Simulation of a powertrain system for the diesel hybrid electric bus

The plug-in hybrid electric bus (HEB) is designed to overcome the vulnerable driving range and performance limitations of a purely electric vehicle (EV) and have an improved fuel economy and lower exhaust emissions than those of a conventional bus and convention HEBs. The control strategy of the plug-in parallel HEB??s complicated connected propulsion system is one of the most significant factors for achieving a higher fuel economy and lower exhaust emissions than those of the HEV. The proposed powertrain control strategy has flexibility in adapting to the battery??s state of charge (SOC), exhaust emissions, classified driving patterns, driving conditions, and engine temperature. Simulation is required to model hybrid powertrain systems and test and develop powertrain control strategies for the plug-in parallel HEB. This paper describes the simulation analysis tools, powertrain components?? models and modifications, simulation procedure, and simulation results.     

A Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C‐ITS)‐based lane‐changing advisory for weaving sections

Weaving sections, a common design of motorways, require extensive lane‐change manoeuvres. Numerous studies have found that drivers tend to make their lane changes as soon as they enter the weaving section, as the traffic volume increases. Congestion builds up as a result of this high lane‐changing concentration. Importantly, such congestion also limits the use of existing infrastructure, the weaving section downstream. This behaviour thus affects both safety and operational aspects. The potential tool for managing motorways effectively and efficiently is cooperative intelligent transport systems (C‐ITS). This research investigates a lane‐change distribution advisory application based on C‐ITS for weaving vehicles in weaving sections. The objective of this research is to alleviate the lane‐changing concentration problem by coordinating weaving vehicles to ensure that such lane‐changing activities are evenly distributed over the existing weaving length. This is achieved by sending individual messages to drivers based on their location to advise them when to start their lane change. The research applied a microscopic simulation in aimsun to evaluate the proposed strategy's effectiveness in a one‐sided ramp weave. The proposed strategy was evaluated using different weaving advisory proportions, traffic demands and penetration rates. The evaluation revealed that the proposed lane‐changing advisory has the potential to significantly improve delay. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transfer demand prediction for timed transfer coordination in public transport operational control

Timed transfer coordination in public transit reduces passenger transfer time by providing seamless interconnected transfers. The problem arises when a Receiving Vehicle (RV) arrives to the transfer stop before a Feeding Vehicle (FV) carrying transferring passengers. Timed transfer coordination in operational control dynamically decides whether a RV is held at the transfer stop to allow transfers, or departs as scheduled. While transfer demand is essential for implementing timed transfer coordination, this variable is generally not available in public transit because of the lack of passenger transfer plans. The problem of acquiring this variable in real‐time has also received limited attention in the related literature. This paper proposes a new method to dynamically predict the transfer demand. We anticipate the transferring probability from each individual passenger by examining historical travel itineraries. Three different types of models (simple analytical, statistical, and computation intelligence model) are developed to forecast the number of transferring passengers. Numerical experiments using observed Automatic Vehicle Location and Automatic Fare Collection data from South East Queensland, Australia show the accuracy and applicability of the proposed models in timed transfer coordination. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Queue discharge patterns at signalized intersections with green signal countdown device and long cycle length

Two apparent features that prevail at signalized intersections in China are green signal countdown device and long cycle lengths. The objective of this study is to investigate the impacts of green signal countdown device and long cycle length on queue discharge patterns and to discuss its implications on capacity estimation in the context of China's traffic. At five typical large intersections in Shanghai and Tianjin, 11 through lanes were observed, and 9251 saturation headways were obtained as valid samples. Statistical analyses indicate that the discharge process of queuing vehicles can be divided into three distinct stages according to the discharge flow rate: a start‐up stage, a steady stage, and a rush stage. The average time for queuing vehicles to reach a stationary saturation flow rate, that is, the start‐up stage, was found to be approximately 20–30 seconds; the rush stage usually occurs during the phase transition period. The finding is contrary to the conventional assumption that the discharge rate reaches a maximum value after the fourth vehicle is discharged and then remains constant during the green time until the queue is completely dissolved. The capacity estimation errors that might arise from the conventional methods are discussed through a comparative study and a sensitivity analysis that are based on the identified queue discharge patterns. In addition, a piecewise linear regression method was proposed in order to reduce such errors. The proposed method can be used for capacity estimation at signalized intersections with the identified queue discharge patterns. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theoretical studies of active power/angle sub-matrix in power flow Jacobian for power system analysis

Properties of the active power/angle sub-matrix in the power flow Jacobian for power system analysis are studied. The sub-matrix is a dominant and irreducible matrix under very general conditions of power systems, so that it is invertible. Also the necessary conditions for its singularity are given. These theoretical results can be used to clarify the ambiguous understanding of the sub-matrix in current literature, and also provide the theoretical foundations for the applications based on reduced power flow Jacobian. Numerical simulation on the IEEE 118-bus power system is used to illustrate our results.     

