Rural mobility and mode choice: Evidence from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey

This article uses data from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) to compare travel behavior in rural and urban areas of the U.S. As expected, the car is the overwhelmingly dominant mode of travel. Over 97% of rural households own at least one car vs. 92% of urban households; 91% of trips are made by car in rural areas vs. 86% in urban areas. Regardless of age, income, and race, almost everyone in rural areas relies on the private car for most travel needs. Mobility levels in rural areas are generally higher than in urban areas. That results from the more dispersed residences and activity sites in rural areas, which increase trip distances and force reliance on the car. Somewhat surprisingly, the rural elderly and poor are considerably more mobile than their urban counterparts, and their mobility deficit compared to the rural population average is strikingly less than for the urban elderly and poor compared to the urban average. Data limitations prevented a measurement of accessibility, however, and it seems likely that rural areas, by their very nature, are less accessible than urban areas, especially for the small percentage of car-less poor and elderly households.     

Preference Heterogeneity and Willingness to Pay for Travel Time Savings

We examined different model specifications to detect the presence of preference heterogeneity in a mode choice context. The specification that worked best allows for both systematic and random variations in tastes, with parameters obtained at the individual level using Bayesian methods. Subjective values of travel time (SVT) and expected individual compensated variation were derived and aggregated to obtain measures of social welfare. Results suggest that the benefit measures, both at the individual and at the social level, are sensitive to preference heterogeneity assumptions. SVT and welfare changes derived from travel time reductions could be underestimated if the traditional assumption of taste homogeneity is made (we detected differences up to 30% in both types of measures). We also obtained an empirical value for the error made when evaluating changes in social welfare using an approximation of the expected individual compensated variation (expressed as a function of individual SVT) rather than its exact expression.     

Multioutput analysis of cargo handling firms: An application to a Spanish port

Cargo handling in ports is a multioutput activity, as freight can arrive in many forms such as containers, bulk, rolling stock, or non-containerised general cargo. In this paper, the operation of cargo handling firms in a Spanish port is analysed through the estimation of a multioutput cost model that uses monthly data on three representative firms located at the Las Palmas port. This permits the calculation of product specific marginal costs, economies of scale (general and by firm) and economies of scope, which help identifying optimal pricing policies and the potential cost advantages of increasing production.     

Acoustic excitation of hull surfaces by propeller sources

We present preliminary results from our new ship motion model that includes both strong and weak three-dimensional interactions between environmental surface waves and ship bodies in arbitrary water depth. The linear solutions of steady flow using the new model agree well with those obtained using the Green function methods. When the Froude number Fn is large, the fully nonlinear solutions of our model are significantly different from linear solutions, even in calm water. The interactions between the ship and incident gravity waves are completely different from those in linear solutions even with small Fn and moderate-amplitude surface waves (e.g., Fn = 0.25 and a significant wave height of about 1–3m).     

New generic mathematical model to predict hydrodynamic interaction effects for overtaking maneuvers in simulators

To improve the formulation of ship–ship interaction forces and moments in a mathematical model of a ship maneuvring simulator, we developed a new generic mathematical model for the overtaking maneuver. This process involves using the numerical results, which provide a potentially complete set of data from which (within the constraints of the numerical modelling) everything necessary can be acquired. We found that the new generic mathematical model is as accurate as the numerical model. It is also more accessible to a navigator, master, or pilot, who could use it on a palmtop computer by keying in a few numberical estimates of the size, position, and speed of the neighboring ship and receive almost instant aneous results, giving time for a refined strategy to be validated if necessary. These results can also readily be used by simulation program developers to simulate the worst possible scenarios.     

Hydrodynamic optimization of ship hull forms in shallow water

A computational method for improving hull form in shallow water with respect to wave resistance is presented. The method involves coupling ideas from two distinct research fields: numerical ship hydrodynamics and nonlinear programming techniques. The wave resistance is estimated by means of Morinos panel method, which is extended to free surface flow and considers the influence of finite depth on the wave resistance of ships. This is linked to the optimization procedure of the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) technique, and an optimum hull form can be obtained through a series of iterations giving some design constraints. Sinkage is an important factor in shallow water, and this method considers sinkage as a hydrodynamic design constraint. The optimization procedure developed is demonstrated by selecting a Wigley (C _B = 0.444) hull and the Series 60 (C _B = 0.60) hull, and new hull forms are obtained at Froude number 0.316. The Froude number specified corresponds to a lower than critical speed since most of the ships operating in shallow water move below their critical speed. The numerical results of the optimization procedure indicate that the optimized hull forms yields a reduction in wave resistance.     

Numerical modeling of breaking waves generated by a ship’s hull

A new model for the simulation of spilling breaking waves in naval flows is presented. The hydrostatic pressure is used in order to mimic the weight of the breaker on the underlying flow, as in the model of Cointe and Tulin, whereas the algorithm for detecting the breaking inception and the definition of its geometry are completely new and are suitable for the simulation of three–dimensional flows around ships hulls. The model has been implemented in a finite-volume code developed for naval flows, and its performances have been validated against experimental data for a submerged profile, an S60 hull in drift motion, and the US Combatant DTMB 5415 model on a straight course.     

A 2D+T VOF fully coupled formulation for the calculation of breaking free-surface flow

We present the results of simulations obtained with a free-surface flow solver based on the following method. The free surface is simulated by the volume-of-fluid interface capturing method. This code solves the Navier–Stokes equations using a finite-volume method adapted to a structured or unstructured mesh. The system is constructed using a fully coupled approach. This global approach allows the simulation of complex flow as a breaking or merging wave. Moreover, with the use of a 2D+T decomposition, it is possible to simulate three-dimensional steady flow.     

Investigation of the effectiveness of tandem oil fences under currents

The behavior of the flow passing a tandem oil fence, and the performance of the fence, were investigated by experimental and numerical methods. The flow characteristics between tandem fences were measured by the particle image velocimetry (PIV) method for the rigid and open free surface between the two fences in order to gather reference data for numerical investigations. A method of assessing a tandem fence by tracing the movement of an oil droplet around the fence is introduced. The effect of the current speed, the separation distance between the two fences, the relative draft of the two fences, and the water depth on the oil containment between the fences was investigated.