Theoretical Analysis of the Steering Behaviour of Articulated Frame Steer Vehicles

A theoretical analysis of the steering behaviour of articulated frame steer vehicles is presented. It includes details of the hydraulic steering system as well as the equations governing motion of the front and rear body units. Both oscillatory and exponential instabilities can occur with this type of vehicle. The most sensitive design feature is the steering system, which governs the effective torsional stiffness around the pivot. Other important features which influence stability are speed and centre of gravity positions of the bodies.     

The Chatter of Semi-Active On-Off Suspensions and its Cure

Semi-active suspensions are those in which otherwise passively generated damper forces are modulated using feedback control and small amounts of control effort. Recently it was discovered that two-stage, ON-OFF, semi-active control would chatter between the ON and OFF states in a manner similar to bang-bang, active control systems. This chatter is dependent upon the switching algorithm. This paper describes the dynamics of this chatter and suggests alternative control policies for its cure.     

A conceptual analysis of the transportation impacts of B2C e-commerce

This paper discusses, at a conceptual level, a number of issues related to the evaluation of the transportation and spatial impacts of e-shopping. We review the comparative advantages of store shopping and e-shopping, and conclude that neither type uniformly dominates the other. We identify the building blocks of the shopping process, and note that information and communications technologies are making possible the spatial and temporal fragmentation and recombination of those elements. We analyze future shopping-related changes in transportation as the net outcome of four different fundamental causes, that can be viewed hierarchically: (1) changes in shopping mode share (i.e. shifts in the proportion of shopping activities conducted through store shopping, e-shopping and other modes), keeping the volume of goods purchased and per capita consumption spending constant; (2) changes in the volume of goods purchased, keeping per capita consumption spending constant; (3) changes in per capita consumption spending, independent of demographic changes; and (4) demographic changes. Some factors result in reduced travel while others lead to increased travel. The combined outcome of all factors does not appear to support any hope that e-shopping will reduce travel on net; to the contrary there may be negative impacts due to increased travel, even if those impacts are likely to be localized and/or small in magnitude for the most part. Thus, on the whole, we are likely (with some exceptions) to see continued adoption of both store shopping and e-shopping. Consumers will blend both forms as they conduct a sequence of shopping activities, and retailers will blend both in marketing to and serving customers. Assessing the transportation impacts of e-shopping – even in the short term, let alone the long term – presents some formidable measurement challenges. Nevertheless, those challenges are worthy of our most creative efforts at solution.     

特大公路桥梁施工测量方法的新探索

阐述了特大公路桥梁施工控制测量的原则、方法及技术要求，提出了利用方位交会确定桥梁的构件平面位置的方法以及利用双经纬仪确定桥梁构件标高位置的方法，实现了特大桥梁施工三维放样的同步化。     

Evaluation of transit operations: data applications of Tri-Met's automated Bus Dispatching System

In this paper, archived Automatic Vehicle Location and Automatic Passenger Counter data are used to evaluate actual bus running time variation in relation to scheduled service for Tri-Met, the transit provider for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Given observed variation in running times, scheduled recovery times are found to be generally (though not universally) excessive. This results in an under-investment of resources in revenue service relative to non-revenue service. Analysis of trip level data reveals that bus operators are an important source of running time variation after controlling for such factors as route design, time of day and direction of service, and passenger activity.     

The existence, uniqueness and computation of an arc-based dynamic network user equilibrium formulation

In this paper, a dynamic user equilibrium traffic assignment model with simultaneous departure time/route choices and elastic demands is formulated as an arc-based nonlinear complementarity problem on congested traffic networks. The four objectives of this paper are (1) to develop an arc-based formulation which obviates the use of path-specific variables, (2) to establish existence of a dynamic user equilibrium solution to the model using Brouwer's fixed-point theorem, (3) to show that the vectors of total arc inflows and associated minimum unit travel costs are unique by imposing strict monotonicity conditions on the arc travel cost and demand functions along with a smoothness condition on the equilibria, and (4) to develop a heuristic algorithm that requires neither a path enumeration nor a storage of path-specific flow and cost information. Computational results are presented for a simple test network with 4 arcs, 3 nodes, and 2 origin–destination pairs over the time interval of 120 periods.     

