Numerical calculation of supercavitating flows over the disk cavitator of a subsonic underwater projectile

To deal with the effect of compressible fluids on the supercavitating flow over the subsonic disk cavitator of a projectile, a finite volume method is formulated based on the ideal compressible potential theory. By using the continuity equation and Tait state equation as well as Riabouchinsky closure model, an “inverse problem” solution is presented for the supercavitating flow. According to the impenetrable condition on the surface of supercavity, a new iterative method for the supercavity shape is designed to deal with the effect of compressibility on the supercavity shape, pressure drag coefficient and density field. By this method, the very low cavitation number can be computed. The calculated results agree well with the experimental data and empirical formula. At the subsonic condition, the fluid compressibility will make supercavity length and radius increase. The supercavity expands, but remains spheroid. The effect on the first 1/3 part of supercavity is not obvious. The drag coefficient of projectile increases as the cavitation number or Mach number increases. With Mach number increasing, the compressibility is more and more significant. The compressibility must be considered as far as the accurate calculation of supercavitating flow is concerned.     

Determinants of the property damage costs of bulk barge accidents

This study investigates determinants of the vessel, cargo, and other-property damage costs of bulk barge accidents in US inland waterways. Tobit estimation of a three-equation recursive model suggests that, in bulk barge accidents: (1) vessel damage cost is greater for collision, fire/explosion, and material/equipment failure accidents than for groundings; (2) cargo damage cost is greater at night and when the weather is foggy and increases with barge age; and (3) otherproperty damage cost is greater for multi-vessel accidents, but decreases with barge size. A dollar of vessel damage cost increases other-property damage cost by $1.38, while a dollar of cargo damage cost increases this cost by $6.90. An important result for formulating bulk barge accident cost-reduction policies is that a given determinant might have a negative effect on one type of damage cost but a positive effect on another.     

The planning and analysis of a new group rapid transit system: the SkyCabs monobeam system in Auckland

This paper examines a case study of the SkyCabs system as a way to alleviate some of the traffic problems of Auckland, New Zealand. SkyCabs is an elevated two-way monobeam carrying light eight-seater cabs on tracks on each side of the beam, available on demand, providing fast, pollution-free, unimpeded travel above the footpath with panoramic views of the city. The aim of this study is to investigate the attractiveness of implementing the SkyCabs system to and from Auckland central business district (CBD) and Auckland international airport by examining four variables: different routes, different number of stops/stations, different passenger demand levels, and different number of cabs in the system. The analysis utilizes geographical information system and simulation tools for the various scenarios considered. The results show that it is possible to assess the cost–benefit of alternative routes in terms of those four variables and rate of return on investment.     

Modeling the interactions between car and bicycle in heterogeneous traffic

In this paper, a new cellular automata model is proposed to simulate the car and bicycle heterogeneous traffic on urban road. To capture the complex interactions between these two types of vehicles, a novel occupancy rule is adopted in the proposed model to consider the variable lateral distances of mixed vehicular traffic. Based on massive simulations, microscopic fundamental diagrams under different bicycle densities are devised. With these, the bicycle's spilling behavior is then investigated and discussed. In order to reflect the interference of a bicycle on a car, the interference transformation from friction state to block state is modeled explicitly. Finally, different simulation results under different occupancy rules indicate that the constant and fixed occupancy rule adopted in the previous studies might lead to overestimation of car flux in the heterogeneous traffic flows with different bicycle densities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of Temperature,Salinity, and Fluid Type on Acoustic Characteristics of Turbulent Flow Around Circular Cylinder

The effects of the temperature, salinity, and fluid type on the acoustic characteristics of turbulent flow around a circular cylinder were numerically investiga...     

台北公共交通月及无车日活动回顾与展望

台北国际无车日自2002年起举办了5次,由最早的骑自行车活动扩大至包含“走路上学日”与“公共交通月”丰富多彩的系列活动,渐渐获得民众认同。无车日活动的目标是通过活动的倡导和社会参与来改变民众使用交通工具的行为,潜移默化的效应可促使形成可持续交通政策,当可持续交通政策与基础设施建设落实后又可具体改变交通环境,形成良性的循环机制。首先说明了“无车日”的由来,并回顾台北都会区过去5年来举行无车日系列活动的内容与经验,同时基于活动的发展与成果归纳出无车日活动的成功要素,最后提出未来活动将扩大举办的内容、方式与展望,以期能为其他城市作参考。     

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.     

Vulnerability analysis for large-scale and congested road networks with demand uncertainty

To assess the vulnerability of congested road networks, the commonly used full network scan approach is to evaluate all possible scenarios of link closure using a form of traffic assignment. This approach can be computationally burdensome and may not be viable for identifying the most critical links in large-scale networks. In this study, an “impact area” vulnerability analysis approach is proposed to evaluate the consequences of a link closure within its impact area instead of the whole network. The proposed approach can significantly reduce the search space for determining the most critical links in large-scale networks. In addition, a new vulnerability index is introduced to examine properly the consequences of a link closure. The effects of demand uncertainty and heterogeneous travellers’ risk-taking behaviour are explicitly considered. Numerical results for two different road networks show that in practice the proposed approach is more efficient than traditional full scan approach for identifying the same set of critical links. Numerical results also demonstrate that both stochastic demand and travellers’ risk-taking behaviour have significant impacts on network vulnerability analysis, especially under high network congestion and large demand variations. Ignoring their impacts can underestimate the consequences of link closures and misidentify the most critical links.     

Review and meta-analysis of U.K. time elasticities of travel demand

In contrast with reviews of values of time and price elasticities, the literature contains little by way of detailed reviews of travel time based choice and demand elasticities. This paper reports the most extensive meta-analysis of time-based demand elasticities yet undertaken, supplemented with a review of literature not previously in the public domain. The meta-analysis is based upon 427 direct elasticities covering travel time, generalised journey time (GJT) and service headway and drawn from 69 UK studies. The elasticities are found to vary, as expected, across attributes, and quite strong effects have been detected according to distance. We provide interesting insights into the relationship between long and short run elasticities and elasticities obtained from static models and choice models based on actual and hypothetical preferences. Significantly, the results seem to indicate that the duration for the long run demand impact to work through depends upon the periodicity of the model estimated. There is little variation apparent by journey purpose, source of the evidence, nor over time or by region/flow type, whilst travel time elasticities for high speed rail are not materially different from conventional contexts. The findings support some official elasticity recommendations and conventions but challenge others, and can be used to provide time-based elasticities where none exist or to assess new empirical evidence.     

Effects of the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative on the wine import logistics of China

China’s Belt and Road (BR) initiative is expected to facilitate international trade between the countries involved. In this study, we review the special requirements of wine logistics and the market growth potential of wine consumption in China. A model minimizing generalized logistical costs is developed and applied to wine imports in China, so that the best candidate cities in which to locate transport gateways and distribution centers can be identified. Our analysis suggests that the most preferred gateways are Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, which all have similar delivery costs. In comparison, Beijing and Chongqing have much higher delivery costs, mainly because they do not have good access to marine transport and/or efficient domestic distribution networks. For long-distance intercontinental transport of large volumes of wine, marine shipping remains the only viable delivery mode. However, wine distribution within China extensively uses air, road, and water transport. Therefore, cities with excellent multi-modal transport services are better positioned to become wine logistics gateways. Our study also highlights the importance of value-added services and good government support, which are important factors that influence distribution costs and quality.