The UNCTAD and WORKPORT models of port development: evolution or revolution?

Around ten years have elapsed since the UNCTAD model on port development was put forward as an explanation of how ports have adapted to incorporate technological, political and operational changes. The UNCTAD Three Generation Port Model is critically examined in the light of research carried out under the WORKPORT project funded by the European Commission, 1998-1999. Evidence from the WORKPORT study shows that, rather than developing in discrete steps, ports evolve continuously, adapting to new technologies, fresh legislation, revised working practices and other influences on an as-required basis. Further, it is demonstrated that several streams of evolution can be observed simultaneously; the pace of change within each stream can vary substantially. One of the prominent features of ports is that they often have several terminals, some operating along traditional lines while others may be leading edge in terms of technology, working practices or other aspects; all of them may be equally effective. The UNCTAD model, implying ports develop in discrete steps, or generations, is therefore shown to be fundamentally flawed.     

Autonomous Lateral Control of Vehicles in an Automated Highway System

Lateral control of vehicles in IVHS requires the installation of on-board sensors as well as the installation of roadway hardware such as cables, magnets, etc. Existing control approaches in PATH require road curvature and vehicle lateral position (with respect to the center of the lane) information. Hence these approaches rely on roadway sensors to obtain relative lateral position. These methods will necessitate infrastructural changes to the highway.

This paper introduces the concept of autonomous lateral control or auto-tracking. The method allows us to use only line-of-sight sensor information to effect vehicle control. We present a detailed vehicle model. Controllers have been proposed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed auto-tracking scheme. We also examine the possibilities of using this method for lane change purposes in an automated highway system.     

荷兰铁路最新研究成果

荷兰铁路最新研究集中在开发用户友好工具以利用标准的列车检测数据对车站晚点列车进行实验分析、建立不同线路列车到发晚点时间分布的随机模型。根据位于荷兰车站Hague HS的轨道电路对近10000次列车运行自动检测可以证明，TNV－Prepare软件工具可以很好地记录列车占用和释放时间以及列车速度。若一条线路上晚点时间很短（1分钟以下）或晚点时间长（5分钟以上）的次数不是太大，发车晚点分布在很多情况下符合一种指数分布。用一种新的工具对大铁路网的时刻表以及在中转车站的相互连接的线路之间的晚点的扩散进行了分析，将列车描述成一个基于Max-Plus线性系统的间断事件系统（DES）。它有助于确定网络中的关键环路，交叉线路时刻表的剩余间隙以及网络中的晚点扩散。另一个铁路研究领域是线路基础设施养护维修与更新改造的寿命周期成本估算的决策支持系统，该系统经证明对不同线路上部结构设计的寿命周期成本的估算非常有效，对轨道和道岔养护维修与更新改造计划规则的修改也十分有效。     

High speed driving stability of passenger car under crosswind effects

The driving stability of a passenger car at high-speed and under crosswind conditions is affected by aerodynamic characteristics as well as their dynamic characteristics, suspension, and weight distribution. In this study, the total measuring system was thought up to understand the transient vehicle dynamics and aerodynamics with driver’s control inputs all together. The test results were taken from a full-scale wind tunnel test, a crosswind generator test and an on-road test. We investigated major aerodynamic parameters that affect the driving stability of passenger cars under crosswind effects such as overtaking, passing each other, natural crosswind, etc. The reaction rate of high-speed stability will be improved when we minimize the total lift, side force and especially the yawing moment.     

Parallel model based fault detection algorithm for electronic parking brake system

This paper describes a parallel model-based fault detection algorithm for an electronic parking brake (EPB) system, which consists of an electronic control unit with built-in current sensor and braking force sensor. For the EPB system to supply sufficient parking force to a vehicle, the parking force sensor is of utmost importance. If a fault occurs in this sensor, sufficient parking force may not be supplied, thereby seriously threatening the safety of the vehicle. Thus, a fault detection method is required for the parking force sensor of the EPB system to improve the safety of vehicles. For this purpose, a highly reliable fault detection method is needed to detect abnormal fault signals, which cannot be detected by the existing on-line sensor monitoring fault detection methods. This paper proposes a novel parallel model-based fault detection algorithm for the EPB system, which compares the physical sensor data with the mathematical model, the fuzzy model, and the neural network model at the same time. In order to reduce false alarms, the magnitude of thresholds and the operation counts are changed adaptively. When the proposed parallel model-based fault detection algorithm detects severe failures of the force sensor, it warns the driver in advance to prevent accidents due to the failures. The proposed algorithm is verified by hardware-in-theloop simulations in various situations.     

