Transport planning and the policy-modelling interface

Evidence of the inability of transport models to elucidate policy is cited and reasons for this weakness are then suggested.Attention is drawn to the fundamental changes in both opinion and policy currently taking place. There is less concern with accessibility per se and rather more concern with the provision of adequate or minimum accessibility for certain social groups. More emphasis is placed also on the environmental aspects of transportation.The implications of these changes are outlined. It is not at all clear that the need to adapt and up-date models is appreciated widely enough. Finally, it is considered whether fundamental changes in methodology may help to make transport models more responsive to policy needs.     

Analytical Tire Models for Dynamic Vehicle Simulation

Four basic tire models suitable for dynamic vehicle simulation are formulated. The models are compared through a six-degree-of-freedom nonlinear simulation of a cargo truck crossing rough ground. Guidelines are developed for the selection of an optimum tire model for a given dynamic vehicle simulation.     

Possible Improvements in Ride Comfort

The random vertical vibration of two linear models of a sprung mass with a passenger on seat is numerically solved. The input signal has a power spectrum of a real road. The acceleration of the passenger is frequency-weighted according to two various criteria. The gain in comfort obtained by lowering the natural frequency of the sprung mass is calculated along with the dynamic and static spring deflections. In addition, a solution of the vibration of the unsprung mass with evaluation of a possible improvement is presented.     

Consumer preferences relative to the price and network capability of small urban vehicles

Preferences of consumers for small urban vehicle concepts differing only with respect to their hypothetical purchase prices and network capabilities (i.e., whether they are capable of operating on expressways, major arterials or local streets) are analyzed using statistical techniques based on psychological scaling theories. Results from these analyses indicate that a vast majority of consumers are not readily willing to give up the accessibility provided by conventional automobiles. More specifically, over the range of hypothetical prices considered here, network capability dominates as a determinant of preferences for vehicle concepts. Also, the ability to operate vehicles on expressways is of utmost importance to consumers.     

The foreign non-fuel cargo-traffic demand of the major British seaports in 1980 and 1985, a Markov Chain approach

Projections of the future traffic demand of British seaports are of great importance to port management bodies because of the huge capital investment required for installing modern port facilities. In this paper, the author uses a first order Markov Chain model to forecast the non-fuel cargo traffic demand of the major British seaports in 1980 and 1985.     

The continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone: the problem of delimitation at UNCLOS III

If the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea succeeds in adopting a new Caracas Convention on the Law of the Sea, it is likely to embody detailed provisions on the delimitation of both the continental shelf and the new zone, the exclusive economic zone. In this paper, the most recent draft of these rules—contained in the Revised Single Negotiating Text—is subjected to a detailed and critical scrutiny which leads to the conclusion that the Sixth Session of the Conference still has a great deal of work to do before agreement can be reached on a satisfactory set of rules.     

The role of parents’ mobility behavior for dynamics in car availability and commute mode use

Transportation - Recent studies have analyzed travel behavior over the life course through the lens of the mobility biography approach. Similarities in the effects of certain key events on travel...     

Analyzing the dispersion of cargo vapors around a ship’s superstructure by means of wind tunnel experiments

In a previous study, it was found that cargo tank operations like cleaning and venting, lead to higher cargo vapor concentrations around the ship’s superstructure. Can wind tunnel experiments confirm these findings? Is there an improvement when using higher outlets at high velocities compared to lower outlets with a low outlet velocity? Is there a relation between relative wind speed and measured concentration? These questions were investigated in the Peutz wind tunnel. By using a tracer gas for the wind tunnel experiments, concentration coefficients have been calculated for various settings. The study shows that using high-velocity outlets is an efficient way to keep concentrations as low as possible. The only exception is for relative wind directions from the bow. In this last case using a manhole as ventilation outlet leads to lower concentrations. With increasing wind speeds the building downwash effect resulted in higher concentration coefficients near the main deck. This study confirms our on-board measurements and suggests the lowering of the ventilation inlet of the accommodation, so that the high-velocity outlet can be used safely at all times.     

Identification and quantification of link vulnerability in multi-level public transport networks: a passenger perspective

Robust public transport networks are important, since disruptions decrease the public transport accessibility of areas. Despite this importance, the full passenger impacts of public transport network vulnerability have not yet been considered in science and practice. We have developed a methodology to identify the most vulnerable links in the total, multi-level public transport network and to quantify the societal costs of link vulnerability for these identified links. Contrary to traditional single-level network approaches, we consider the integrated, total multi-level PT network in the identification and quantification of link vulnerability, including PT services on other network levels which remain available once a disturbance occurs. We also incorporate both exposure to large, non-recurrent disturbances and the impacts of these disturbances explicitly when identifying and quantifying link vulnerability. This results in complete and realistic insights into the negative accessibility impacts of disturbances. Our methodology is applied to a case study in the Netherlands, using a dataset containing 2.5 years of disturbance information. Our results show that especially crowded links of the light rail/metro network are vulnerable, due to the combination of relatively high disruption exposure and relatively high passenger flows. The proposed methodology allows quantification of robustness benefits of measures, in addition to the costs of these measures. Showing the value of robustness, our work can support and rationalize the decision-making process of public transport operators and authorities regarding the implementation of robustness measures.     

热管--一种高效实用的散热方法

任何电子器件冷却的热电路都是由3个最基本的热阻组成的:结-壳热阻Rj-c;壳-散热器热阻Rc-s和散热器至周围介质的热阻Rs-a.为降低这些热阻的临界值,许多工程师费尽心血.文章讨论采用热管有助于降低热阻Rs-a至最小值.散热器至周围介质的热阻是由传导、对流/辐射和被加热的冷却介质形成的3个热阻组成的.典型的风冷散热器中,空气温升的热阻是通风量的直接函数,对流热阻是散热表面积的函数,传导热阻是散热器材料的热导率和几何尺寸的函数.热管能把传导损耗降至最小值,它允许加大散热表面,而且使给定风速下的流量最大,从而有效降低散热器的3个主热阻.文章讨论了能降低风冷散热器热阻的热管.