Does the income elasticity of road traffic depend on the source of income?

An extensive body of literature addresses the income elasticity of road traffic, in which income is typically treated as a homogenous quantity. Here we report evidence of heterogeneity in cross-sectional estimates of the elasticity of vehicle-kilometres of travel (VKT) with respect to income, when household income is disaggregated on the basis of income source.The results are generally intuitive, and show that the cross-sectional income elasticity of road traffic is not homogeneous as is typically specified in transport planning models. We show that in a number of circumstances the cross-sectional elasticity with respect to aggregate household income is of the opposite sign in comparison to more refined estimates of elasticity disaggregated by income source. If further research confirms that the elasticities we report here are causal in nature, neglecting the elemental effects could result in misleading results affecting practical infrastructure-investment and policy decisions, particularly as the mix of income sources shifts (e.g. if, as society ages, pension income increases as a share of all income).These results are of interest to both researchers and forecasters of travel demand, as well as designers of future travel survey instruments; the latter group must decide how to generate data about respondents’ income. Current expert guidance is to collect a single estimate of aggregate income at the household level. Future travel survey design choices will bound the analyses that can be supported by the resulting survey data, and therefore methodological research to re-visit the trade-offs associated with such choices is warranted.     

Structural safety of trams in case of misguidance in a switch

Tram vehicles mainly operate on street tracks where sometimes misguidance in switches occurs due to unfavourable conditions. Generally, in this situation, the first running gear of the vehicle follows the bend track while the next running gears continue straight ahead. This leads to a constraint that can only be solved if the vehicle's articulation is damaged or the wheel derails. The last-mentioned situation is less critical in terms of safety and costs. Five different tram types, one of them high floor, the rest low floor, were examined analytically. Numerical simulation was used to determine which wheel would be the first to derail and what level of force is needed in the articulation area between two carbodies to make a tram derail. It was shown that with pure analytical simulation, only an idea of which tram type behaves better or worse in such a situation can be gained, while a three-dimensional computational simulation gives more realistic values for the forces that arise. Three of the four low-floor tram types need much higher articulation forces to make a wheel derail in a switch misguidance situation. One particular three-car type with two single-axle running gears underneath the centre car must be designed to withstand nearly three times higher articulation forces than a conventional high-floor articulated tram. Tram designers must be aware of that and should design the carbody accordingly.     

Dynamic model for ride comfort evaluations of the rubber-tired light rail vehicle

The dynamic model was developed to evaluate vibration accelerations and ride comforts during the running of the Korean-standardised rubber-tired light rail vehicle. Ride comfort indexes were analysed and tested in accordance with UIC 513R by using the dynamic model and the actual vehicle in the test track. Based on the comparisons between analysis results and test results, the validity of the developed dynamic model was evaluated. It was verified whether or not the developed Korean-standardised rubber-tired light rail vehicle met the specified target specification on ride comfort. In addition, the influence of the wearing of guide wheels on ride comfort was estimated.     

轻型悬索桥的调查与分析

轻型悬索桥在我国的河谷山涧地区以及城市人行桥中应用较广泛,但对其结构设计特点尚未有较系统的总结。文中在大量收集国内已建轻型悬索桥资料的基础上,从桥跨、加劲梁以及主索等方面分析总结其设计特点,包括轻型悬索桥的适用跨径、桥跨布置特点,加劲梁的截面形式、高跨比,主索材料、垂跨比和锚固形式等。     

FTGS轨道电路继电器监测方案探究

针对广州地铁1号线FTG S轨道电路出现粉红光带或红光带故障情况,分析轨道电路继电器引起故障的原因,描述一种轨道电路继电器监测方案,给出了设计原理和实现方法。     

最优设计及分配理论在舰船维修中的应用研究

通过基于多服务台有限源排队系统的理论,分析舰船维修工作中在满足一定的可靠性要求下的最优设计与最优分配问题,同时结合计算机技术,提出了求解的方法,最终通过举例确定其最优设计理论的准确性。     

气泡混合轻质土在奥运通道中填土减荷的工程实践

研究目的：探讨气泡混合轻质土的设计及施工等方面的问题。研究方法：通过北京奥林匹克公园地下通道气泡混合轻质土的工程实践，介绍了气泡混合轻质土的基本特性、填土减荷设计、配合比参数、关键工艺、质量控制及检测技术，并对工程实测结果进行了分析。研究结果：利用气泡混合轻质土填土减荷效果良好，其容重在浸水条件下虽有较大增加，但没有超过设计要求范围，满足了通道设计荷载要求。研究结论：利用气泡混合轻质土的轻质性进行减荷设计，效果明显，气泡混合轻质土用于地面的下基坑等回填时，亦适用于地下水浸泡范围内的填土，有着非常广泛的应用前景和社会效益。     

系统参数对独立轮对轻轨车辆动力学性能的影响

研究在轴重相同条件下,车辆相关结构参数及悬挂参数变化对独立轮对型式轻轨车辆系统动力学性能的影响特性,特别是研究通过曲线时的轮轨作用力、脱轨系数、摩擦功率的变化情况以及在轨道随机不平顺激扰作用下车辆乘坐舒适度指标变化特性。     

故障区段判断和隔离方法

本文简要介绍了配线自动化系统中故障区段判断和隔离方法的基本原理,并论述了该方法的实施步骤。微机综合保护测控装置的直接I/O功能,使得将该方法用于地铁供电系统中成为可能。     

绥中北牵引变电所谐波电压分析

本文根据测试数据对绥中北牵引变电所谐波电压问题进行分析。认为谐波源来自系统侧,除了非线性负荷外,主要是由大型电力变压器激磁电流所造成。在电网负荷低谷时段,由于电压的升高使激磁电流畸变程度进一步加剧,造成绥中北变电所220 kV母线出现较高的谐波电压。