Design and implementation of efficient transit networks: Procedure, case study and validity test

This paper presents and tests a method to design high-performance transit networks. The method produces conceptual plans for geometric idealizations of a particular city that are later adapted to the real conditions. These conceptual plans are generalizations of the hybrid network concept proposed in Daganzo (2010). The best plan for a specific application is chosen via optimization. The objective function is composed of analytic formulae for a concept’s agency cost and user level of service. These formulae include as parameters key demand-side attributes of the city, assumed to be rectangular, and supply-side attributes of the transit technology. They also include as decision variables the system’s line and stop spacings, the degree to which it focuses passenger trips on the city center, and the service headway. These decision variables are sufficient to define an idealized geometric layout of the system and an operating plan. This layout-operating plan is then used as a design target when developing the real, detailed master plan. Ultimately, the latter is simulated to obtain more accurate cost and level of service estimates.This process has been applied to design a high performance bus (HPB) network for Barcelona (Spain). The idealized solution for Barcelona includes 182 km of one-way infrastructure, uses 250 vehicles and costs 42,489 €/h to build and run. These figures only amount to about one third of the agency resources and cost currently used to provide bus service. A detailed design that resembles this target and conforms to the peculiarities of the city is also presented and simulated. The agency cost and user level of service metrics of the simulated system differ from those of the idealized model by less than 10%. Although the designed and simulated HPB systems provide sub-optimal spatial coverage because Barcelona lacks suitable streets, the level of service is good. Simulations suggest that if the proposed system was implemented side-by-side with the current one, it would capture most of the demand.     

Non-linear dynamic simulation of gear response under the idling condition

A dynamic lumped-parameter gear model incorporating the effects of a time-varying and asymmetric mesh stiffness and a backlash nonlinearity is formulated to analyze the spur gear rattle response under the idling condition. The proposed theory assumes a rectangular time-varying mesh stiffness function. The phase shift between the mesh stiffness for forward and backward contacts is examined. Numerical studies are employed to examine the effects of engine torque fluctuations and tooth surface friction on the gear rattle response and the corresponding tooth impact behavior. Comparisons between the results from the time-invariant mesh stiffness model and the proposed time-varying mesh stiffness model reveal differences in the gear responses, especially when the mean rotational speed of the fluctuating gear pair is non-zero. The analysis reveals significant effects on the high frequency response components. However, the idling gear dynamics are relatively insensitive to tooth surface friction.     

PID plus fuzzy logic method for torque control in traction control system

A Traction Control System (TCS) is used to control the driving force of an engine to prevent excessive slip when a vehicle starts suddenly or accelerates. The torque control strategy determines the driving performance of the vehicle under various drive-slip conditions. This paper presents a new torque control method for various drive-slip conditions involving abrupt changes in the road friction. This method is based on a PID plus fuzzy logic controller for driving torque regulation, which consists of a PID controller and a fuzzy logic controller. The PID controller is the fundamental component that calculates the elementary torque for traction control. In addition, the fuzzy logic controller is the compensating component that compensates for the abrupt change in the road friction. The simulation results and the experimental vehicle tests have validated that the proposed controller is effective and robust. Compared with conventional PID controllers, the driving performance under the proposed controller is greatly improved.     

Hybrid vehicle power management modeling and refinement

The power management strategy in many hybrid vehicles is based on expert rules and thresholds. These rule-based strategies can result in good efficiency in term of fuel economy and emissions if their thresholds and rules are accurate. However, due to the complexity and the non-linearity of the hybrid powertrain, determining accurate thresholds and rules is neither explicit nor straightforward, and experts in most cases fail to define these thresholds and rules with enough accuracy. Based on this fact, the objective of this paper is to propose a method to improve this rule-based strategy by refining its thresholds and rules. To achieve this, we used an optimization method (dynamic programming) to calculate the optimal power management, determine the optimal control signals, and extract efficient thresholds and rules that can be used in real time. Finally, simulation results for the three strategies (optimal, simple and refined strategy) are shown and discussed.     