Characterization of incidents on an urban arterial road

The early warning of incidents on urban arterial roads in a congested city can reduce delay, accidents and pollutant emission. Freeway incident detection systems implemented in recent years may not be suitable for arterial incidents. Arterial incident detection is more difficult. The traffic flow on an arterial road is not conserved from the upstream end of a road link to the downstream end because urban traffic does turn in and out of side‐streets, car‐parks and local residences. Roadside friction such as kerbside parking and shopping traffic also tends to create apparent incidents which are in fact frequent and normal events. This paper develops a definition for an arterial incident and describes a case study on an arterial road in Melbourne, Australia. The study shows that detectors upstream of an incident are more useful for incident detection than downstream detectors. It also identifies occupancy and speed as the appropriate parameters to characterise and detect arterial incidents.     

On the assessment of vehicle trajectory data accuracy and application to the Next Generation SIMulation (NGSIM) program data

Trajectories drawn in a common reference system by all the vehicles on a road are the ultimate empirical data to investigate traffic dynamics. The vast amount of such data made freely available by the Next Generation SIMulation (NGSIM) program is therefore opening up new horizons in studying traffic flow theory. Yet the quality of trajectory data and its impact on the reliability of related studies was a vastly underestimated problem in the traffic literature even before the availability of NGSIM data. The absence of established methods to assess data accuracy and even of a common understanding of the problem makes it hard to speak of reproducibility of experiments and objective comparison of results, in particular in a research field where the complexity of human behaviour is an intrinsic challenge to the scientific method. Therefore this paper intends to design quantitative methods to inspect trajectory data. To this aim first the structure of the error on point measurements and its propagation on the space travelled are investigated. Analytical evidence of the bias propagated in the vehicle trajectory functions and a related consistency requirement are given. Literature on estimation/filtering techniques is then reviewed in light of this requirement and a number of error statistics suitable to inspect trajectory data are proposed. The designed methodology, involving jerk analysis, consistency analysis and spectral analysis, is then applied to the complete set of NGSIM databases.     

Weathering sources in the Gaoping (Kaoping) river catchments, southwestern Taiwan: Insights from major elements, Sr isotopes, and rare earth elements

This study aims at quantifying the distribution of REEs associated with chemical weathering processes, as well as investigating weathering mechanisms and source regions of the Gaoping (formerly spelled Kaoping) River (KPR) catchment basin located at southwestern Taiwan. Spatial distributions of dissolved rare earth elements, as well as major ions, trace elements and Sr isotopes in river waters were analyzed using SF-ICPMS and TIMS. Our results indicate that REE concentrations and patterns predominantly reflect sources and intensity of chemical weathering along the river's catchment. Most specimens have high Na/Cl (4.2–30.1 mol/mol) ratios due to strong weathering intensity in the upper stream. The Na/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios suggest the main contribution is from weathering of silicates and carbonates. Total concentrations of REEs are rather low in the Gaoping (Kaoping) River (6.7–15.4 ng/L), possibly influenced by adsorption onto suspended particles. The REE patterns also reflect source heterogeneity in weathering minerals with large LREE depletion and MREE enrichment. Europium is strongly enriched in the Gaoping (Kaoping) River water, as a result of its preferential dissolution from suspended particles. Unique Gadolinium anomaly is present in all specimens, likely related to contamination due to clinic waste disposal. Small fractionations of LREE/HREE have occurred along the KPR and can be used as a distinct signature for source identification. The main stream samples exhibit a relatively wide range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, 0.71265–0.71360, with a systematical increase downstream due to source mixing of dissolved basalt (less radiogenic) and sedimentary rocks. Each tributary shows distinct Sr isotope signatures due to different rock types and ages. These isotopic and elemental compositions provide important information on weathering source and erosion budget.     

Critical Review of Time-Dependent Shortest Path Algorithms: A Multimodal Trip Planner Perspective

Abstract

A multimodal trip planner that produces optimal journeys involving both public transport and private vehicle legs has to solve a number of shortest path problems, both on the road network and the public transport network. The algorithms that are used to solve these shortest path problems have been researched since the late 1950s. However, in order to provide accurate journey plans that can be trusted by the user, the variability of travel times caused by traffic congestion must be taken into consideration. This requires the use of more sophisticated time-dependent shortest path algorithms, which have only been researched in depth over the last two decades, from the mid-1990s. This paper will review and compare nine algorithms that have been proposed in the literature, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm on the basis of five important criteria that must be considered when choosing one or more of them to implement in a multimodal trip planner.