additional factors, such as available land, existing obstructions, topographic difficulties, flight path interference among runways and airports, noise pollution, and other environmental impacts. Therefore, the solution of a combination of acceptable runway orientations, which avoids excessive crosswinds at least 95% of the time, as well as the optimal orientation solution, is essential to conduct those compromises in the runway orientation analysis. The objective of this paper is to develop a computer model, named the optimization of multiple runway orientations model, which is capable of simultaneously providing a combination of acceptable runway orientations, changing the allowable crosswind limit flexibly, and determining the optimal orientations of multiple runway configurations. Instead of visual estimation or geometric computation, this paper presents an analytical method for wind coverage analysis. The model is mainly running in spreadsheet and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The numerical example and comparison show that the optimization of multiple runway orientations model is competitively accurate and convenient in comparison with previous ones. This paper presents an up‐to‐date model for the optimization of multiple runway orientations. By combining it with the geographic information system obstructions model, it can become an essential element of a future model for airport development cost minimization that combines airfield land use, earthwork volume, and cost estimation modules. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling a rail transit alignment considering different objectives

An optimization model for station locations for an on-ground rail transit line is developed using different objective functions of demand and cost as both influence the planning of a rail transit alignment. A microscopic analysis is performed to develop a rail transit alignment in a given corridor considering a many-to-one travel demand pattern. A variable demand case is considered as it replicates a realistic scenario for planning a rail transit line. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) based on a Geographical Information System (GIS) database is developed to optimize the station locations for a rail transit alignment. The first objective is to minimize the total system cost per person, which is a function of user cost, operator cost, and location cost. The second objective is to maximize the ridership or the service coverage of the rail transit alignment. The user cost per person is minimized separately as the third objective because the user cost is one of the most important decision-making factors for planning a transit system from the users’ perspective. A transit planner can make an informed decision between various alternatives based on the results obtained using different objective functions. The model is applied in a case study in the Washington, DC area. The optimal locations and sequence of stations obtained using the three objective functions are presented and a comparative study between the results obtained is shown in the paper. In future works we will develop a combinatorial optimization problem using the aforementioned objectives for the rail transit alignment planning and design problem.     

Rural highway route corridor selection

The selection of a rural highway corridor between designated termini is approached as the simultaneous selection of line and grade of a particular alignment in the corridor. The selection is facilitated by the successive application of linear programming and shortest path techniques. A model is presented in which the inputs are terrain elevations, design constraints on overall grade, terminal grades and elevations, and restricted areas of passage. The output consists of a user‐specified number of alternative corridors, selected on the basis of minimum sum of the deviations of their representative profiles from the original ground. The model is applicable to situations where route selection is dominated by construction considerations. A hypothetical example and an actual application demonstrate the utility of the methodology.     

An optimization framework for workplace charging strategies

The workplace charging (WPC) has been recently recognized as the most important secondary charging point next to residential charging for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The current WPC practice is spontaneous and grants every PEV a designated charger, which may not be practical or economic when there are a large number of PEVs present at workplace. This study is the first research undertaken that develops an optimization framework for WPC strategies to satisfy all charging demand while explicitly addressing different eligible levels of charging technology and employees’ demographic distributions. The optimization model is to minimize the lifetime cost of equipment, installations, and operations, and is formulated as an integer program. We demonstrate the applicability of the model using numerical examples based on national average data. The results indicate that the proposed optimization model can reduce the total cost of running a WPC system by up to 70% compared to the current practice. The WPC strategies are sensitive to the time windows and installation costs, and dominated by the PEV population size. The WPC has also been identified as an alternative sustainable transportation program to the public transit subsidy programs for both economic and environmental advantages.     

The key principles of optimal train control—Part 2: Existence of an optimal strategy,the local energy minimization principle,uniqueness, computational techniques

We discuss the problem of finding an energy-efficient driving strategy for a train journey on an undulating track with steep grades subject to a maximum prescribed journey time. In Part 1 of this paper we reviewed the state-of-the-art and established the key principles of optimal train control for a general model with continuous control. We assumed only that the tractive and braking control forces were bounded by non-increasing speed-dependent magnitude constraints and that the rate of energy dissipation from frictional resistance was given by a non-negative strictly convex function of speed. Partial cost recovery from regenerative braking was allowed. Our aim was to minimize the mechanical energy required to drive the train. We examined the characteristic optimal control modes, studied allowable control transitions and established the existence of optimal switching points. We found algebraic formulae for the adjoint variables in terms of speed on track with piecewise-constant gradient and drew phase plots of the associated optimal evolutionary lines for the state and adjoint variables. In Part 2 we will establish integral forms of the necessary conditions for optimal switching, find general bounds on the positions of the optimal switching points, justify an extended local energy minimization principle and show how these ideas can be used to calculate the optimal strategy. We prove that an optimal strategy always exists and use a perturbation analysis to show that the optimal strategy is unique. Finally we discuss computation of optimal switching points in two realistic examples with steep grades and describe the optimal control strategies and corresponding speed profiles for a complete journey with several different allowed journey times. In practice the strategies described here have been shown to reduce the costs of energy used by as much as 20%.     