新旧列车运行图交替期客车车底运用方案的编制

以旧列车运行图中1列列车最多与新列车运行图中1列列车存在接续关系、新列车运行图中1列列车最多与旧列车运行图中1列列车存在接续关系、新列车运行图中所有列车必须有客车车底担当为约束条件,以新旧列车运行图交替期列车接续代价最小为目标函数,建立新旧列车运行图交替期客车车底运用方案优化模型,并设计基于蚁群算法的模型求解算法.以成都站执行新运行图时的数据(成都站为客车车底配属站)为例,采用本方法编制新旧列车运行图交替期客车车底运用方案,并与人工基于车底固定运用模式编制的方案对比,结果表明本方法编制的车底运用方案更优,验证了模型和算法的可行性和实用性.     

Distributed and self-adaptive vehicle speed estimation in the composite braking case for four-wheel drive hybrid electric car

Considering the controllability and observability of the braking torques of the hub motor, Integrated Starter Generator (ISG), and hydraulic brake for four-wheel drive (4WD) hybrid electric cars, a distributed and self-adaptive vehicle speed estimation algorithm for different braking situations has been proposed by fully utilising the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) sensor signals and multiple powersource signals. Firstly, the simulation platform of a 4WD hybrid electric car was established, which integrates an electronic-hydraulic composited braking system model and its control strategy, a nonlinear seven degrees-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model, and the Burckhardt tyre model. Secondly, combining the braking torque signals with the ESP signals, self-adaptive unscented Kalman sub-filter and main-filter adaptable to the observation noise were, respectively, designed. Thirdly, the fusion rules for the sub-filters and master filter were proposed herein, and the estimation results were compared with the simulated value of a real vehicle speed. Finally, based on the hardware in-the-loop platform and by picking up the regenerative motor torque signals and wheel cylinder pressure signals, the proposed speed estimation algorithm was tested under the case of moderate braking on the highly adhesive road, and the case of Antilock Braking System (ABS) action on the slippery road, as well as the case of ABS action on the icy road. Test results show that the presented vehicle speed estimation algorithm has not only a high precision but also a strong adaptability in the composite braking case.     

Implications of path tolerance and path characteristics on critical vehicle manoeuvres

Path planning and path following are core components in safe autonomous driving. Typically, a path planner provides a path with some tolerance on how tightly the path should be followed. Based on that, and other path characteristics, for example, sharpness of curves, a speed profile needs to be assigned so that the vehicle can stay within the given tolerance without going unnecessarily slow. Here, such trajectory planning is based on optimal control formulations where critical cases arise as on-the-limit solutions. The study focuses on heavy commercial vehicles, causing rollover to be of a major concern, due to the relatively high centre of gravity. Several results are obtained on required model complexity depending on path characteristics, for example, quantification of required path tolerance for a simple model to be sufficient, quantification of when yaw inertia needs to be considered in more detail, and how the curvature rate of change interplays with available friction. Overall, in situations where the vehicle is subject to a wide range of driving conditions, from good transport roads to more tricky avoidance manoeuvres, the requirements on the path following will vary. For this, the provided results form a basis for real-time path following.     

Gain scheduled linear quadratic tracking system tuned optimally by covariance matrix adaption evolutionary strategy for automotive engine coldstart control

In this paper, a gain scheduled linear quadratic tracking system (LQTS) tuned optimally by an evolutionary strategy (ES) is devised to reduce the total tailpipe hydrocarbon (HC) emissions of an automotive engine over the coldstart period. As the engine’s behavior during coldstart operations is nonlinear, the system dynamics is clearly analyzed and represented by a number of separate linear models generated based on a coldstart model verified by experimental data. An independent LQTS is then implemented for each of these linear models. In this way, several control laws are created, and the corresponding gains are calculated for each of the independent control laws. ES is then used to tune the adjustable parameters of LQTSs to calculate the control inputs, namely air/fuel ratio (AFR) and spark timing (Δ), such that the resulting exhaust gas temperature (T _exh) and engine-out HC emissions (HC _raw) be close to a set of optimum profiles. This enables the controller reduce the cumulative tailpipe hydrocarbon emissions (HC _cum) to the highest possible extent. To demonstrate the acceptable performance of the proposed controller, an optimal controller derived from the Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP) is also taken into account. Based on the results of the conducted comparative study, it is shown that the proposed control technique has a very good performance, and also, can be easily used for real-time applications, as it consumes a remarkably trivial computational time for calculating the controlling commands.