On the Performance Capabilities of Active Automobile Suspension Systems of Limited Bandwidth

Using methods established in earlier work, calculations are carried out to reveal the influence of actuator bandwidth on the performance capabilities of a class of active suspension system for automobiles. The suspension consists of an actuator in series with a spring, the combination being in parallel with a passive damper, and the system is modelled as a single wheel station traversing a random road. The results indicate that a system with a 3 Hz bandwidth actuator and variable damping will have excellent ride performance qualities over a wide range of road roughness conditions. Since such a system can be expected to be easily adaptable to the running conditions, to provide good static and dynamic attitude control, to be capable of contributing to good steering control responses and to be inexpensive in terms of capital and energy consumption costs compared with most of the active systems which have previously been discussed, it is suggested that it is a prime candidate for further study and practical development.     

Delay processes at unsignalised junctions: The interrelation between geometric and queueing delay

The interrelation between geometric delay—the delay caused by the need for isolated vehicles to slow down to negotiate a junction—and the queueing delay due to vehicle-vehicle interactions is considered. The delay elements present in measurements of geometric delay are identified, and some overlap is seen with those normally included in the service mechanisms in queueing models. The total delay per vehicle is not, therefore, the sum of the measured geometric delay and the queueing delay. Although the geometric delay can be redefined so as to eliminate the overlap, it is not then measurable. A framework is developed in which the relationships between the “pure” and measured geometric delay and the queueing delay are expressed for the population mean values. Approximate expressions are developed for the elements of delay. The framework is extended to allow queueing delays to be represented by time-dependent functions allowing approximately for non-randomness in arrival and departure patterns and service time differences between queueing and non-queueing vehicles. Numerically, geometric delay elements constitute a significant proportion of total delay except at traffic intensities approaching unity. In this region time-dependent effects dominate the queueing process.     

Fatigue analysis for a multi-lap spot welded joint of high strength steel using quasi static tensile-shear test

The welding quality of spot weldment is an important factor that significantly affects the strength, stiffness, safety, and other performance characteristics of vehicles. Therefore, quality control and fatigue life evaluation of spot weldment are necessary processes. This paper presents a method for determining the fatigue life of multi-lap spot weldment of a high strength steel sheet. In this method, the fatigue life is estimated using the lethargy coefficient, which is the total defect coefficient according to rupture stress and time obtained by the quasi static tensile-shear test. The DC potential drop method was used to check initiation and propagation of cracks in addition to the test. Also, in this study, we modified the lethargy coefficient by using the welding current. Furthermore, we define a specific lapping constant, which is a characteristic constant of 2 or 3 lap weldments. The fatigue life obtained by the fatigue estimate equation, which contains a specific lapping constant was compared and verified with an experimental value. Finally we analyzed the relation of lap number, welding current and fatigue life. This method can save processing time and cost for predicting the life cycle of a structure.     

Probe vehicle lane identification for queue length estimation at intersections

Vehicles instrumented with Global Positioning Systems, also known as GPS probe vehicles, have become increasingly popular for collecting traffic flow data. Previous studies have explored the probe vehicle data for estimating speeds and travel time; however, there is very limited research on predicting queue dynamics from such data. In this research, a methodology was developed for identifying the lane position of the GPS-instrumented vehicles when they are standing in the queue at signalized intersections with multiple lanes, particularly in the case of unequal queue. Various supervised and unsupervised clustering methods were tested on data generated from a microsimulation model. Among the tested methods, the Optimal Bayes Rule that utilizes probability density functions estimated using bivariate statistical mixture models was found to be effective in identifying the lanes. The methodology for lane identification was tested for queue length estimation. This research confirms that the lane identification is an important step required prior to the queue length estimation. The accuracies of the models for lane identification and queue length estimation were evaluated at varying levels of demand and probe vehicle market penetrations. In general, as the market penetration increases, the accuracy improves as expected. The result shows that 40% market penetration rate is adequate to reach about 90% accuracy.     

保持交通运营扩宽Montedomini隧道:Nazzano工法的演化

在2000年初的Nazzano隧道(A1高速,毗邻罗马)扩宽工程中,首次尝试在不影响既有交通的情况下进行高速公路隧道的扩宽,而非更改线路或采用施工中降低隧道交通服务水平的方法。该工程证明了Nazzano工法的可行性和有效性,采用该工法最大限度地减少了土地占用量,在扩展干线公路、高速公路或铁路基础设施能力时,在建筑施工期间能够不降低其服务水平。由于其他方案(如开挖第3条隧道或在加宽车道处封闭交通)将增加更多的经济和社会成本,因而这种能够不干扰交通的隧道扩宽方案已成为投资方一种可靠有利的选择。     

Relationships between characteristics of motorcycles and hydrocarbon emissions in Taiwan: A note

Taiwan’s inspection and maintenance (I/M) programs identifies high-emission motorcycles but, although these help reduce air pollution, they have been criticized for being cost-ineffective. This study examines the relationship between characteristics of motorcycles and hydrocarbon emissions in the Central Air Quality Basin of Taiwan. It is shown that engine size and type, age and manufacturer of a motorcycle significantly affect HC emissions. Larger-size engines emit smaller amounts of HCs; whereas older motorcycles emitted greater amounts. In addition, two-stroke-engine machines produced significantly higher HC emission levels than four-strokes. Variations in HC emissions testing are a result of various I/M testing locations and efficiency may be improved by modifying these.     

A joint flexible econometric model system of household residential location and vehicle fleet composition/usage choices

Modeling the interaction between the built environment and travel behavior is of much interest to transportation planning professionals due to the desire to curb vehicular travel demand through modifications to built environment attributes. However, such models need to take into account self-selection effects in residential location choice, wherein households choose to reside in neighborhoods and built environments that are conducive to their lifestyle preferences and attitudes. This phenomenon, well-recognized in the literature, calls for the specification and estimation of joint models of multi-dimensional land use and travel choice processes. However, the estimation of such model systems that explicitly account for the presence of unobserved factors that jointly impact multiple choice dimensions is extremely complex and computationally intensive. This paper presents a joint GEV-based logit regression model of residential location choice, vehicle count by type choice, and vehicle usage (vehicle miles of travel) using a copula-based framework that facilitates the estimation of joint equations systems with error dependence structures within a simple and flexible closed-form analytic framework. The model system is estimated on a sample derived from the 2000 San Francisco Bay Area Household Travel Survey. Estimation results show that there is significant dependency among the choice dimensions and that self-selection effects cannot be ignored when modeling land use-travel behavior interactions.