Traffic flooding the low countries: How the Dutch cope with motorway congestion

Motorway congestion is a common characteristic of the larger conurbations all over the world. Using the example of the Randstad region in The Netherlands, the causes and conditions for the growing congestion on main roads are presented and explained. From an international comparison it appears that the Randstad region is characterized by a relatively high density and high-access quality of its motorway network, giving rise to an extremely high level of usage. The Dutch policy of coping with the consequent congestion problems at the network design level is outlined, followed by a presentation of the dynamic traffic management approaches to these problems. Special attention is given to the so-called target group policy that aims at prioritizing specific user groups such as freight traffic and trucks. Finally, attention is given to the Dutch attempts to introduce congestion pricing as a means of tackling congestion.     

Integrating mobile agent technology with multi-agent systems for distributed traffic detection and management systems

Agent technology is rapidly emerging as a powerful computing paradigm to cope with the complexity in dynamic distributed systems, such as traffic control and management systems. However, while a number of agent-based traffic control and management systems have been proposed and the multi-agent systems have been studied, to the best of our knowledge, the mobile agent technology has not been applied to this field. In this paper, we propose to integrate mobile agent technology with multi-agent systems to enhance the ability of the traffic management systems to deal with the uncertainty in a dynamic environment. In particular, we have developed an IEEE FIPA compliant mobile agent system called Mobile-C and designed an agent-based real-time traffic detection and management system (ABRTTDMS). The system based on Mobile-C takes advantages of both stationary agents and mobile agents. The use of mobile agents allows ABRTTDMS dynamically deploying new control algorithms and operations to respond unforeseen events and conditions. Mobility also reduces incident response time and data transmission over the network. The simulation of using mobile agents for dynamic algorithm and operation deployment demonstrates that mobile agent approach offers great flexibility in managing dynamics in complex systems.     

Late summer stratification, internal waves, and turbulence in the Yellow Sea

Microstructure profiling measurements at two locations in the Yellow Sea (a deeper central basin and a local shelf break) were analyzed focusing on tidal and internal-wave induced turbulence near the bottom and in the pycnocline. A classical three-layer density structure consisting of weakly stratified surface and bottom boundary layers and a narrow sharp pycnocline is developed by the end of warm season. Turbulence in the surface layer was not influenced by the tidal forcing but by the diurnal cycle of buoyancy flux and wind forcing at the sea surface. The enhanced dissipation and diffusivity generated by the shear stress at the seafloor was found in the water interior at heights 10–15 m above the bottom with a phase shift of ~ 5–6 m/h. No internal waves, turbulence, or mixing were detected in the pycnocline in the central basin, in contrast to the pycnocline near the local shelf break wherein internal waves of various frequencies were observed all the time. The thickness of the surface layer near the local shelf break slightly exceeded that of the bottom layer (20 vs. 18 m). A 5–6 m high vertical displacement of the pycnocline, which emerged during the low tide, was arguably caused by the passage of an internal soliton of elevation. During this episode, the gradient Richardson number decreased below 0.25 due to enhanced vertical shear, leading to local generation of turbulence with dissipation rates exceeding the background level by an order of magnitude.     

Three Dimensional Numerical Simulation Study on the Tensile Test of the Embedded Components in Segment Joints of Deep Buried Storage and Drainage Shield Tunnels北大核心CSCD

The numerical simulation was carried out based on tensile test of the embedded components in segment joints of the deep buried storage and drainage shield-driven tunnel in Shanghai in order to study the numerical approach for mechanical analysis of segment joints of the tunnel. Using the concrete damage plasticity model and nonlinear springs, the 3D refined numerical model was established, in which the embedded components with complex geometries and the bond-slip behaviors between the concrete and bars were taken into consideration. Three kinds of embedded component models with different degrees of refinement were established and simply loaded. By comparing the calculation results and considering the spent time and the accuracy of calculation, the simplified form of the embedded components used in the overall model was determined. Nonlinear springs between anchor bars and concrete were set in the model in order to simulate the bond-slip behavior between them. In addition, two contrast models were also established using binding constraint and face-face contact constraint between concrete and anchor bars respectively. The three types of models were loaded in accordance with the test conditions. Comparing the results of the numerical calculation with the test results, it is shown that the "nonlinear spring model", which takes the bond-slip behavior into consideration, is more consistent with the test results than the "face to face contact model" and "binding model". And the model also reflects the failure mode very well. It indicates that the three dimensional refined modeling method used in this paper is applicable for similar tensile tests. © 2018, Editorial Office of "Modern Tunnelling Technology". All right reserved.     

Seismic Dynamic Response of an Atrium-type Subway Station北大核心CSCD

Atrium-type subway stations have been utilized for multifunctional demands. For natural lighting, the middle parts of slabs are replaced by beams. And to expand space, no columns are set for the 1st floor underground, while flat columns are set for the 2nd floor. These characteristics make the seismic response of the atrium-type subway station differ from the traditional station. In this paper, by a shaking table test of soil-structure 1/30 scale model of the atrium-type subway station, the amplification and attenuation effect of soils to the ground motion, as well as the acceleration and the strain response of the structure are analyzed when the model is subjected to lateral ground motions with different PGA and frequency contents. Subsequently, the seismic dynamic effect on the structural internal force distribution is discussed to improve the seismic design of the atrium-type subway station. © 2018, Editorial Office of "Modern Tunnelling Technology". All right reserved.     

