Engine performance and toxic gas analysis of biobutanol-blended gasoline as a vehicle fuel

A comprehensive study evaluating the performance of biobutanol-blended gasoline in passenger cars was conducted because biobutanol is considered a better biofuel than bioethanol as it has no water solubility and it has a higher caloric value, giving it a higher energy value. Several kinds of samples—suboctane gasoline, 8 volume percentage and 16 volume percentage biobutanol—blended gasoline, and a 10 volume percentage MTBE-blended market sample (as the oxygencontaining gasoline)-were tested to evaluate the engine performance in terms of the detergency of the intake valves and combustion chambers, power, emissions, and fuel efficiency. Additionally, the toxicity of the emissions from these biobutanolblended samples was tested in order to assess the viability of biobutanol as one of the competitive potential substitutes for MTBE as an oxygenator in the near future. The results show that biobutanol-blended gasoline samples had relatively better detergency, relatively higher power, and similar levels of emissions compared with those of MTBE-blended gasoline. Formaldehyde was emitted from all of the samples at almost the same levels and within the error range, whereas biobutanolblended gasoline samples emitted approximately three times the amount of acetaldehyde than did the suboctane gasoline. This study shows that biobutanol is one of the best alternative bioalcohol fuels for use in the near future.     

The use of gait parameters to evaluate pedestrian behavior at scramble phase signalized intersections

Pedestrian scramble phasing is usually implemented to reduce pedestrian‐vehicle conflicts and therefore increase the safety of the intersection. However, to adequately determine the benefits of scramble phasing, it is necessary to understand how pedestrians react to such an unconventional design. This study investigates changes in pedestrian crossing behavior following the implementation of a scramble phase by examining the spatiotemporal gait parameters (step length and step frequency). This detailed microscopic‐level analysis provides insight into changes in pedestrian walking mechanisms as well as the effect of various pedestrian and intersection characteristics. The study uses video data collected at a scramble phase signalized intersection in Oakland, California. Gait parameters were found to be influenced by pedestrian gender, age, group size, crosswalk length, and pedestrian signal indications. Both average step length and walking speed were significantly higher for diagonally crossing pedestrians compared with pedestrians crossing on the conventional crosswalks. Pedestrians were found to have the tendency to increase their step length more than their step frequency to increase walking speed. It was also found that, compared with men, women generally increase their walking speed by increasing their step frequency more than step length. However, when in non‐compliance with signal indications, women increase their walking speed by increasing their step length more than step frequency. It was also found that older pedestrians do not significantly change their walking behavior when in non‐compliance with signal indications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An adaptive lateral preview driver model

Successful modelling and simulation of driver behaviour is important for the current industrial thrust of computer-based vehicle development. The main contribution of this paper is the development of an adaptive lateral preview human driver model. This driver model template has a few parameters that can be adjusted to simulate steering actions of human drivers with different driving styles. In other words, this model template can be used in the design process of vehicles and active safety systems to assess their performance under average drivers as well as atypical drivers. We assume that the drivers, regardless of their style, have driven the vehicle long enough to establish an accurate internal model of the vehicle. The proposed driver model is developed using the adaptive predictive control (APC) framework. Three key features are included in the APC framework: use of preview information, internal model identification and weight adjustment to simulate different driving styles. The driver uses predicted vehicle information in a future window to determine the optimal steering action. A tunable parameter is defined to assign relative importance of lateral displacement and yaw error in the cost function to be optimized. The model is tuned to fit three representative drivers obtained from driving simulator data taken from 22 human drivers.     

飞机降落冲击荷载作用下高铁隧道动力响应及疲劳损伤研究北大核心CSCD

针对运营期高铁隧道衬砌结构在飞机降落冲击荷载作用下的动力响应规律及疲劳损伤问题,以成自高铁下穿天府机场东二跑道区间隧道为工程背景,采用有限元分析的方法研究隧道动力响应及疲劳损伤规律。结果表明:B747-400型飞机在粗暴着陆后0.05 s时刻动力载荷达到最大值,约为500 kN;在单次粗暴着陆工况下,拱顶位移和受力最大,位移最大峰值为1.58 mm,拉应力最大峰值为437.79 kPa,压应力最大峰值为556.24 kPa,衬砌结构未出现塑性损伤;飞机荷载长期作用下,随着循环次数的增加,结构损伤部位和程度也随之增加,拱顶损伤最突出,其次为边墙,隧道衬砌在上方飞机长期粗暴着陆作用下的疲劳寿命大致为25 a。     

A bi‐level programming approach — Optimal transit fare under line capacity constraints

The fare of a transit line is one of the important decision variables for transit network design. It has been advocated as an efficient means of coordinating the transit passenger flows and of alleviating congestion in the transit network. This paper shows how transit fare can be optimized so as to balance the passenger flow on the transit network and to reduce the overload delays of passengers at transit stops. A bi‐level programming method is developed to optimize the transit fare under line capacity constraints. The upper‐level problem seeks to minimize the total network travel time, while the lower‐level problem is a stochastic user equilibrium transit assignment model with line capacity constraints. A heuristic solution algorithm based on sensitivity analysis is proposed. Numerical example is used to illustrate the application of the proposed model and solution algorithm.     

A capacity restraint transit assignment with elastic line frequency

This paper proposes a new formulation for the capacity restraint transit assignment problem with elastic line frequency, in which the line frequency is related to the passenger flows on transit lines. A stochastic user equilibrium transit assignment model with congestion and elastic line frequency is proposed and the equivalent mathematical programming problem is also formulated. Since the passenger waiting time and the line capacity are dependent on the line frequency, a fixed point problem with respect to the line frequency is devised accordingly. The existence of the fixed point problem has been proved. A solution algorithm for the proposed model is presented. Finally, a numerical example is used to illustrate the application of the proposed model and solution algorithm.     

A traffic flow simulator for short‐term travel time forecasting

This paper presents an off‐line forecasting system for short‐term travel time forecasting. These forecasts are based on the historical traffic count data provided by detectors installed on Annual Traffic Census (ATC) stations in Hong Kong. A traffic flow simulator (TFS) is developed for short‐term travel time forecasting (in terms of offline forecasting), in which the variation of perceived travel time error and the fluctuations of origin‐destination (O‐D) demand are considered explicitly. On the basis of prior O‐D demand and partial updated detector data, the TFS can estimate the link travel times and flows for the whole network together with their variances and covariances. The short‐term travel time forecasting by O‐D pair can also be assessed and the O‐D matrix can be updated simultaneously. The application of the proposed off‐line forecasting system is illustrated by a numerical example in Hong Kong.     

The implications of MARPOL Annex V on the management of ports and coastal communities

Abstract

The passage of the Marine Plastics Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 (MPPRCA), which codified Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), has encompassed every commercial and recreational shipping and boating facility in the United States. As a group, these ports, harbors, and marinas form a significant, although proportionately small, portion of the coastline of the country. More important, the economic benefits derived from the complex shoreside infrastructures required for international ocean trade, commercial and recreational fishing, and pleasure boating indicate just how critical it is for these facilities to be in conformance with effective and prudent coastal zone and environmental management practices.