交通方式可达性差距——衡量交通可持续发展的指数

交通因其消耗大量能源而在可持续发展中扮演着重要角色,为了规划交通可持续发展,有必要提出能够评估和衡量交通可持续发展的指数。利用可达性概念和地理信息系统提出交通方式可达性差距指数。该指数由人口数量、就业岗位数、商店数以及学校数等决定,根据公共交通方式和私人交通方式间可达性指数差异计算。就能源效率而言,公共交通方式比私人交通方式更能实现可持续。可达性差距指数越高意味着可持续能力越强。通过比较香港1991年和1996年的可达性差距指数,来检验交通发展的可持续性是否有所提升。最后,讨论了如何运用可达性差距指数来检验土地利用以及交通发展政策和方案,以便确定更可持续的政策和方案。     

闽南早期历史研究的现代新趋势——《刺桐梦华录》书评

苏基朗的<刺桐梦华录>一书,通过三个交织在一起的主题:繁荣、区域和制度,来分析闽南泉州的经济演变,是史学界研究方法的一种突破.该书探讨了不少在前辈的研究中难以深入的问题,但终因缺少确凿的实证基础而只能采用逻辑推理的方法.这种研究方法使其得出的结论缺少客观性,但却为闽南史学研究提出了新的思考.     

Low temperature premixed combustion within a small bore high speed direct injection (HSDI) optically accessible diesel engine using a retarded single injection

An optically accessible single-cylinder high speed direct-injection (HSDI) Diesel engine equipped with a Bosch common rail injection system was used to study low temperature Modulated Kinetics (MK) combustion with a retarded single main injection. High-speed liquid fuel Mie-scattering was employed to investigate the liquid distribution and evolution. By carefully setting up the optics, three-dimensional images of fuel spray were obtained from both the bottom of the piston and the side window. The NOx emissions were measured in the exhaust pipe. The influence of injection pressure and injection timing on liquid fuel evolution and combustion characteristics was studied under similar fuel quantities. Interesting spray development was seen from the side window images. Liquid impingement was found for all of the cases due to the small diameter of the piston bowl. The liquid fuel tip hits the bowl wall obliquely and spreads as a wall jet in the radial direction of the spray. Due to the bowl geometry, the fuel film moves back into the central part of the bowl, which enhances the air-fuel mixing process and prepares a more homogeneous air-fuel mixture. Stronger impingement was seen for high injection pressures. Injection timing had little effect on fuel impingement. No liquid fuel was seen before ignition, indicating premixed combustion for all the cases. High-speed combustion video was taken using the same frame rate. Ignition was seen to occur on or near the bowl wall in the vicinity of the spray tip, with the ignition delay being noticeably longer for lower injection pressure and later injection timing. The majority of the flame was confined to the bowl region throughout the combustion event. A more homogeneous and weaker flame was observed for higher injection pressures and later injection timing. The combustion structure also proves the mixing enhancement effect of the liquid fuel impingement. The results show that ultra-low sooting combustion is feasible in an HSDI diesel engine with a higher injection pressure, a higher EGR rate, or later injection timing, with little penalty on power output. It was also found that injection timing has more influence on HCCI-like combustion using a single main injection than the other two factors studied. Compared with the base cases, simultaneous reductions of soot and NOx were obtained by increasing EGR rate and retarding injection timing. By increasing injection pressure, NOx emissions were increased due to leaner and faster combustion with better air-fuel mixing. However, smoke emissions were significantly reduced with increased injection pressure.     

Improving Tidal Turbine Performance Through Multi-Rotor Fence Configurations

Constructive interference between tidal stream turbines in multi-rotor fence configurations arrayed normally to the flow has been shown analytically, computationally, and experimentally to enhance turbine performance. The increased resistance to bypass flow due to the presence of neighbouring turbines allows a static pressure difference to develop in the channel and entrains a greater flow rate through the rotor swept area. Exploiting the potential improvement in turbine performance requires that turbines either be operated at higher tip speed ratios or that turbines are redesigned in order to increase thrust. Recent studies have demonstrated that multi-scale flow dynamics, in which a distinction is made between device-scale and fence-scale flow events, have an important role in the physics of flow past tidal turbine fences partially spanning larger channels. Although the reduction in flow rate through the fence as the turbine thrust level increases has been previously demonstrated, the within-fence variation in turbine performance, and the consequences for overall farm performance, is less well understood. The impact of turbine design and operating conditions, on the performance of a multi-rotor tidal fence is investigated using Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes embedded blade element actuator disk simulations. Fences consisting of four, six, and eight turbines are simulated, and it is demonstrated that the combination of device- and fence-scale flow effects gives rise to cross-fence thrust and power variation. These cross-fence variations are also a function of turbine thrust, and hence design conditions, although it is shown simple turbine control strategies can be adopted in order to reduce the cross-fence variations and improve overall fence performance. As the number of turbines in the fence, and hence fence length, increases, it is shown that the turbines may be designed or operated to achieve higher thrust levels than if the turbines were not deployed in a fence configuration.