Co-operative control for regenerative braking and friction braking to increase energy recovery without wheel lock

This paper presents a regenerative braking co-operative control algorithm to increase energy recovery without wheel lock. Considering the magnitude of the braking force available between the tire and road surface, the control algorithm was designed for the regenerative braking force at the front wheel and friction braking force at the rear wheel to be increased following the friction coefficient line. The performance of the proposed regenerative braking co-operative control algorithm was evaluated by the hardware in the loop simulation (HILS) with an electronic wedge brake on its front wheels and an electronic mechanical brake on its rear wheels. The HILS results showed that a proper braking force on the front and rear wheels on a low μ road prevented the lock of the front wheels that was connected to the motor, and maintained the regenerative braking and increased energy recovery.     

Bumper optimum design using the dynamically equivalent beam under various impact conditions

Nowadays it is required for the bumper system to meet the various impact conditions simultaneously; barrier impact, IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) bumper impact and pedestrian impact. Firstly, dynamically equivalent bumper beam models were developed for each impact condition and its accuracy was verified by nonlinear finite element analysis result. Dynamically equivalent pedestrian impact beam model was developed by using the equivalent forces of bumper beam and stiffeners. Pedestrian bending angle was obtained by using this equivalent pedestrian beam model. By combining these equivalent beam models, bumper optimum design program was developed. In this optimum design program, direct search method was used for the optimization algorithm. To verify the accuracy of this optimum design program, a nonlinear finite element result was used. By using this optimum design program, it can be secured the bumper impact performances in an early design stage and it will be also contributed to reduce the design time and test costs.     

Empirical analysis on the effect of design variables of automotive seat lumbar support on the initial sitting discomfort

An empirical analysis was performed in order to examine whether the height of the lumbar support installed on the driver’s seat in a vehicle makes a difference to the initial discomfort when sitting, and among the design variables of the seat lumbar support, which one is the main variable that affects the initial discomfort most when sitting. The subjects who participated in this study were 50^th percentile male in their 30s and 40s from Korea and America, had driving experience, and had not experienced any back pain in the last 12 months. In order to figure out the level of discomfort felt by a driver depending on the movement or the shapes of the lumbar support, subjective sensibility evaluation was conducted and sitting body pressure was measured, and the change of lumbar spine angle was observed using X-ray image. Based on the results, design variables that affect the initial discomfort when sitting on a car seat and the correlation among these design variables were verified through statistical significance testing. The empirical analysis suggested that, among design variables of car seat lumbar support, the degree of prominence is the main variable that affects the initial discomfort when sitting for both Koreans and Americans, while the height and support width have very little to do with it.     

Modeling the Effects of Population Density on Prospect Theory-Based Travel Mode-Choice Equilibrium

In conventional transportation planning models, it was always assumed that the population density is given and fixed in the study areas. Therefore, the effects of population density on travel choice have not been explicitly incorporated into these existing models for long-term transportation planning. Meanwhile, travel choice models in previous studies are usually developed by using discrete choice theories or user equilibrium principle. Thus, many significant characteristics of travelers’ behaviors, such as risk preference and learning process over time, cannot be considered in these conventional models. This article proposes a convex prospect theory-based model to investigate the effects of population density on the travelers’ mode-choice behavior under an advanced transportation information system (ATIS) in a multimodal transportation corridor. It is shown that population density is closely co-related to the modal split results and dependent on the performance of the railway mode in the study corridor. The park-and-ride mode may not be suitable for areas with high population density. This article also investigates the travelers’ reference points on the generalized travel costs by modes. A numerical example is given to illustrate the properties of the proposed model together with some insightful findings.     

An adaptive model for highway travel time prediction

Traffic congestion caused by either insufficient road capacity or unexpected events has been a major problem in urban transportation networks. To disseminate accurate traveler information and reduce congestion impact, it is desirable to develop an adaptive model to predict travel time. The proposed model is practically implementable to capture dynamic traffic patterns under various conditions, which integrates the features of exponential smoothing and the Kalman filter by utilizing both real‐time and historic data. The model is simple in formulation while robust in performance in terms of accuracy and stability. With a constraint or nonconstraint smoothing factor, the proposed model is tested with both real world and simulated data and demonstrated itself a sound model that outperforms others (e.g., Kalman filter and simple exponential smoothing) specifically under recurring and nonrecurring congestion. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.