山区水电工程场内公路路线设计探讨

文章针对山区水电站场内公路路线节点多、平面交叉多、立体分布广泛、上下线施工干扰大、布线方案困难等特点,对山区水电站场内公路路线布置与选线的原则、路线平纵设计方法、路线设计对构造物的影响等进行了分析探讨,为山区水电工程场内公路路线设计提供参考。     

Reversing port rotation directions in a container liner shipping network

Reversing port rotation directions of ship routes is a practical alteration of container liner shipping networks. The port rotation directions of ship routes not only affect the transit time of containers, as has been recognized by the literature, but also the shipping capacity and transshipment cost. This paper aims to obtain the optimal port rotation directions that minimize the generalized network-wide cost including transshipment cost, slot-purchasing cost and inventory cost. A mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed for the optimal port rotation direction optimization problem and it nests a minimum cost multi-commodity network flow model. The proposed model is applied to a liner shipping network operated by a global liner shipping company. Results demonstrate that real-case instances could be efficiently solved and significant cost reductions are gained by optimization of port rotation directions.     

Network design: selection and design of links and facility location

In this paper we introduce new network design problems. A network of potential links is given. Each link can be either constructed or not at a given cost. Also, each constructed link can be constructed either as a one-way or two-way link. The objective is to minimize the total construction and transportation costs. Two different transportation costs are considered: (i) traffic is generated between any pair of nodes and the transportation cost is the total cost for the users and (ii) demand for service is generated at each node and a facility is to be located on a node to satisfy the demand. The transportation cost in this case is the total cost for a round trip from the facility to each node and back. We will consider two options in regard to the links between nodes. They can either be two-way only, or mixed, with both two-way and one-way (in either direction) allowed. When these options are combined with the two objective functions, four basic problems are created. These problems are solved by a descent algorithm, simulated annealing, tabu search, and a genetic algorithm. Extensive computational results are presented.     

Naturalistic driving data collection to investigate into the effects of road geometrics on track behaviour

Road designers assume that drivers will follow the road alignment with trajectories centred in the lane, and move at the design speed parallel to the road centreline (i.e., the horizontal alignment). Therefore, they assume that if the horizontal alignment indicates the “designed trajectory”, the driving path indicates the “operating trajectory”. However, at present, they do not have the necessary tools to measure the relationship between the designed alignment and possible vehicle trajectories.The paper has two objectives: (a) to develop an understanding of the root causes of differences between road alignment and vehicle trajectories; and (b) to define and calibrate a model that estimates the local curvature of trajectories on the basis of the designed horizontal alignment.The two objectives were pursued by carrying out a naturalistic survey using vehicles equipped with high precision GPS in real-time kinematics (RTK) mode driven by test drivers on road sections of known geometric characteristics. The results provide an insight into the effects of road geometrics on driver behaviour, thus anticipating possible driving errors or unexpected/undesired behaviours, information which can then be used to correct possible inconsistencies when making decisions at the design stage.     

Incorporating work zone configuration factors into speed‐flow and capacity models

This study aims to develop work zone speed‐flow and capacity models, which incorporate work zone configuration factors including the number of work zones, geometrical alignment, work zone speed limit, and work zone length. On the basis of the traffic data from six work zone sites with various work zone configurations, two nonlinear traffic speed and flow models including work zone configuration factors are developed for the uncongested and congested traffic conditions, respectively. A work zone capacity model is proposed on the basis of the two models. The three models can further be used to examine the effects of work zone configuration factors on the speed‐flow relationship and capacity at work zones. Results show that traffic speed, traffic flow, and work zone capacity increase with the posted speed limit. Traffic speed under uncongested conditions decreases with the geometric alignment, the number of work zones, work zone length, and heavy vehicle percentage. Under congested conditions, the increase of the number of work zones is found to exhibit a larger negative impact on the traffic flow than the increase of geometric alignment. The number of work zones is also found to have the largest negative impacts on work zone capacity, followed by the geometric alignment. Short work zone length exhibits a relatively minor contribution to increasing work zone capacity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geometric modelling of highways using global positioning system (GPS) data and spline approximation

Detailed studies of traffic safety, as highway design consistency evaluation, require having the geometric definition of the alignment. An efficient and reliable procedure has been developed for obtaining this geometric definition for two-lane rural highways. The method is based on getting data of the highway by means of a GPS receiver mounted in a car and the subsequent processing of this information. The data taken in the highway are differentially corrected and points in the roadway centerline are estimated by means of a developed calculation algorithm. Finally, the highway alignment is defined by means of a parametric cubic smoothing spline. In this paper, the developed method and its application to the M-607 highway, located in Madrid (Spain), is exposed.     