     

The changing accuracy of traffic forecasts

Researchers have improved travel demand forecasting methods in recent decades but invested relatively little to understand their accuracy. A major barrier has been the lack of necessary data. We compiled the largest known database of traffic forecast accuracy, composed of forecast traffic, post-opening counts and project attributes for 1291 road projects in the United States and Europe. We compared measured versus forecast traffic and identified the factors associated with accuracy. We found measured traffic is on average 6% lower than forecast volumes, with a mean absolute deviation of 17% from the forecast. Higher volume roads, higher functional classes, shorter time spans, and the use of travel models all improved accuracy. Unemployment rates also affected accuracy—traffic would be 1% greater than forecast on average, rather than 6% lower, if we adjust for higher unemployment during the post-recession years (2008 to 2014). Forecast accuracy was not consistent over time: more recent forecasts were more accurate, and the mean deviation changed direction. Traffic on projects that opened from the 1980s through early 2000s was higher on average than forecast, while traffic on more recent projects was lower on average than forecast. This research provides insight into the degree of confidence that planners and policy makers can expect from traffic forecasts and suggests that we should view forecasts as a range of possible outcomes rather than a single expected outcome.

     

Genetic algorithm-based simulation optimization of the ALINEA ramp metering system: a case study in Atlanta

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a case study of the optimal ALINEA ramp metering system model of a corridor of the metro Atlanta freeway. Based on real-world traffic data, this study estimates the origin-destination matrix for the corridor. Using a stochastic simulation-based optimization framework that combines a micro-simulation model and a genetic algorithm-based optimization module, we determine the optimal parameter values of a combined ALINEA ramp metering system with a queue flush system that minimizes total vehicle travel time. We found that the performance of ramp metering with optimized parameters, which is very sensitive possibly because bottlenecks are correlated, outperforms the no control model with its optimized parameters in terms of reducing total travel time.     

Modeling the α-max capacity of transportation networks: a single-level mathematical programming formulation

Transportation - Network capacity, defined as the largest sum of origin–destination (O–D) flows that can be accommodated by the network based on link performance function and traffic...     

Investigation of particle emission characteristics from a diesel engine with a diesel particulate filter for alternative fuels

Particle number measurement is a new approach to determine emission, which may be more accurate at very low emission levels than when using gravimetric measurements. An experimental study was performed to investigate the effect of fuel properties on the performance, combustion process, regulated gaseous emissions and particle number emissions of a diesel engine with an uncatalyzed diesel particulate filter (DPF). The effect of the filter on the particle size distribution was reported. The DPF number-based filtration efficiency in terms of number efficiency and fractional efficiency for petroleum diesel fuel and two alternative fuels, BTL and GTL, were analyzed. For nearly all test modes, the filter had a higher number efficiency for diesel than for BTL and GTL. The DPF fractional efficiency showed it was highly dependent on fuel type and varied widely at each size range. For diesel, the filter fractional efficiency was sufficiently high and behaved as predicted by filtration theory. For BTL and GTL, the fractional performance of the filter decreased when unexpectedly low efficiencies within the nuclei mode were exhibited. This research will be helpful in understanding DPF number-based filtration performance for alternative fuels and will provide information for the development of particulate emission control technology.     

A Review of Dunes in Today's Society

Prior to Superstorm Sandy, the importance of dunes had been widely overlooked in many coastal societies. However, the stark contrast between New Jersey coastal areas that were and were not protected by dunes has created a positive paradigm shift in coastal law and public dune opinion. Government officials are mandating the construction of artificial dunes along New Jersey's coast, but it is necessary for communities to first understand the complex nature of these unique systems. With the proper knowledge, a dune can be both a protective structure as well as a working habitat that will ultimately better protect upland infrastructure and improve beach health. However, a general lack of terminological consistency among formal media and governing entities makes properly quantifying and assessing dune health difficult and unwarranted ecological conclusions inevitable. Here, dune terminology, “blowout,” “washout,” and “bowling” is clarified and defined and the dynamic nature of dunes is explained.     

Merging Socioeconomic Imperatives with Geospatial Data: A Non-Negotiable for Coastal Risk Management in South Africa

The current approach to coastal development set-back delineation in South Africa is producing high-tech empirical methodologies that attempt to pinpoint areas at risk from physical coastal processes and the subsequent positioning of set-backs in relation to these risk areas. Experience in the Western Cape province of South Africa has shown that this approach contributes only partially to coastal risk management. In the context of an urban and peri-urban environment, and bearing in mind that set-backs have significant socioeconomic implications, the development of a set-back line at the local scale requires an expansion beyond just relying on the numerical modeling of physical coastal processes. This research reveals that such an approach is parochial and socially detached and a more inclusive and integrated approach grounded in and spanning localized social, cultural, economic, political, and ecological intricacies of the coastal space is required. Fundamental to achieving this is a re-consideration of the broader project management processes applied in the development of set-backs. The article concludes with a set of principles and guidelines for determining set-backs in complex coastal contexts at the local scale.