Optimization of intake port design for SI engine

It is well known that in-cylinder flow is very important factor for the performance of SI engine. An appropriate in-cylinder flow pattern can enhance the turbulence intensity at spark time, therefore increasing the stability of combustion, reducing emission and improving fuel economy. In this paper, the effect of intake port design on in-cylinder flow is studied. It is found a vortex existed at the upper side of intake port of a production SI engine used in the study, during the intake stroke, which will reduce both tumble ratio and volumetric efficiency. A minor modification on intake port is made to eliminate the vortex and increase tumble ratio while keeping volumetric efficiency at the same level. It is demonstrated that the increase in tumble in the new design results in a 20 per cent increase in the fuel vaporization. In this study, both KIVA and STAR-CD are used to simulate the engine cold flow, as well as ICEM CFD and es-ice used as pre-processor respectively due to the complexity of engine geometry. Simulation results from KIVA and STAR-CD are compared and analyzed.     

Robust design optimization of suspension system by using target cascading method

This study presents the robust design optimization process of suspension system for improving vehicle dynamic performance (ride comfort, handling stability). The proposed design method is so called target cascading method where the design target of the system is cascaded from a vehicle level to a suspension system level. To formalize the proposed method in the view of design process, the design problem structure of suspension system is defined as a (hierarchical) multilevel design optimization, and the design problem for each level is solved using the robust design optimization technique based on a meta-model. Then, In order to verify the proposed design concept, it designed suspension system. For the vehicle level, 44 random variables with 3% of coefficient of variance (COV) were selected and the proposed design process solved the problem by using only 88 exact analyses that included 49 analyses for the initial meta-model and 39 analyses for SAO. For the suspension level, 54 random variables with 10% of COV were selected and the optimal designs solved the problem by using only 168 exact analyses for the front suspension system. Furthermore, 73 random variables with 10% of COV were selected and optimal designs solved the problem by using only 252 exact analyses for the rear suspension system. In order to compare the vehicle dynamic performance between the optimal design model and the initial design model, the ride comfort and the handling stability was analyzed and found to be improved by 16% and by 37%, respectively. This result proves that the suggested design method of suspension system is effective and systematic.     

Fuzzy energy management strategy for a hybrid electric vehicle based on driving cycle recognition

By considering the effect of the driving cycle on the energy management strategy (EMS), a fuzzy EMS based on driving cycle recognition is proposed to improve the fuel economy of a parallel hybrid electric vehicle. The EMS is composed of driving cycle recognition and a fuzzy torque distribution controller. The current driving cycle is recognized by learning vector quantization in driving cycle recognition. The torque of the engine and the motor is controlled by a fuzzy torque distribution controller based on the required torque of the hybrid powertrain and the battery state of charge. The membership functions and rules of the fuzzy torque distribution controller are optimized simultaneously by using particle swarm optimization. Based on the identification results of driving cycle recognition, the fuzzy torque distribution controller selects the corresponding membership function and rule to control the hybrid powertrain. The simulation research based on ADVISOR demonstrates that this EMS improves fuel economy more effectively than fuzzy EMS without driving cycle recognition.     

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     

Social and political implications of new transport technologies

The mechanism of change in society is discussed in terms of power and interest groups, and some of the past changes in transport technology are examined in terms of the degree of threat posed to the established order and the interest groups benefiting from change. On the basis of such a power/benefit model, three of the new transport technologies which have been proposed — “guideway”, “dial‐a‐bus” and “network cab”, are discussed as to their likely social and political acceptability.     

Deregulating the bus industry in Britain: a rejoinder

In our critique for the Buses White Paper, we argued that ‘competition for licences’ could achieve most of the benefits of competition without the major disadvantages of ‘competition on the road’. In response to the comments of Beesley and Glaister, we explain how comprehensive franchising of good and bad routes alike would encourage effective competition, whilst providing conditions for the transparent continuation of cross‐subsidy where that was the choice of the local authority in question. We correct their misrepresentation of our arguments on the desirability of cross‐subsidy and on the case for minibuses, and explain why we believe that such cost savings as are achieved will be mainly at the expense of staff or customer service. Finally, we restate the case for believing that a unified planned timetable will provide a better service for a given level of resources than will uncoordinated competitive services.