Truck platooning on uphill grades under cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC)

This paper examines CACC truck platooning on uphill grades. It was found that the design of CT policy should consider the effects of low crawl speeds on significant upgrades. Three simple solutions, which have different impacts on traffic flow efficiency, are proposed. Furthermore, truck platoons, controlled by a state-of-the-art CACC model, become asymptotically unstable beyond some critical grade. The errors are permanent, suggesting that trucks fail to re-engage after the upgrade. This occurs by complex interactions between the CACC control and the bounded acceleration capabilities of trucks. New control concepts are developed to complement the existing control model and achieve asymptotic (and string) stability. The instability mechanisms and new control concepts are not specific to the control model used.     

Modeling absolute and relative cost differences in stochastic user equilibrium problem

This paper aims to develop a hybrid closed-form route choice model and the corresponding stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) to alleviate the drawbacks of both Logit and Weibit models by simultaneously considering absolute cost difference and relative cost difference in travelers’ route choice decisions. The model development is based on an observation that the issues of absolute and relative cost differences are analogous to the negative exponential and power impedance functions of the trip distribution gravity model. Some theoretical properties of the hybrid model are also examined, such as the probability relationship among the three models, independence from irrelevant alternatives, and direct and indirect elasticities. To consider the congestion effect, we provide a unified modeling framework to formulate the Logit, Weibit and hybrid SUE models with the same entropy maximization objective but with different total cost constraint specifications representing the modelers’ knowledge of the system. With this, there are two ways to interpret the dual variable associated with the cost constraint: shadow price representing the marginal change in the entropy level to a marginal change in the total cost, and dispersion/shape parameter representing the travelers’ perceptions of travel costs. To further consider the route overlapping effect, a path-size factor is incorporated into the hybrid SUE model. Numerical examples are also provided to illustrate the capability of the hybrid model in handling both absolute and relative cost differences as well as the route overlapping problem in travelers’ route choice decisions.     

On the cost of misperceived travel time variability

Because individuals may misperceive travel time distributions, using the implied reduced form of the scheduling model might fall short of capturing all costs of travel time variability. We reformulate a general scheduling model employing rank-dependent utility theory and derive two special cases as econometric specifications to study these uncaptured costs. It is found that reduced-form expected cost functions still have a mean–variance form when misperception is considered, but the value of travel time variability is higher. We estimate these two models with stated-preference data and calculate the empirical cost of misperception. We find that: (i) travelers are mostly pessimistic and thus tend to choose departure times too early to achieve a minimum cost, (ii) scheduling preferences elicited using a stated-choice method can be relatively biased if probability weighting is not considered, and (iii) the extra cost of misperceiving the travel time distribution might be nontrivial when time is valued differently over the time of day and is substantial for some people.     

酸性石料工程性质的试验研究

广西高速公路沥青路面面层多采用辉绿岩材料,储量少,成本高。作者通过对花岗岩、砂岩等酸性石料的基本物理性质、工程性质等进行试验研究后显示,采取适宜的防止剥落措施,酸性石料沥青混合料完全满足抗水损害能力和抗车辙性能,可以用作高等级沥青路面表面层或磨耗层材料,从而达到就地取材、降低工程造价的目的。     

Highway alignment optimization through feasible gates

An efficient optimization approach, called feasible gate (FG), is developed to enhance the computation efficiency and solution quality of the previously developed highway alignment optimization (HAO) model. This approach seeks to realistically represent various user preferences and environmentally sensitive areas and consider them along with geometric design constraints in the optimization process. This is done by avoiding the generation of infeasible solutions that violate various constraints and thus focusing the search on the feasible solutions. The proposed method is simple, but improves significantly the model's computation time and solution quality. Such improvements are demonstrated with two test examples from a real road project.     

A model to assess cost and fuel savings from ride sharing

A model based on geometric probability concepts is developed to assess the performance of carpooling and vanpooling strategies. Fuel consumption and operating cost issues are treated in the paper, and the model can be extended to treat travel time and air quality issues also. It is shown that simple calculations of the fuel saved through carpool programs can overstate the savings by a factor of two. The operating costs of vanpools and carpools are also compared.