A route guidance system considering travel time unreliability

Under a stochastic roadway, drivers need a route guidance system incorporating travel time variability. To recommend a customized path depending on the trip purpose and the driver’s risk-taking behavior, various path ranking methods have been developed. Unlike those methods, our proposed disutility method can easily incorporate a target arrival time in the ranking process by measuring how late the travel is and by penalizing it depending on the severity of lateness. In addition, the disutility-based route guidance system can properly address travel time unreliability that causes unacceptable disruptions to the driver’s schedule (i.e., unexpected long delay). We compare the disutility-based path ranking method with other ranking methods, the percentile travel time, the mean excess travel time, and the on-time arrival probability. We show that the disutility has stronger discriminating power and requires less solution space to find an optimal path. The most important advantage is that it can estimate a driver’s risk-taking behavior for each trip purpose by using the discrete choice analysis. We construct a simulation framework to acquire the travel time data on a hypothetical roadway. We analyze the data and show how various ranking methods recommend a customized path. Using the data, we show the advantage of the disutiltiy method over the other methods, which is generating a customized path with respect to the target arrival time by properly penalizing the travel time lateness.     

An agent‐based simulation model to assess the impacts of introducing a shared‐taxi system: an application to Lisbon (Portugal)

This paper presents a new concept of urban shared‐taxi services. The proposed system has a new organisational design and pricing scheme that aims to use the capacity in traditional taxi services in a more efficient way. In this system, a taxi acting in ‘sharing’ mode offers lower prices to its clients, in exchange for them to accept sharing the vehicle with other persons who have compatible trips (time and space). The paper proposes and tests an agent‐based simulation model in which a set of rules for space and time matching between a request of a client and the candidate shared taxis is identified. It considers that the client is only willing to accept a maximum deviation from his or her direct route and establishes an objective function for selecting the best candidate taxi. The function considers the minimum travel time combination of pickup and drop‐off of all the pool of clients sharing each taxi while allowing to establish a policy of bonuses to competing taxis with certain number of occupants. An experiment for the city of Lisbon is presented with the objectives of testing the proposed simulation conceptual model and showing the potential of sharing taxis for improving mobility management in urban areas. Results show that the proposed system may lead to significant fare and travel time savings to passengers, while not jeopardising that much the taxi revenues. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A stochastic multimodal reliable network design problem under adverse weather conditions

This paper formulates a network design problem (NDP) for finding the optimal public transport service frequencies and link capacity expansions in a multimodal network with consideration of impacts from adverse weather conditions. The proposed NDP aims to minimize the sum of expected total travel time, operational cost of transit services, and construction cost of link capacity expansions under an acceptable level of variance of total travel time. Auto, transit, bus, and walking modes are considered in the multimodal network model for finding the equilibrium flows and travel times. In the proposed network model, demands are assumed to follow Poisson distribution, and weather‐dependent link travel time functions are adopted. A probit‐based stochastic user equilibrium, which is based on the perceived expected travel disutility, is used to determine the multimodal route of the travelers. This model also considers the strategic behavior of the public transport travelers in choosing their routes, that is, common‐line network. Based on the stochastic multimodal model, the mean and variance of total travel time are analytical estimated for setting up the NDP. A sensitivity‐based solution algorithm is proposed for solving the NDP, and two numerical examples are adopted to demonstrate the characteristics of the proposed model. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determining the optimal number of seasonal adjustment factor groupings when estimating annual average daily traffic and investigating their characteristics

Although cluster analysis is recommended by the US Traffic Monitoring Guide (TMG) to supplement the development of seasonal adjustment factor groupings (SAFGs), the relationships among SAFGs' characteristics remain undiscovered, while the determination of the optimal number of clusters is an ambiguous task exposed to great subjectivity. Statistical indicators provide a mathematical solution by removing engineering judgment without taking into consideration any guidelines or other criteria, necessary for transportation planners to generate ‘practical and sensible’ groupings. The method examined in this study aims to overcome the above weaknesses incorporating into the methodology a series of statistics, recommendations, and previous research findings. The investigation of the relationships among (1) the within-group variation, (2) the total number of sites, (3) the minimum number of stations within a cluster, (4) the optimal number of clusters, and (5) the geographical size of the groups constitutes the main objectives of this research. According to the results, the cluster variability declines as the available number of stations increases. When the minimum number of stations within a cluster increases, the weighted coefficient of variation inflates as well, with the rate of increase depending on sample size. The average number of automatic traffic recorders per cluster is analogous to the sample size, while the optimal number of clusters varies conversely with the minimum number of stations within a cluster. The application developed for the conduct of the analysis minimizes the computational time needed, while it can be easily implemented by engineers to automate the process recommended by the TMG, enhancing the current state of practice.