Containerization in Nigeria: trends and patterns

Containerization was introduced into Nigeria in the late 1960s, not through a delibrate policy but through the unilateral action of shipping companies.In spite of this,the percentage of the country's external trade cargo that is containerized grew from only about 0.03 in 1968-69 to about 8.6 in 1981.

Containerization of cargo is more significant in the import than in the export trade. Perhaps because of the capital-intensive nature of this technology, there is a concentration of containerization facilities in the ports of Lagos and Port Harcourt. Whereas this is a cost-efficient development, there are various inefficient aspects in the inland distribution of containers.     

Transport demand model estimation from traffic counts

Many problems in transport planning and management tasks require an origindestination (O-D) matrix to represent the travel pattern. However, O-D matrices obtained through a large scale survey such as home or roadside interviews, tend to be costly, labour intensive and time disruptive to trip makers. Therefore, the use of low cost and easily available data is particularly attractive.The need of low-cost methods to estimate current and future O-D matrices is even more valuable in developing countries because of the rapid changes in population, economic activity and land use. Models of transport demand have been used for many years to synthesize O-D matrices in study areas. A typical example of this is the gravity model; its functional form, plus the appropriate values for the parameters involved, is employed to produce acceptable matrices representing trip making behaviour for many trip purposes and time periods.The work reported in this paper has combined the advantages of acceptable travel demand models with the low cost and availability of traffic counts. Three types of demand models have been used: gravity (GR), opportunity (OP) and gravity-opportunity (GO) models. Three estimation methods have been developed to calibrate these models from traffic counts, namely: non-linear-least-squares (NLLS), weighted-non-linear-least-squares (WNLLS) and maximumlikelihood (ML).The 1978 Ripon (urban vehicle movement) survey was used to test these methods. They were found to perform satisfactorily since each calibrated model reproduced the observed O-D matrix fairly closely. The tests were carried out using two assignment techniques, all-or-nothing and the stochastic method due to Burrell, in determining the routes taken through the network.requests for offprints     

Prediction of wheel wear in urban railway transport: comparison of existing models

One of the most important maintenance costs in tramway transport comes from wear of wheel profiles. In the highly competitive railway market, the prediction of wear is then a major concern of the constructors. In this article, we present and compare four models well adapted to tramway conditions, involving contacts on the rolling tread and on the flange with very different sliding and pressure conditions. Moreover, all models can be implemented from the natural outputs of the railway simulation packages classically used in industry for the dynamics design of the vehicles. The first one, proposed by Jendel, is based on the well-known Archard's wear model. Enblom continues Jendel's approach by taking into account the contribution of wheel deformation on the sliding velocity. The last two models, developed by Zobory, and Pearce and Sherratt, determine the wear from the energy dissipation in the contact area. The models are first compared on a theoretical basis and, for that purpose, are rewritten in a common form. Two cases are distinguished: mild wear as arising on the rolling tread and severe wear as arising on the flange. The models are also compared in the practical case of an urban transport vehicle running on circular tracks with different curve radii. Although the models show equivalent trends according to the theoretical study, important discrepancies appear between estimated wear depths. All models are actually dependent on experimental coefficients and it is likely that they were estimated in different conditions. On the other hand, a reasonable agreement can be found in some particular conditions. As an example, Zobory's, Enblom's and Jendel's models are very close to each other in severe wear conditions. This work shows that a general and reliable model could probably be developed from all positive aspects of the existing ones.     

地铁曲线段不规则磨耗引起的钢轨波磨监测

在小半径曲线的内轨侧出现钢轨短波波磨加剧的现象,是世界上许多铁路网都面临的一个问题。由于地铁线路小半径曲线大量存在,受其影响尤为突出。本文为一实例研究,属于一个研发预测曲线地段钢轨波磨的数值工具课题的一部分。在斯德哥尔摩地铁中一处半径为120m的曲线段上,通过重复测试轨道的粗糙度及列车通过时引起的噪声,监测波磨的发展状况。在一年的打磨过程中,发生了剧烈的短波波磨,最大峰-峰值约为0.15mm。测试数据谱分析显示,在4～14cm波长范围内,粗糙度幅值较大,峰值约在5和8cm处。波磨为单一的纵向形式（波峰与轨道方向垂直）,幅值在100m长的被测轨道段上呈现不规则变化。粗糙度增长速率随时间增加,直至钢轨打磨后的300天,此后仅有少量的附加粗糙度出现。由于平均车速约为30km/h,因此由波磨造成的滚动噪声主要处于200Hz以下的低频段。打磨后的139～300天,4～14cm波长范围内粗糙度级增加10.1dB,与之相应的60～200Hz频段内的滚动噪声级增加4.9dB。在干燥天气条件下,列车通过时引起人体不适的噪声主要是车轮啸鸣噪声而非滚动噪声。     

Self-Excited Vibrations of Railway Vehicle with Dry Friction Units

Some results obtained during developing a new approach to analysis of conditions of self-excitation of lateral vibrations of railway vehicles as systems of variable structure are given in this article. Structure variability is conditioned by the state of constraints with dry friction. An idea of the replacement of a nonlinear multibody system by a number of subsystems, which are linearized in a certain way, is worked out. The efficiency of the method suggested for the determination of the characteristics of self-excited vibrations of active multibody systems with dry friction is illustrated by way of an example of the investigation of the dynamic behaviour of a freight car.     

Day-to-day variability in travellers’ activity-travel patterns in the Jakarta metropolitan area

Using four consecutive days of SITRAMP 2004 data from the Jakarta metropolitan area (JMA), Indonesia, this study examines the interactions between individuals’ activity-travel parameters, given the variability in their daily constraints, resources, land use and road network conditions. While there have been a significant number of studies into day-to-day variability in travel behaviour in developed countries, this issue is rarely examined in developing countries. The results show that some activity-travel parameter interactions are similar to those produced by travellers from developed countries, while others differ. Household and individual characteristics are the most significant variables influencing the interactions between activity-travel parameters. Different groups of travellers exhibit different trade-off mechanisms. Further analyses of the stability of activity-travel patterns across different days are also provided. Daily commuting time and regular work and study commitments heavily shape workers’ and students’ flexibility in arranging their travel time and out-of-home time budget, leading to more stable daily activity-travel patterns than non-workers.